January 16, 2005

I Am the Wig-Master, or I Feel Like Those Gorillas Who Groom Eachother

Fun night! Fun! Fun!

I got to put on and take off wigs at the opera. First I got my personalized backstage pass clearly marked "WIGS." Then I got to meet my fellow wig dressers--Walter and The-Russian-Woman-Whose-Name-I-Don't-Remember. Chelsea, my friend, used me as a model to teach us how the wig process goes. It's actually more complicated than I thought. Women's hair must be french-braided (now there's something I haven't done in at least 10 years), then pinned, then you create pin-curls. Men get a headband thing and little ponytails to hold them in place. Next is the wig cap, which is basically like a knee-high. That gets pinned into place. Then comes the wig, which also gets pinned into place. And the whole time you're trying not to pull anyone's hair out or stab them with a pin.

Then the process gets reversed. As you take the wigs off, you have to hunt through the wig and the hair to get all of the pins out (a minimum of at least 10). As we were doing this, Chelsea remarked that we looked just like those gorillas that groom each other for nits. It was funny because it was true!

The opera is The Marriage of Figaro, and we have free tickets for Sunday's matinee, which should be fun. It's hella long though, like 3 and a half hours.

Posted by Shelby at January 16, 2005 02:35 AM