When I got the call to do "Fosse/Verdon,"
I think my first--
the first emotion I had was paralyzing fear.
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There's a lot of pressure in a certain way when
you're recreating the shows.
Everyday is a new challenge.
Every day is a test.
Every day is something that I may have done
before, or maybe not, and I have to find
new ways of doing things.
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It literally was so overwhelming.
I thought there's no way I can do this, but I'm going to try.
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So Gwen Verdon was the classic redhead.
Everyone knew her as a redhead, so we kind of went from there.
And you know she wears a series of four
different looks in the show.
We have Gwen Verdon's show looks and then we have the looks--
what does Gwen Verdon look like when she's not performing?
What does Gwen Verdon look like when she's a mother?
What does she look like when she's in the house?
So like it's a whole behind the scenes of Gwen Verdon, which
I think is really fascinating.
THOMAS KAIL: Bob has one of the most famous hairdos
in the history of theater.
I remember the day that Sam finally shaved his head
and we knew this was really going to happen.
I mean I could probably spend two hours talking
about how to make a comb over.
But I think Chris Fulton could probably
speak about it with more authority and Debbie Zoller.
[LAUGHTER]
Oh my god, the Bob Fosse comb over.
[LAUGHS]
So Sam Rockwell, he's one of the most incredible
sports I've ever worked with.
From day one he said, you can do anything you want.
And I said, OK.
We're going to shave your head and we're
going to do this comb over.
And we spent days, weeks creating the perfect comb
over system with multiple wigs and multiple pieces
to make it look so believable.
And it's really important to me that when
they step out onto the screen you see the whole character.
That you don't just see the hairstyle
and certainly that you don't--
that you can't tell they're wearing a wig.
And so a lot of that is like little imperfections, little--
little things that make it look lived in.
People don't realize what goes making
this look is about two hours in the hair and makeup chair.
Debbie and Dave, you know hair and makeup team,
it's phenomenal, just phenomenal, what they've done.
The most challenging and rewarding looks I think
are both Bob and Gwen.
All the different looks that we create for them
are the most challenging.
To make them younger, we use products that are called lifts
and we use them under their wigs.
They're hidden so you can't see them.
When they're a little older, it's just them.
And then when they're a lot older
we add prosthetic pieces on.
Hi there.
Magnificent.
It is such a profound physical journey
to age over three decades.
They are willing to obsess as much as I am.
And it's so exciting because everybody's heart is in it.
In doing my research for the different eras,
I really found that in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s
how different the colors were.
Reds were very clear red.
There was, you know, pink and like a peach, like a coral.
And those colors have to remain true to that era.
Open.
MAN: Beautiful.
The department heads on this show
have just been astonishing in their commitment
to detail and authenticity.
We happened to be working with one of my very
favorite costume designers.
Her name's Melissa Toth and we know each other.
And we obsess on details.
MELISSA TOTH: We really beat ourselves.
We were assiduous about making sure that every single detail--
and you can't just you know be YouTube-ing this stuff
and looking at it.
You really-- we watched "Sweet Charity"
over and over and over.
And we watched "Cabaret" so many times.
The same sequences of "Cabaret" to make sure
that every little spangle and every little detail
was as close to the original as humanly possible.
It's daunting, the task that the costume department has.
It's just daunting.
And Melissa's got such a keen eye.
I'm always so excited to see what
I'm going to wear, to have a creative conversation
with them.
Because it assists me more than I can even convey.
THOMAS KAIL: We're trying to make the past not feel distant.
We're trying to make it feel alive and vital.
There are so many iconic looks in our show
that have to recreate.
But we're not recreating and putting it in a museum.
It has to live and it has to breathe.
Just watching that come to fruition
with all of the hair and makeup, which has been stunning,
and wigs.
I mean just amazing work.
That's always a delight because as we're
going through the fitting process,
you know we don't have all the makeup and the hair.
And that really helps sells the look and sells the period.
So we don't get the full vision of it
and the satisfaction of it until we're shooting it.
So those moments when we're on set and we're watching,
it's like, hey, we did it.
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