Behind The Scenes Of The Make-Up In THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

Assistant make-up artist and wig swing for the long-running West End production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's mega-hit mega-musical THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, Jane McBennett, discusses her role in the behind the scenes production of the musical as part of a new interview.

McBennett relates of the procedure for setting up the station for The Phantom's make-up application process, "When I'm in charge of The Phantom's make-up you have to make sure the space is set up first of all. I'm usually in from about 6pm and I make sure everything is replenished. Wigs usually come in around that time too so I make sure everything is ready for them. I make sure all the latex pieces are painted and everything's stocked up and ready to go before Gerónimo sits in the make-up chair. There's a bit of time management needed, obviously because it's a live show and he's needed on-stage so we have to make sure everything is timed correctly because his wigs need to be fitted too so if I'm behind I need to pick up the pace. It's then just a case of maintaining the make-up throughout the show because people's make-up will need touching up. That's mainly it really, maintenance throughout the show and then taking it off at the end of the show."

McBennett adds, "I learnt to do the Phantom's makeup by watching Tanya do it a couple of times. Because I'm also working in wigs I got to see it being applied quite a bit. You would then practise on another cast member who has volunteered to model and they would sit for you and Tanya would time the process. Usually you will do it twice but I only had to do it once but after a few goes you hit the ground running!"

Check out the original article on the matter here.