The wig of Stacie Jaxx (played by James Carpinello, shown here) features four different colors and even dyed roots, for true verisimilitude.

Wig designer Tom Watson talks craft and hairspray on Broadway’s Rock of Ages

The fun and nostalgic ‘80s flashback that is Rock Of Ages has become a pop culture phenomenon on Broadway. The jukebox musical—about a would-rocker named Drew and a would-be actress named Sherrie who go to L.A. to chase their dreams, only to learn the harsh and seedy realities of Hollywood life (through song, of course)—surprised some by gathering five Tony nominations. Star Constantine Maroulis has signed on through early 2010. The tongue-in-cheek show has inspired guest appearances (notably, Styx’s Tommy Shaw and REO Speedwagon’s Kevin Cronin) and a few after show parties at the neighboring China Club where Twisted Sister, Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt and former Poison guitarist Richie Kotzen have appeared. There are some fans who have seen the show repeatedly; one claiming 75 times.

One of the most fun aspects of the production is the hair—those gloriously long, often spiky or curly manes that were the signature of Sunset Strip rockers back in the heyday of the L.A. glam scene. What is impressive is that not only does everything feel authentic, but that nearly the entire cast is wigged. Given that fact, it’s even more surprising to learn that hair and wig designer Tom Watson, despite having over 40 Broadway and Off-Broadway credits, comes from the opera world, where he has resided for nearly 30 years. His company works on over 60 theatrical productions per year, with 27 of them being at the Metropolitan Opera, where he is the head of the wig department.

For Watson, studying ‘80s hairstyles was the key to his success with Rock Of Ages. His extensive knowledge of hair allowed him to draw parallels to other eras; in this case, the English Restoration of the 15th Century, “where they had all that crazy, big, long, wild hair,” Watson observes. “It's all really been done. The ‘80s could be Restoration, although it does have its own modern look, but has the same big hair, layered, lots of curls. A lot of energy went into it.” That energy certainly translates onstage.

Stage Directions: Rock of Ages is a fun show. I've seen it a couple of times. I have some friends who've gone many times.
Tom Watson: It seems to have a certain person it appeals to. In the ‘80s I was already working in opera, so I didn't know lot about big hair bands. I had to treat it like a period piece and did research. When I saw the images I certainly knew what they were talking about, but when they were mentioning these groups I had no idea what they were talking about. I did have to approach it like you would a period piece because the ‘80s is now period—the fashion and hair and all that.

The actresses’ wigs in Rock of Ages have a little bit of room in front to show the actresses’ real hair.

Obviously a lot of the actors in Rock Of Ages are wearing wigs, because when you see the Playbill photo of the actor playing Dennis the club owner, he clearly does not have long hair. How many of them are wigged?
The only cast people that don't have long hair are the two conservative German guys. Lonny’s little mullet is a wig. Nearly everybody is wigged. The band is wigged. Two of the band guys and then one of the cover band guys. They have very contemporary looks, and we just wanted to give them that bit of an edge. Henry, the guy on keyboards, wears a wig and looks pretty great actually.

All of those wigs are totally hand tied. Each one takes about 35 to 40 hours to make. For the one we did for blonde bad boy Stacee Jaxx, we dyed the roots. It probably has about four different colors in it. You can't just buy hair with roots, so you have to dye the roots. It takes time, and there's a lot of thought that goes into it. The biggest compliment is if you come away thinking that there weren't that many wigs in it. That's always the goal. The original Stacee Jaxx was different off-Broadway, and I suppose if you saw the image of him you would think they were the same, but with the way that things are cut each face is taken into consideration and what suits them. It just isn’t a rubber stamp. Each of the girls has a different look, something that suits them.

How many of the women are wearing wigs, and how many of them just have their hair teased up?
Most of the girls in the ensemble have pieces or wigs, but the only part of their own hair is about a half-inch of the front. We pull that bit of their hair because honestly they work it so much and are so active—the dancing is so physical, and the front can be the most delicate part—and because of the action we decided to go with almost a full wig but the very front bit is their own hair. There’s a lot of teasing, hot irons and crimping irons in all of those styles, and for somebody to do that to their own hair eight times a week, it would be fried after about three months. That's another reason why there’s that little bit of hair that we blend into the wig. They're nearly all wigs.

Nearly everyone in the cast of Rock of Ages wears a wig, which must be maintained daily.

How much work do you have to put into maintaining them? How many times have you redone wigs?
There are two people on the hair crew, and they go in maybe three hours every day to touch things up. The Sherrie wigs are redone for every show, and for the ensemble maybe two or three times a week they’re pumped up, and we use a lot of Aqua Net. That holds for a while.

So you're hoping to keep Aqua Net in business with this show?
And all my other shows. I love Aqua Net.

How much time does it take to get each cast member ready every night?
Part of the technical rehearsal process is figuring it out so we can get everybody ready within a half hour. That's another reason for wigs—it's just something that’s plopped on. So the girls prep themselves, and then we come in and put the wigs on. Our work is maybe three or four minutes per person. It has to be very fast. They’re at the theatre so much, not to mention rehearsing new people and stand ins. You can only expect them to come for a half-hour, so we take all of that into consideration in the beginning because we just can't call people in two hours before a show eight times a week. Everybody gets tops five minutes, including Sherrie and Stacee. It's down to a routine, and it's a routine that most actors like to keep. We don't ever just change it.

Security Check. Please enter this code.