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Trascript
of Interview: Victor Callegari talks with Elaine Warner
EW Before we get started, I just want to remind our listeners
if you’re listening close to your computer, you can log on to operainfo.org
and see some examples of Victor Callegari’s handiwork that we will be
talking about a little bit later.
Victor, just how important is good makeup?
VC It’s very important for the singer. Because when a singer
goes on stage if he feels the character, it’s a tremendous help for
him. Just to walk on stage and sing just because you have a costume
on is not enough. And it’s an achievement for me to do a very good makeup
on them. And as he’s leaving he turns to me and will say “I wish I will
sing as well as I look” is what it’s all about. And in the opera world
where they don’t type cast your looks, they type cast your voice, it’s
very important.
EW I’ve heard a makeup artist talk about how important it is
that they present a feeling of calm, because they’re often the first
person that the artist sees on an evening ‘cause it kind of sets the
tone. Do you find that to be the case?
VC You’re right, the tone is set by the makeup people. And as
a makeup artist, if I walk into a room and I feel vibrations that are
not right, I will not say anything in the room. If he’s not well, the
last thing in the world he wants is to hear me talk, if he’s disturbed
with something.
EW But there’s also the opposite too? Isn’t it kind of like a
party sometimes?
VC Yes, everybody’s different. You’re right. I mean there are
some singers when they are nervous they talk a lot, and they laugh a
lot. And you’re trying to do makeup and they’re laughing constantly,
yeah. Everybody reacts differently, but everybody to some degree is
nervous. I feel that if you are not, and you go on stage, you’re a dead
singer. You, you just sit there or stand there and do nothing. The nervous
singers get out and all that energy just releases into the audience.
EW We have a couple of pictures and as I mentioned earlier, if
people are logged onto operainfo.org they can take a look at the pictures.
What I have is Rosalind Elias as the witch in Hansel and Gretel.
She’s a beautiful woman and you make her into a hag. How do you do that?
VC Well the first thing I do is I casted her nose and her chin.
I made a casting just like they do in, in film or in television when
they do prosthesis. Once I casted her nose, I made a positive of the
nose and I took some clay and I shaped the nose to the witches nose
that I wanted. Once I made those pieces, then I was able to glue them
on her nose, and then from there the rest of the makeup is really very
easy. You just simply structure the face and do a theatrical makeup
on her.
EW But now, if you look at the fingernails, and as I remember
she had a green tongue and black teeth. How did you do that and how
does it keep from running during the performance?
VC Well, to color somebody’s tongue you have to be very careful.
Naturally, if you put makeup on they’ll have an infection immediately.
What I did was I went to the supermarket and bought some green vegetable
dye. And about five minutes before she or he goes on stage I would take
some Q-tips and dip it into the green vegetable dye and I would just
color their tongue and then they would walk on stage and within a few
more minutes, they were out there singing. So at one point, you know,
they would stick their tongue out and the kids would just start screaming
with laughter. And the, the fingernails – I was working in Bangkok and
I went to a store that was selling all of these things and for one dollar
I bought this incredible pair of fingernails. And so, I said fine, and
I brought them to the Met.
EW I imagine that things changed for you in 1977, with the first
telecast from the Met. We have a couple of pictures of the Grand Inquisitor.
And first of all, there’s a little bit of similarity between the two,
what was your inspiration for the makeup for this character?
VC Well, I think that the director at that time wanted an El
Greco type of makeup. So the style had to be very intense because El
Greco’s colors are very intense. The difference between the two makeups
are that for the theater you consider bone structure as to be the most
important thing, but that does not apply to TV or to film. In film it‘s
skin texture. So the application is completely different. I use the
latex stipple on the face.
EW Can you tell me what that is?
VC You mix the latex with, with different materials and it’s
very stretchable. And what happens is I’ll stretch the skin, and hold
it. And then someone dips the latex, stipples it, and just before you
dry, you release it. And all of a sudden you have beautiful wrinkles
in your face. They’re natural because the skin’s texture is following
it’s, it’s course and doing the right thing.
EW Now the one of the Grand Inquisitor from the stage production
is James Morris and as I mentioned, the television is Jerome Hines,
but there’s another big difference between the two and it’s how you
dealt with the eyes. ‘Cause the Grand Inquisitor is supposed to be blind,
I believe.
VC Yes, for the stage there, there are two ways of doing it.
You just allow the singer to go out, it’s so dark on stage, and he moves
around like he’s blind, so you accept the fact that he’s blind. He can
also put a gauze over the eye, and in the center of the gauze a white
spot and that gives the impression that he’s blind for the stage. Of
course, for the TV you can’t do it that way. And what I did was I designed
the eyebrows and spaced them in between so that the light would go through
and give an illusion on the eye which worked out very well.
EW We have another character makeup to look at and it’s uh, Ekkehard
Wlaschiha as Alberich in Das Rheingold. And this is a character
that none of us want to meet in our dreams. How did you come about with
this particular one?
VC Well uh, actually I have to follow the design that the designer
gives me. But, in this situation you see all these warts on his cap.
And in the original design there were no warts. What happened was, when
I was doing him, the cap started to tear, and I panicked. And I, he
had like, I don’t know, a half hour to be on stage and there was no
time to put a new bald cap on him, so I simply glued the cap down. And
where the cracks were, I started to put warts on them, just to cover
them. So, it turned out that I had to put warts over the entire skull
just to make it look natural. And that’s why he had warts on his head.
EW I imagine that’s when it really is fun because you’re creating
at the moment.
VC Yes, exactly. The inspiration comes and you just do it.
EW At what point in the creation of a new production are you
brought in?
VC At the very end. (Laughs) At the very end because all I do
is I get a sketch. I get a costume sketch. But you know, it, it’s acceptable
because the designer doesn’t have to design makeup for me – an old man
is an old man. You know how to age him and that’s it. So I don’t need
someone to give me a sketch to say this is how he should look. Because
I’m going to makeup the singer how he looks and try to get the best
qualities out of his face and hide those that are not so good. And that’s
the art of makeup. But to say I want him to look this way, and he looks
a different way, it’s impossible. It’s impossible because you’re not
going to do prosthesis work on everybody’s face.
EW But in operas that do demand the prosthesis work, are you
still brought in at the last?
VC No, in that case, they would call me earlier. But, but most
opera singers, 99% of the opera singers do not want prosthesis work
because it, it requires that you have to sit there for three hours,
you know. So most of them say, ”I’ll except a nose, I’ll except maybe
something on the eyes, but I don’t want a whole face.” Because you’ll
get singers who say, ”I’m sorry but I don’t feel vibrations on my face
when I sing. It’s bothering me, or my ears, it’s, it’s disturbing me
and I can’t hear well.” So I have to put some sponges behind their ears
so their ears are bent out and now the sound will be picked up better.
Some singers can’t wear hats on their heads because it disturbs the
feedback and they can’t hear themselves.
EW You’ve been at the Met for thirty-eight years, can you imagine
having done anything else?
VC Yes! (Laughs) I wanted to go into business. And I wanted to
go to NYU and take the business course and I think I would be fascinated
by it, and I am right now. I always, constantly, you know, study the
stock market, read all the information on business and that’s another
thing that I love. But, I must say that uh, the joy and the happiness
that I got from the opera, I don’t think I would have found any place
in the world because I love the music and the singers have been very
special to me. And, and there’s a relationship, a very close relationship
and you, you sort of feel like it’s family. And the Met is very special
in that sense.
EW Thank you Victor Callegari, I’m sure we’ll all look at the
makeup a little bit differently after having talked with you this afternoon.
VC So, will I! (Laughs) Thank you.
THE END
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