Makeup artist Christa Kaimimoku-Wong has the process of turning Elphaba green down to a science.
Kaimimoku-Wong, who has been working at Wicked on Broadway since 2015 and became the supervisor when the Gershwin Theatre opened back up after COVID, can get her Elphabas stage-ready in 30 minutes flat.
The night PEOPLE was a fly on the wall in current star Mary Kate Morrissey’s dressing room?
A mere 28 minutes to turn the actress fully green.
Joan Marcus
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Morrissey was seated in front of a mirror getting her hair pinned up for her wig when we arrived to watch the “greening” in action. It was just over 30 minutes until curtain, and she was barefaced.
“Someone remember this — it’s 6:37 right now, I want to know how long this takes,” Morrissey says to the room while applying a layer of foundation, which is where her makeup process starts — but not where the greening starts. “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 both note that the greening always begins with a layer of foundation on Elphaba’s face to help the green makeup stick, as it creates a good base. Morrissey says sometimes she’ll show up to the theater with it already on, sometimes she’ll apply it quickly after she’s arrived.
Then the magic begins.
Kaimimoku-Wong paints Morrissey with Hake brushes (Japanese watercolor brushes), which helps speed the process along — a must when you have minimal time before a show.
“There are two different greens that we use,” Kaimimoku-Wong says while working. “The first one that I’m using right now is MAC Chromacake, which is a water-activated paint. It wasn’t specifically designed for this makeup plot. It was a color that was already available that worked.”
As Kaimimoku-Wong paints, Morrissey sits zen while her skin continues to get more green. The process looks simple, like a real-life art project, but Morrissey chimes in to say it is anything but easy.
“She makes it look really easy,” the actress says. “On the road one time, our makeup artist got sick. I had to paint myself. That was not easy.”
Though Morrissey, who just announced she’ll play her last Wicked show on March 2, has been in and out the role of Elphaba on Broadway (as standby before taking the role full-time), she previously had the role on tour as standby and full-time for several years. She tells PEOPLE the makeup process was much the same, other than the one time she had to do it herself (which she hopes to never do again).
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As time ticks on closer to curtain, Morrissey’s face and neck continue to get greener as Kaimimoku-Wong completely layers on the Chromacake, which she jokes is extremely temperamental. She then says that Joe Dulude II, the makeup designer who originally came up with the looks for Wicked in 2003, helped evolve the greening process after creating it, understanding that it wasn’t perfect from the get-go.
“The second part of the greening was originally Kryolan Super Color in 511,” she says as she shows off another product. “There will be color variations on the 511 depending on what style you use. I learned that the hard way. Then Joe changed the green so it’s no longer this — it’s a custom mix for every girl. It’s MAC Paint Sticks, and I use True Chartreuse and Landscape Green with a little bit of 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 to incorporate the grease paint because the incoming Elphabas’ skin wasn’t cooperating with the Chromacake on its own.
“It would just come off,” Kaimimoku-Wong says. “This has been a lifesaver because it can get really hot on stage for them.”
Kaimimoku-Wong even has to be sure to completely cover Morrissey’s ears, which the actress admits isn’t fun.
“A lot of us are prone to ear infections,” Morrissey admits, adding that on one visit to her ENT doctor, she was told she had flecks of green paint on one of her eardrums.
Once all the green makeup is on, Kaimimoku-Wong sets it all in with a “theatrical” amount of powder to ensure nothing will move.
“She should look like an overdone mochi,” she says with a laugh while piling the water-resistant setting powder by Dermacolor onto her neck, back and decolletage. She dusts more powder onto her face to set everything in place.
Morrissey then gets a purple contour to accentuate her cheekbones and a little bit of eye makeup and lip, which she does herself. She describes her look for the first act of the show lovingly as a “green bean” and both she and Kaimimoku-Wong agree that Elphaba’s look for the second act is much more fun.
During the quick intermission (which PEOPLE did not get to see), the pair have to do another mad dash to upgrade the witch’s look. Elphaba goes even more green and has a more intense eye look and gets a very glam black lip — which Morrissey also does herself. Kaimimoku-Wong gushes over Morrissey’s skills for an overdrawn lip.
As the backstage loud speaker counts down to curtain, Morrissey’s hairstylist pins her wig into place, her mic pack is attached and her dresser arrives to get her ready for the show (she doesn’t go on at the very beginning so she has a few extra minutes after the show officially begins). She pulls up the top of her green bodysuit, which has been around her waist and Kaimimoku-Wong goes to work on the last step of the greening: Morrissey’s hands.
It’s the same process as the rest, with the brushes and the paints, except Morrissey assists by rubbing the last little bit in herself. A dusting of Dermacolor powder to set it into place.
“No One Mourns the Wicked” begins playing on stage as we officially call time on the greening process — 28 minutes from start to finish and Morrissey is stage ready.
“I’ve been painted in seven minutes flat before,” Morrissey says in closing. “While I was a standby, someone went out on ‘Wizard and I’ and I went in during ‘Popular.'”
A thrillifying process all around.
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