Makeup artist Christa Kaimimoku-Wong has the process of turning Elphaba green down to a science.
Kaimimoku-Wong, who worked at Wicked on Broadway since 2015 and became a supervisor when the Gershwin Theater reopened after COVID, she can set up her Elphabas stage in 30 minutes.
The night PEOPLE were a fly on the wall in current star Mary Kate Morrissey’s wardrobe?
Only 28 minutes for the actress to turn completely green.
Mary Kate Morrisey in Wicked.
Joan Marcus
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Morrissey was sitting in front of a mirror fixing her hair for a wig when we arrived to watch the “greening” in action. It was just over 30 minutes until curtain, and she was naked.
“Somebody remember this — it’s 6:37, I want to know how long this is,” Morrissey tells the room as she applies a layer of foundation, which is where her makeup process begins — but not where the greening begins. “Don’t time this part,” she says with a light laugh. “This is part of it, but this doesn’t count.”
She and Kaimimoku-Wong note that greening always starts with a layer of foundation on Elphaba’s face to keep the green makeup on, as it creates a good foundation. Morrissey says that sometimes he’ll show up to the theater with it already on, sometimes he’ll apply it quickly after he arrives.
Then the magic begins.
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Kaimimoku-Wong paints Morrissey with hake brushes (Japanese watercolor brushes), which helps speed up the process – essential when you have minimal time before a show.
“There are two different greens we use,” says Kaimimoku-Wong as he works. “The first one I’m using right now is MAC Chromacake, which is a water-activated color. It wasn’t specifically designed for this makeup. It was a color that was already available and it worked.”
While Kaimimoku-Wong paints, Morrissey sits in a zen pose as her skin turns green. The process looks simple, like an actual art project, but Morrissey chimes in and says it’s anything but simple.
“She makes it look really easy,” says the actress. “Once on the way, our makeup artist got sick. I had to take pictures. It wasn’t easy.”
Although Morrissey, who has just announced that she will be playing her last Wicked show on March 2, she played the role of Elphaba on Broadway (as an intern before taking on the role full-time), prior to that she held the role on tour as a standby and full-time for several years. She tells PEOPLE that the makeup process was pretty much the same, except that one time she had to do it herself (which she hopes never to do again).
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As curtain time approaches, Morrissey’s face and neck continue to turn greener as Kaimoku-Wong fully applies Chromacake, which he jokes is extremely temperamental. He then says that Joe Dulude II, the makeup designer who originally created the look for Wicked In 2003, he helped develop the greening process after he created it, realizing it wasn’t perfect from the start.
“The other greening part was originally Kryolan Super Color in 511,” he says as he shows off another product. “There will be color variations on 511 depending on the style you’re going for. I learned that the hard way. Then Joe changed the green so it’s not this anymore — it’s a custom mix for each girl. They’re MAC Paint Sticks, and I use them True chartreuse and landscape green with some pure white.”
She goes on to say that after Idina Menzel played the original role of Elphaba from 2003 to 2005, the makeup artist started incorporating grease paint because Elphabas new skin wasn’t cooperating with Chromacake on its own.
“He would just take his clothes off,” says Kaimimoku-Wong. “This was a lifesaver because they can get really hot on stage.”
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Kaimimoku-Wong even has to completely cover Morrissey’s ears, which the actress admits is not fun.
“A lot of us are prone to ear infections,” admits Morrissey, adding that during one visit to the ENT doctor, she was told she had green spots on one of her eardrums.
After all the green makeup is applied, Kaimimoku-Wong sets everything with a “theatrical” amount of powder to ensure nothing will budge.
“It should look like exaggerated mochi,” she says with a laugh as she applies waterproof Dermacolor setting powder to her neck, back and décolleté. She applies more powder to her face to set everything in place.
Morrissey then gets purple contouring to accentuate her cheekbones and some eye and lip makeup, which she does herself. She lovingly describes her look for the first act of the series as “green beans” and she and Kaimimoku-Wong agree that Elphaba’s look for the second act is much more fun.
During a brief intermission (which PEOPLE didn’t see), the pair must perform another mad dash to improve the witch’s appearance. Elphaba goes even greener and has a more intense eye look and gets a very glamorous black lip — which Morrissey also does herself. Kaimimoku-Wong praises Morrissey’s lip service skills.
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As a backstage speaker counts down to the curtain, Morrissey’s hairstylist clips her wig into place, attaches her microphone, and her dresser arrives to prepare her for the show (she doesn’t go on at the very beginning so she has a few extra minutes after the show officially starts). She lifts the top of her green bodysuit, which was around her waist, and Kaimimoku-Wong lunges for the final step of going green: Morrissey’s arms.
It’s the same process as the others, with brushes and paints, except Morrissey helps by rubbing the last bit into himself. A sprinkling of Dermacolor powder to set in place.
“No One Mourns the Wicked” starts playing on stage as we officially call the time in the greening process — 28 minutes from start to finish and Morrissey is ready for the stage.
“They used to paint me seven minutes straight,” Morrissey says at the end. “While I was on standby, someone came out on ‘Wizard and I’ and I came on during ‘Popular’.”
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Source: HIS Education