VOA标准英语2014--Best-Kept Secret Tops Off Broadway’s Winning Looks

 

Best-Kept Secret Tops Off Broadway’s Winning Looks

NEW YORK — At New York theaters up and down Broadway, in dramas and comedies and musicals, chances are a lot of the actors are wearing wigs². But when the 68th Annual Tony Awards were presented in a ceremony at Radio City Music Hall Sunday night, the artists who create those wigs were not on the list of honorees.

But they are an essential part of theater craft.

The problem with being a good wig¹ designer, according to Jason P. Hayes, wig designer for Harvey Fierstein’s Tony-nominated play, "Casa Valentina,"  is "if you do your job properly, no one knows that any of your work is on the stage!"

"I don’t think people realize that half of the people they’re looking at are wearing a wig," Hayes said. "And that’s where a lot of that labor³ and that love and that work goes unnoticed, because if you do it properly, no one knows … that you were ever in the building."

Wigs make the difference

Wigs play a central role in "Casa Valentina." The drama is based on a real resort in New York's Catskills area that in the 1960s catered⁴ to heterosexual men who enjoyed dressing⁵ as women.

Reed Birney, who was nominated for a Tony as Charlotte, said the detailed⁶ wig Hayes created helps him as an actor.

"It really is a crucial aspect of the performance, this wig, especially for me," Birney said. "Your self-image suddenly changes. I can’t see myself, but I see myself in the mirror and I know I’ve got this honey-colored hair and a big swoop⁷ and, uh, it really does affect the way you move through space."

Tony-nominated actress Sarah Greene said the wig she wears in "The Cripple of Inishmaan" completes her character: Helen, a volatile⁸ teenager on a remote Irish island in the 1930s.

Initially⁹, the brunette actress resisted it.

"When they came with the red wig, I was like, 'Oh no!  I want my own hair.'  And yet, the minute I put it on, it was just like, 'Oh no - the bold Helen is here!' "

Substance as important as style

The wigs' styling is important, but so is the stuff they’re made of, said Charles LaPointe, who made the hairpieces for the Tony-winning musical, "A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder." LaPointe used real human hair, which he and a staff of 23 painstakingly¹⁰ wove into the elaborate Edwardian wigs used in the show.

"We have distributors all over the place," he explained. "We get some from London; that’s like fine Caucasian hair, and then we get Indian hair from Bali and then we get Asian hair from the dime¹¹ store around the corner."

Perhaps the most outrageous¹² wigs on Broadway right now sit atop Tony winner Neil Patrick Harris’ head in the gender-bending and Tony award-winning revival¹³ of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch."

Mike Potter designed all eight of Hedwig’s hairpieces and said Harris wouldn’t be Hedwig without wigs.

"They’re really a huge integral part of the character," Potter said. "I mean, 'wig' is in her name!"

The actor showed off those locks on the Tony Awards broadcast.

1 wig   

n.假发

参考例句：

• The actress wore a black wig over her blond hair.那个女演员戴一顶黑色假发罩住自己的金黄色头发。
• He disguised himself with a wig and false beard.他用假发和假胡须来乔装。

2 wigs   

n.假发，法官帽( wig的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They say that wigs will be coming in again this year. 据说今年又要流行戴假发了。 来自辞典例句
• Frank, we needed more wigs than we thought, and we have to do some advertising. 弗兰克，因为我们需要更多的假发，而且我们还要做点广告。 来自电影对白

3 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

4 catered   

提供饮食及服务( cater的过去式和过去分词 )； 满足需要，适合

参考例句：

• We catered for forty but only twenty came. 我们准备了40客饭菜，但只来了20个人。
• They catered for everyone regardless of social rank. 他们为所有人服务而不计较其社会地位。

5 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

6 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

7 swoop   

n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击

参考例句：

• The plane made a swoop over the city.那架飞机突然向这座城市猛降下来。
• We decided to swoop down upon the enemy there.我们决定突袭驻在那里的敌人。

8 volatile   

adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
• His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。

9 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

10 painstakingly   

adv. 费力地 苦心地

参考例句：

• Every aspect of the original has been closely studied and painstakingly reconstructed. 原作的每一细节都经过了仔细研究，费尽苦心才得以重现。
• The cause they contrived so painstakingly also ended in failure. 他们惨淡经营的事业也以失败而告终。

11 dime   

n.（指美国、加拿大的钱币）一角

参考例句：

• A dime is a tenth of a dollar.一角银币是十分之一美元。
• The liberty torch is on the back of the dime.自由火炬在一角硬币的反面。

12 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

13 revival   

n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振

参考例句：

• The period saw a great revival in the wine trade.这一时期葡萄酒业出现了很大的复苏。
• He claimed the housing market was showing signs of a revival.他指出房地产市场正出现复苏的迹象。