Diary of a Make-up Maven-Sheila Hyman

Sweeney Todd is a show for accentuating people’s flaws and bringing them to life. Every face, every character is unique. The darkness of Sondheim is accentuated through the music and the lyrics and the director and producer bring that to life. The makeup is the cherry on top. It helps the actors make the final transformation before making their entrance on stage; they are no longer themselves, but the character.

This is my second time doing Sweeney Todd and while there are some similarities, there is a unique spin on this show that adds a new layer to the gritty underbelly of late 19 century London. My biggest concern is making the shaving scene believable.

This show brings to life the “worst” in people and carrying that over into the visage to complement the dark, twisted plotline is a welcome challenge.

The talented cast and crew of this production will be a joy and I’m  collaborating with the other team members to make this a reality.  With one month to go, this is where the lighting, costume and make-up crews team-up to build the visual effects.

Developing the look

We are at the point in the show where I can take my observations and begin the make-up laboratory. Learning about the actors’ development of their characters, studying the unique features of each actor, and how they move all factor into creating “the look.”

Creating each look for the actors is an intimate project. Depending on how the actors are to be made-up during the run of the show, laying out a color-by-numbers palette for each actor is critical to ensuring each performance  is consistent. That means making it user friendly since some actors will be doing their own make-up, and each look has to be conveyed to the back of the theater.

Next: Background research.