hey guys Adam Savage here from tested and I'm outside of my cave I'm actually
in the basement of the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco where Hamilton's been
playing for over a year and I'm standing next to Rick Negron who plays King
George in the show hello sir hello sir character awesome what are the key
things that happens in a show like this is wigs and you have a very particular
wig and we're about to go through the ritual of you getting wigged up for the
show indeed alrighty lay off let's do this alright
Daryl you manage the wigs for this show and how many weeks are you managing in
the course of the night so we have about active about 17
I'd say that's that's a lot of hair yeah yeah moving forward a lot of hair yeah
and you have different wigs for every single performer understudies and yep we
have covers all get their own set and yeah maybe swings that just wait and the
event they need to go on so we have those all as well but most of the men do
not wear wigs but Rick here is an exception he's the exception okay Thomas
Jefferson currently were just like a half wig
okay as Jefferson he also plays Lafayette in the first act so he doesn't
wear a wig for that okay can you walk us through the process of making Rick look
pretty I mean it's not hard
so at places when they called the show Rick will come to me and and I preset a
microphone on in my in my hair because I wear my own hair at the end of the show
so they take the wig off eyes and then so I've got a microphone already in
place for the end of the show and then we actually developed this headband in
Puerto Rico so this is actually the lace that ya weekly are built on yeah so like
the front piece of a wig right eating edges often right right so we would put
this on and you can cheat it a little further back because it's clear oh wow
yeah and then that holds his backup mic employee
and then we do a couple little pop clips
she's really I call it the yackety-yak because it's yak hair it's not a horse
human and yak yes three different species or represented so this was built
off a mold of his head York and built you know hair by hair let's come
ventilating and you have to put the face on where you start to put the character
together oh yeah once this is on just go on your
end that netting in the front is amazing how quickly this disappears young what
you see and then because he's under the crown most of the show which we'll see
in a minute he's you know Hindon not as extensively as like say one of the
dancers I see doing and he's hooking into that
lace band that's underneath so that keeps the wig on oh okay it keeps it
stable yeah because the crown I would imagine could move the wig around indeed
luckily I don't do any head rolls or any expensive choreography not with the
crown on that place a couple backflips but now I heard that I was telling
somebody that I the first time I saw Hamlin I found seeing all that natural
hair on stage to be transformative and really beautiful and what I was told is
that even when the women have natural hair they're wearing wigs that match
that hair yeah what's the reason for that choice that's fascinating that's
Chuck Lemoine's choice he just when he meets the actor he kind of looks at them
and it's gone that direction then he bases the wig kind of on their hair it's
a wonderful variety really does feel very natural and yet it's a I can
control the consistency of the look of the hair yeah which i think is really
important yeah you know don't leave it up to the actor what will take care of
it are you ever tempted to just walk out on the street dressed like this and well
we are in the Tenderloin so I know nobody will look at me
it is San Francisco luckily yeah and then my parts done that's it that was so
fast yes it's well we've got it down to a
science and tell him about this lovely it was called a um a Q I guess and for
some reason back in the day eighteen or seventeen late 1700s these guys would
just want this long luxurious hair but then they'd put it up in a bag so they
this is a bag that's stored your ponytail yeah exactly I think we could
go back to that I don't want to see any tits ponytail and then the beautiful bow
to make it all tied up in about um what is a former prop guy I know how much
abuse actors can deliver to props but I've never worked with wigs what kind of
what kind of damage to the actors do that makes your job more difficult uh
sweat oh yeah deteriorates salt and watch progressive and yeah just wear and
tear and you know makeup they're cleaned every night not him so much but you know
all the girls have like the oil and makeup removed with alcohol nightly so
over a year that ends up wearing down how many performances is a wig able to
survive before it needs rebuilding I'd say that about a year about a nine
months to a year oh yeah and then uh yeah I take very
good care of my this is gone through were toriko and all of this run so
probably lasted shape yeah yeah looks fabulous
well I'd barely break a sweat Darryl thank you so much everyone
nice meeting you
the thing that I thought was the most surprising about the King George is I
became obsessed with the libretto before I saw the show for the first time and
when you become obsessed with the libretto King George's three songs are
