One memorable job was building a wig for Cirque du Soleil. ‘It was bright yellow and the hair had to have been five feet long. When you’re building a wig, you take your strand of hairs and you have to make sure that the root end and the end end are all kept together. And you fold over the root end to make a little loop and then that’s what helps you to knot it into the lace. So it’s five feet then of hair that you have to pull all through to make this knot. And because of the way the hair was made, because it was synthetic, you had to add more hair than necessary because as soon as you brush it, most of it going to fall out. So that was the craziest one I think I’ve ever done.’
Her work at Six Degrees of Separation features a somewhat more demure set of wigs. A typical day for Jamie started an hour and a half before the curtain rises. ‘I come in, an hour before half hour [call] and I get the wigs ready. That includes taking them out of the wig oven and undoing the roll set that had been put it. That involves taking a curling iron and resetting the curl that way. Re-braiding. Whatever the designer’s style is for each wig, within that hour I am able to put it all back together.’ Amadio is responsible for ensuring wigs return to their original design style set forth by the show’s wig designer Charles G. LaPointe. ‘Then at half hour I go into the women’s or the men’s dressing rooms and I help them do their hair underneath the wig cap. Then I put the wigs on them before the places call.’
‘There are three ladies in the show that have wigs and
one boy who gets his wig on during the show.
Throughout the show that’s when quick changes will
happen, this show there aren’t any real quick changes.
There is a couple of times where we go and make sure
the wigs are being maintained. When Allison [Janney]
comes offstage I check to make sure that it still looks
nice. But normal protocol during the run of the show,
that’s when I’m backstage assisting with wig changes,
quick changes, making sure everything still looks nice
and clean.’
In addition to the wigs in the show, Jamie is also responsible for maintaining the styling of cast member’s own hair. ‘I will provide product, whatever product is necessary to maintain a look. Whether that’s for a boy, if they need pomade because it needs to be slicked back in a certain way. Otherwise those actors are then responsible for styling their own hair, unless it’s something complicated. If it’s something they’re unable to do then we put it into a wig call or a hair call. Otherwise I’m responsible for maintaining their haircuts
Ned Riseley