How To Apply Makeup To Look Like Grizabella Of Cats
What It Is: Andrew Lloyd Webber's iconic musical Cats returned to Broadway this summer, with British chanteuse Leona Lewis making her debut on the Swell White Way as Grizabella, The Glamour Cat. (Her run in the show concluded last month, and Schoolhouse of Stone actress Mamie Parris has since taken over the "Memory"-making function.) I went behind the scenes at the theater and got a crash course in stage makeup, peel-tight unitards and choreography before making my own debut on a Broadway stage.
Who Tried It: Jeff Nelson, Music Writer-Reporter
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Why I Tried It: I've always been a fan of musical theater (I've seen Wicked a casual five times), but my onstage experience was limited to a few plays in elementary and high schoolhouse and playing some of the Wise Men in the nascence story in church. Since moving to New York and working at PEOPLE, I've gotten some incredible opportunities to go to know the Broadway community, from seeing A Raisin in the Dominicus a few rows behind POTUS and FLOTUS and attending multiple Tony Awards to going in the recording studio with theater legends for Broadway for Orlando this summer. And then when the chance arose to actually hit the stage at the Neil Simon Theatre, I couldn't pass it upwards. (As well, I've been told I'm a picayune bit dramatic.)
Level of Difficulty: In real life, I can only imagine starring in this epic production 8 times a calendar week would be a ten out of ten. But, I thankfully had a talented glam squad to become my makeup on and costume ready, and the patient cast members I met took it easy on me when information technology came time to learn the choreography.
What Actually Happened: When I kickoff interviewed Leona Lewis well-nigh starring in Cats, she told me virtually how the entire cast learns how to do their own makeup, and that's function of their process of getting into character. Inspired past the idea, I pitched a makeup tutorial with a Cats stylist to my editors. Fast forward a few weeks, and that thought snow-balled into me not only getting my makeup done but also sport a Spandex trunk suit and learning some choreography dressed upward as the character Bill Bailey
Umm, okay.
Don't get me incorrect, I've loved dressing upwardly since I was a kid. Was I nervous that the unitards are skin-tight and I could stand up to lose a few pounds? Yes, certainly, merely I take my job seriously and am willing to suffer some embarrassment in the proper noun of service journalism/entertainment. What really had me apprehensive on the eve of my Broadway debut were the dance moves, which my producer conveniently forgot to mention until the day before. Merely whatever.
Upon arriving at the Neil Simon Theatre, I fabricated my manner backstage, downstairs and through a snaking hallway of lockers and a warm-up area to the glam room, where I met my new BFF: Cats makeup artist Victoria Tinsman.
Every bit I mentioned earlier, the Cats cast does their own makeup. Just because layering on that face up cake can take anywhere from 30 minutes to ii hours — and they had a matinée on the day of my visit — Victoria did mine for me. The daughter is a pro and has worked on musical productions in New York and around the land, so I was in practiced easily.
After putting my hair back in a wig cap, she applied a base coat with various colored layers and embellishments (cat eye, anyone?), powdering occasionally to not smudge my new feline face. My character, Beak Bailey, has quite the involved makeup regimen, simply Victoria sped through information technology, and I quickly transformed into the tom. Save for a few necessary reapplications —when she told me non to smooch my lips together, I couldn't help myself…sorry, Victoria! — we were washed in 30 minutes, and information technology was time to put on my wig with some bobby pins.
At this signal, I'm fully feline from the cervix upwardly, and it's fourth dimension to suck it in and slide into that unitard. As I enter my dressing room (read: laundry room bathroom!), one of the nice costume ladies asks me what kind of underwear I'g wearing (Greenbacks Warren/Pair of Thieves trunks, FYI) and offers me what can simply be described equally a nude girdle ("This way you won't have 'bunchies'!" she assures me).
So, off come up my clothes, on goes the girdle, up comes the unitard…and, I demand some help. Nice Costume Lady joins me in my dressing bedchamber to pull my upper-body and arms into the Tigger-esque adapt.
"I should have worn some Spanx, I guess!" I joke.
"Love, this is a Spanx bodysuit," Overnice Costume Lady counters.
I'm now snapped in, with all my "curves" and problem areas on display, and she helps me into the residue of my costume — ballet flats and leg warmers (for both legs and arms, considering Cats) — and I'm fix to go.
Back upstairs and onto the stage I get, where I meet my dance instructors: Eloise Kropp, who plays Jennyanydots, and Tyler Hanes, who plays my grapheme Bill Bailey, every bit well equally Rum Tum Tugger.
Let's go this directly: I am not a dancer. I sprained my knee at my first heart school dance, I tin't practise "The Electric Slide" at weddings, and I tend to crave a piffling liquid courage but to move my hips in a normal-ish fashion if Ariana Grande'south "Into You" comes on at a political party.
Having informed Eloise and Tyler of my inability to boogie, nosotros got down to it, and they taught me some choreography. Let me be clear: These were probably the about bones, undemanding moves in the show and merely involved arm swinging and taking a couple steps, still the just one I could almost blast was raising my right arm straight in the air, still looking similar an open-mouthed fool.
My teachers were proficient sports near it, though, and goose egg only encouraging and patient. They do those steps and some much more involved ones…and memorize lines…and sing songs…all while sweating in pare-tight costumes under hot lights for hours!
Some of the rest of the Cats bandage was coming around to the side of the stage (probably wondering who their inept new costar was), so I said my goodbyes and ran downstairs. Victoria snatched my wig off my caput, then I stripped out of my unitard (which took all of five seconds) and washed off my makeup, blotting my face with a solution and some cotton swabs and rinsing, and inside five minutes, I was fresh-faced and moisturized (seriously, Victoria had my back).
With rehearsals for the matinée about to be underway, it was time for this Cat to return to the alley (er, 52nd Street) and catch a cab back to the office.
The entire procedure was enlightening — long story curt, it takes a ridiculously talented village to put on a show — and I left exhausted and with a new appreciation and respect for musical theater casts and crews.
Thanks for my Broadway "Memory," Cats.
Sentinel the video above to see how I did, and get see Cats on Broadway (for more on tickets and showtimes, click hither) .
Source: https://people.com/style/we-tried-it-becoming-cats-broadway-makeup-costume-dance-tutorial/
Posted by: buckleybity1957.blogspot.com
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