Charles LaPointe is a theatrical hair and wig designer with work in more than 50 Broadway shows including Holiday Inn, On Your Feet!, Hamilton, The Color Purple, Of Mice and Men, Violet, Side Show, The Elephant Man, After Midnight, Beautiful, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder, Motown, Jekyll & Hyde, Clybourne Park, Bring It On, Newsies, Memphis, Lombardi, Fences, In the Heights, Jersey Boys, and A Raisin in the Sun.
Charles gave me a master class in Hair Design in this podcast, and since I have a feeling this is an area you may not know the most about either, I encourage you to listen in as we chat about:
- How he learned by doing, not by studying, and why this is important no matter WHAT you want to do in life, from making wigs to making musicals.
- Where do they get all the hair for these wigs anyway? (I call this the “Cosette Question” – or “Do people really sell their hair on the streets?”)
- The process of designing a wig and how long it takes (not to mention why it is so expensive).
- Why do we need wigs on Broadway anyway when so many actors have fantastic hair?
- How a wig helps an actor find a character and how the hair plays into the storytelling of a show.
Keep up with me: @KenDavenportBway