Make-Up

An Autralian cast Gumby

Cassie Hanlon, the multi-award winning make up designer on the film, created 60 new designs for the musical. If you thought those in the film were big, they don’t compare with what was requested for the stage. “I had to go three or four steps bigger. And use much more glitter!” she confirms.

The obvious challenge was how to apply the different designs - which normally take up to an hour-and-a-half each to put on given the numerous quick costume changes in the show.

Hanlon at first thought it couldn’t be done. After some contemplation, and referencing the knowledge she had gained from working in the film industry for 25 years, she came up with the idea of masks.

After taking personal casts of each performers’ face, the make up designs were applied to a mask which then moulds to the face, matching individual features. With over 70 masks to be made and only three weeks to do it, the pressure and risks was immense.

“The first time we put them on in Australia,” recalls Hanlon, “Simon (Phillips) ran down the aisle in the theatre and gave me a big kiss saying ‘it’s going to work, you’re a genius!’” Hanlon remembers a similar pressure when she worked on the film. In that case the make up was done on the run, often on the day. For the musical, she and her assistants worked all day and night to get them finished in time for the Australian premiere. Hanlon, who had never worked on a stage production before, says of the first preview, “I was actually blown away, it brought tears to my eyes that teamwork could produce something so quickly and so wonderfully.”

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