Beautiful to look at yet damned by the critics; the musical life story of Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald provided a blank canvas for wig designer, Richard Mawbey.
The
Fitzgeralds themselves were beautiful and damned and the musical
follows the same theme. But despite harsh words from certain sectors
of the national press for its score and book, Beautiful and Damned
is a technical achievement for the wig department headed by Richard
Mawbey of Wig Specialities. "I think it looks lovely, and it's very
well performed" comments Richard. The period musical covers more
than just the 1920s, in fact it starts in 1911 and finishes up in
1944. There are 20 actors in the cast and Richard has drafted in
5 hairdressers to manage the wigs and or changes. There are 72 wigs
in total that were created within the space of about 4 weeks. There
was also a need to make up facial hair and toupees too.
In fact it is the costume and wig department that are tasked with
helping to transform the different periods as the play progresses.
Being a new musical, "they gave me the script and I sat with
Christopher Woods, the costumer designer to plan it out," recalls
Richard. "Without major scene changes, it was the wigs and
costumes that were used to change the cast and the period".
He goes on to add, "Zelda has 6 wigs because she has different
looks and ages and moves through important periods of historical
hair." Hence the importance of his role and the prominence
of his credit. "It is the first time in London that I was given
a proper credit and a department" states Mawbey. So when you
see the advertisements and programme credits, Richard is listed
as wig designer.
To
provide an example of the massive task the ensemble girls (four
of them) had seven wigs each. "I had to have a graph on the
wall to make sure I didn't miss anything," says Richard. So
with a budget of £65,000 he set to work, using a mixture of
real hair and acrylic wigs. Most of them had lace fronts. "I
was very anxious about wig fronts for this." Aside from the
mammoth number of wigs to design and make, there were some technical
difficult mountains to climb too. "One of the hardest wigs
to make was in a Hollywood sequence for a woman who plays Lois Graham,
the mistress of F. Scott Fitzgerald. This is an Egyptian sequence;
I had a huge Cleopatra wig built on a cage with heaps of plats.
However, she is turned upside down three times during a dance number."
More headaches to deal with. So when it came to a technical week,
Richard points out that, "I changed the design during rehearsal,
the cage was redesigned. Also it can't really be stuck. It is strongly
pinned and made to balance properly with the weight of the hair."
Another
challenge was a scene in which the Fitzgeralds immerse themselves
in a never-ending party, which is scripted to move the story on
four or five years. "She starts off with 1918 style hair; longer
and to mark the movement into the '20s she has a costume change
and bobs her hair. This all takes place within a minute and is set
up in the wings."
So
where do you start to prepare for a production on this scale Warpaint
asks? "I did a lot of research for this one," notes Richard,
who goes on to say "I visited Art Deco exhibitions in New York,
The Cecil Beaton exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in
London and looked at Vogue through the ages." But his tip is
to pick up the catalogues from these exhibitions or ones you visit.
You can then see actual pictures of the period and real faces to
reference your work. "What you have to do is look at the period
and make it work for the actress you are working with. I've never
been one who believes that there is always one look for a particular
period," says Mawbey. He adds, "One actress had traditional
Gene Harlow platinum blonde highlights. But this woman looks good
with hair upswept. It's important to remember, that not all '20s
hair was bobbed."
A bit of artistic license can go a long way to creating the ultimate
look and feel of a show - within the confines of the period. "Most
looks for the hair actually make you age, so I added fringes and
occasionally a switch in the earlier scenes for Helen Anker (Zelda)
to give the impression of youthfulness". It is the little tricks
and insights like this that have ensured that Richard Mawbey's contribution
to Beautiful and Damned has been beyond reproach. But even Richard
is philosophical about criticism, "If you took too much notice
you would never work again." Long live the Beautiful and Damned
amongst us!
DAMN
The
Fitzgeralds themselves were beautiful and damned and the musical
follows the same theme. But despite harsh words from certain sectors
of the national press for its score and book, Beautiful and Damned
is a technical achievement for the wig department headed by Richard
Mawbey of Wig Specialities. "I think it looks lovely, and it's very
well performed" comments Richard. The period musical covers more
than just the 1920s, in fact it starts in 1911 and finishes up in
1944. There are 20 actors in the cast and Richard has drafted in
5 hairdressers to manage the wigs and or changes. There are 72 wigs
in total that were created within the space of about 4 weeks. There
was also a need to make up facial hair and toupees too. 
To
provide an example of the massive task the ensemble girls (four
of them) had seven wigs each. "I had to have a graph on the
wall to make sure I didn't miss anything," says Richard. So
with a budget of £65,000 he set to work, using a mixture of
real hair and acrylic wigs. Most of them had lace fronts. "I
was very anxious about wig fronts for this." Aside from the
mammoth number of wigs to design and make, there were some technical
difficult mountains to climb too. "One of the hardest wigs
to make was in a Hollywood sequence for a woman who plays Lois Graham,
the mistress of F. Scott Fitzgerald. This is an Egyptian sequence;
I had a huge Cleopatra wig built on a cage with heaps of plats.
However, she is turned upside down three times during a dance number."
More headaches to deal with. So when it came to a technical week,
Richard points out that, "I changed the design during rehearsal,
the cage was redesigned. Also it can't really be stuck. It is strongly
pinned and made to balance properly with the weight of the hair."
Another
challenge was a scene in which the Fitzgeralds immerse themselves
in a never-ending party, which is scripted to move the story on
four or five years. "She starts off with 1918 style hair; longer
and to mark the movement into the '20s she has a costume change
and bobs her hair. This all takes place within a minute and is set
up in the wings."
So
where do you start to prepare for a production on this scale Warpaint
asks? "I did a lot of research for this one," notes Richard,
who goes on to say "I visited Art Deco exhibitions in New York,
The Cecil Beaton exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in
London and looked at Vogue through the ages." But his tip is
to pick up the catalogues from these exhibitions or ones you visit.
You can then see actual pictures of the period and real faces to
reference your work. "What you have to do is look at the period
and make it work for the actress you are working with. I've never
been one who believes that there is always one look for a particular
period," says Mawbey. He adds, "One actress had traditional
Gene Harlow platinum blonde highlights. But this woman looks good
with hair upswept. It's important to remember, that not all '20s
hair was bobbed."