If you have ever seen the movie Shrek, you have probably witnessed the countless, colorful fairy tale creatures and characters that really make the movie jump off the screen.  So how do we make these same characters come to life in our very own theater? The answer is simple: makeup!

When Prairie Ridge announced that this year’s annual production, there was a buzz of excitement. But no one really knew how much work would be going on behind the scenes. From Farquaad’s eyebrows to the prosthetics on Shrek’s face, makeup crew was always hard at work.  And they didn’t do it all in one day. Months before the actual performances the crew would practice to perfect the final looks. For some of the girls on this crew, it was their first experience doing theater makeup. “Makeup crew has been awesome, and it was a great way to get involved with theater at PR,” explained Samantha Tucker, a new member of the crew.

Halle Baldwin, also a freshman, described the process as fairly quick, basics (foundation, eyeliner, blush, and eye shadow for the girls) only taking an “average 3-5 minutes.” She said that her favorite part of the crew was “getting to work with everyone on the cast and crew whether it’s doing their makeup or just hanging out.” Although they had the most work before the curtain went up, they had lots of downtime while actors were on the stage. They would check social media, talk, and help actors in need of touch-ups.

The fairy tale creatures were a huge part of the production, with fairies, the three bears, and even the big bad wolf,  so the colorful makeup made the stage come alive. To make this happen the crew used assorted paints, sponges and more. One of the most interesting and difficult projects was painting the character Pinocchio, so that his skin appeared to be wooden and puppet-like. The time consuming process started off an hour before the show started. They began with a base of brown face paint that covered his face and neck, then white streaks were added to look like he had wood grains going down his face.

Jimmy Bossemeyer, who played Pinocchio, says that “It probably took about 20-30 minutes before each performance to apply makeup.” Even though it took awhile to get on, he “did not have to get touched too often except when we did multiple performances in a day.” The road to perfection is long, with makeup crew originally using set crew members as models to try out new makeup looks. “We did spend a lot of time before dress rehearsals started trying to perfect the mask I wore and match my makeup to my mask,” says Jimmy. “However, I know that others with complex makeup got touched up whenever they were not on stage.”

Jimmy also said that the makeup was “pretty comfortable. However it was a pain to take off the makeup each night.” When the curtain closed, makeup, hair, and mic girls swarmed the actors and began to remove their headpieces, makeup, and any sound equipment they were wearing.

Kasey Theil, playing princess Fiona had quite the makeup too. With green paint and a prosthetic nose, her process was one of a kind. “Getting my ogre makeup on was actually a really interesting process. Getting off the makeup was a hard part.” On top of all this there was one twist to Kasey’s situation. She had to get all of this on in only a quick scene change! “We only had a few scenes to do the change from princess to ogre, so getting the makeup on was a fast process. There was a large group of wonderful girls who helped me with my quick change. They made the process so easy because they were incredibly helpful, kind and hardworking.”

Of course the main attraction of the show was Shrek himself. All the ogres in the production had to wear different types of prosthetics to enlarge their noses and make them appear more barbaric, but Shrek had an entire face of prosthetics, horns and all. This was all topped off with green paint of course. “I really enjoyed playing with makeup and trying new techniques, so Shrek was a great way to play with that,” said Samantha Tucker. “I also got to do Farquaad’s makeup which was awesome! I’ve learned so many new things from being behind the scenes in Shrek,” which puts in perspective all the work, countless hours, and painstaking details that went into this year’s production.

There were so many ways to get involved with this year’s musical, and makeup crew was definitely a great opportunity. Their hard work, preparation, and creative skills really made Shrek the Musical complete.

To see more pictures from the musical, check out this gallery.