Small world

I went to my wig fitting yesterday and was thrilled to discover that the wig and makeup guys are J&S – who did wigs and makeup both summers I was at Tanglewood! When S first came into the room, I did that horribly rude “don’t I know you?” stare for about 30 seconds before jumping up with a “Oh, it’s you!” He, of course, knew I would be there, but he almost didn’t recognize me, either, since my hair has changed so much in the past three years. (Three years!) We hugged, and he sent me back to the makeup station to say hello to J.

We caught up quickly on the past few years (nutshell, anyone?), and then it was business as usual. As S adjusted my wig, he said, “Of course, we’ve worked with your head before, so we had a good idea that this one would work.” Ha! But that statement took us down memory lane… way back to the summer of 2003 when I wore an “Elvis the Bullfighter” wig for the premiere of the original version of Ainadamar, complete with sideburns and masculinizing makeup. Hot. (I also wore a gorgeous, artistic, metallic-looking horse head and danced a few sizeable solos in that production! Hmm, maybe I should finally link to my old LiveJournal entries about that production… but the writing is horrible! I’ll think about it.)

When I got home, I also remembered J&S helping me with A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2004: platinum wig a la Jean Harlow and white makeup on my face, neck, arms… any skin that showed was painted and powdered. I had to remove it with baby oil in the shower, a process which was tedious and messy but gave me very soft skin!

It felt really good to share my recent career developments with J&S, and I think they enjoyed seeing that one of their “kids” was making good. It’s exciting, too, because I have a possible gig (penciled in on the calendar, no contract yet…) with their regular company, an A-level house. We might get to work together again in 2009! It’s fun to think about this “reunion” aspect of my life on the road, coming into unexpected contact with colleagues and friends who I loved working with, catching up and picking up where we left off. The more places I work, the more this kind of thing will happen, and I’m looking forward to it.

In a totally different sort of small world, this morning I discovered that my host’s father and my grandfather served on the same aircraft carrier in World War II, the USS Hancock. How about that?! They were both onboard in the South Pacific when the carrier was hit by a kamikaze plane, a story I always loved to hear Granddaddy tell. CH, my host, says that he has diaries that his father wrote of the account, so I’m looking forward to learning even more about what must have been an amazing day in the life of these young men.