very self similar yeah - same melody same melody so when you see the show I
wasn't prepared for all the nuance in the performance where because of this
suit every little thing you do is hilarious and it's so beautifully
written I mean II it's a challenge because it's the same melody with
different words right I mean every time I go onstage I have to make sure okay
this is what you're talking about and don't screw up right of course yeah
yeah the thing I noticed is that you make the smallest gesture and it gets a
huge reaction from the audience which is also very kingly Frank salute that must
feel awesome from a performance standpoint I mean you you don't expect
that in theatre specifically you think oh well you know if you're on camera
you know just the smallest gestures is great and in theatre you go oh it's too
small it won't read to the back of the house but literally you're the only
person on stage you have a massive spotlight on you you've got a pretty
blingy cost oh yeah no the blue just block it on yeah so just the slightest
slightest little movement is captured oh it's great it really is the role of a
lifetime I am and it's a really as somebody next door is working on the
song right yeah yeah it is a very difficult song to sing very high right
and and just tricky tricky tricky song especially the first one really yeah
yeah tricky song to sing that's fascinating now I'm curious about
because there are multiple different shows of Hamilton how much how much
latitude are you given to find the character yourself and how much do you
go back to the original performances and look to that for guidance yeah well most
actors we feel that the need to make it our own course and and and to forget
anything we've seen before and especially a show an iconic show like
this where I saw Jonathan Groff and I've seen other other kings do
roll and everybody has their own particular taken luckily the creative
team on Hamilton they're very very free with with with allowing the actress to
find their way oh that's great yeah and they want it they want you
yeah they support you to to make it your own and and and I mean stay within the
boundaries right but then go go go your own way and and it's it's really
wonderful um in many ways when I started rehearsing and I know this team because
I did the previous show I did in the heights with lin-manuel okay and Thomas
kale and and and Alec slacker more the whole creative team so I have some
history with them so I felt really comfortable and when I first got into
rehearsals and I started doing it they're like wow Rick you're completely
different from everybody else most people come in with this idea of a
buffoon and then they make him kind of clownish and and comedic and then we
have to pare them down hey you came in with very realistic very basic dangerous
and he said and we had to build you up which is the opposite which is the way I
like to work anyway you know so I know that this the King George's costume if
I'm correct and I read this that it's modeled very closely off of some real
royal outfits yes our Tony award-winning costume
designer has pulled has well caught as well one of my heroes yes he even of the
show the costumes are based on period costumes but he did take some liberties
sure but with King George literally this is a painting of Oh George the third
what you and that's pretty much exactly what I wear I mean especially the the
robe yeah I love it yeah the I mean even the gold to go brocade is pretty much
this I mean you don't go wrong and if you go really close on his chain which I
do have in the show between his fingers you'll see a horse's head right there
yeah the the pendant that he wears is st. George slaying the dragon his patron
saint and he's on a horse and literally that's it's in the painting there's
another painting that you really clearly see
the the st. Georgian and people ask me how heavy is a crowd well luckily this
crown has been pared down apparently the original ones five or six pounds
I heard that exact same from this one they finally just did plastic and
fiberglass and and and this one's down to like three yeah and then there's
still and there's a microphone in there I add the mic pack to it but it is a lot
of weight but apparently the real crown that the the royalty wears is in the ten
to fifteen pound range like it's real gold real jewels and so they literally
like it'll break their neck if they do any sharp movements I mean yeah yeah the
reality of that to walk a certain way right right it makes you can that's all
on purpose yes I can't bend over on this I tried to drop something I try to bend
I grip the seam and I was like okay great
I became over anymore a costume designer once told me when I was making I made a
replica of Nelson's Trafalgar uniform and she said Nelson's uniform would have
pulled his show jacket itself would have pulled his shoulders back and he
probably wasn't able to raise his hand above there but that's because it pulled
him into that that the generals bearing the Admirals bearing what the clothing
did that how amazed this is doing the same the same thing same exact thing
exactly and people could still buy tickets as you see the show oh
absolutely absolutely weird and we have affordable ticket I think Broadway SF
calm go see this show welcome my pleasure my pleasure came awesome