{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/8w3804z892/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Spoleto: Oral history with Leslee Newcomb"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/212/original/LOHI_aviarybanner2.jpg?1741032082","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["6/5/2009"]}},{"label":{"en":["Interviewee"]},"value":{"en":["Newcomb, Leslee"]}},{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["Leslee Newcomb has been a wig and make-up designer for Spoleto since 1978.  She discusses the intimacy of wig and make-up design and her interaction with performers and details the changes she's seen in Charleston since her first Spoleto Festival U.S.A.  Audio with transcript."]}},{"label":{"en":["Contributing Institution"]},"value":{"en":["College of Charleston Libraries"]}},{"label":{"en":["Media Type"]},"value":{"en":["Oral Histories"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject - Topical"]},"value":{"en":["Cosmetics","Festivals--South Carolina--Charleston","Festivals--Planning","Festivals--Management"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject - Geographic"]},"value":{"en":["Charleston--Social life and customs"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject - Geographic County"]},"value":{"en":["Charleston County (S.C.)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date Digital"]},"value":{"en":["11/25/2009"]}},{"label":{"en":["Digitization Specifications"]},"value":{"en":["Mp3 derivative audio created with Audacity software.  Archival masters are wav files."]}},{"label":{"en":["Type IMT"]},"value":{"en":["application/pdf;audio/mpeg"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["Digital resource copyright 2009, The College of Charleston. All rights reserved. For more information contact The College of Charleston Library, Charleston, SC 29424."]}},{"label":{"en":["PID"]},"value":{"en":["lcdl:27145"]}},{"label":{"en":["Collection Identifier"]},"value":{"en":["COH"]}}],"summary":{"en":["Leslee Newcomb has been a wig and make-up designer for Spoleto since 1978.  She discusses the intimacy of wig and make-up design and her interaction with performers and details the changes she's seen in Charleston since her first Spoleto Festival U.S.A.  Audio with transcript."]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["Digital resource copyright 2009, The College of Charleston. All rights reserved. For more information contact The College of Charleston Library, Charleston, SC 29424."]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Lowcountry Digital Library"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Lowcountry Digital Library"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/212/original/LOHI_aviarybanner2.jpg?1741032082","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/125/191/small/data?1655837840","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1695/collection_resources/53016/file/125191","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - open-uri20211027-32251-7sv9j8.mpga"]},"duration":3126.84,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/125/191/small/data?1655837840","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1695/collection_resources/53016/file/125191/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1695/collection_resources/53016/file/125191/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-cofc.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/125/191/original/open-uri20211027-32251-7sv9j8.mpga?1635342761","type":"Audio","format":"audio/mpeg","duration":3126.84,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1695/collection_resources/53016/file/125191","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1695/collection_resources/53016/file/125191/transcript/39607","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Leslee Newcomb Interview Transcript [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1695/collection_resources/53016/file/125191/transcript/39607/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"SPOLETO FESTIVAL USA COLLECTION COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON \n\n\nJESSICA LANCIA: My name is Jessica Lancia.  I am here with Leslee Newcomb at the Gaillard Auditorium in Charleston, South Carolina.  It is June 5th, 2009.  Thank you for joining me. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Thank you for asking me. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: The first thing I wanted to ask you was just a little bit about your experience with your first connection with Spoleto, how you got started coming to Spoleto. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Well, the very first year, 33 years ago, I guess they had brought in a wig and a make-up person that they didn’t like.  They contacted the San Francisco Opera, and the head of the department there, Richard Stead, took on the project, and brought three people.  I was one of them.  He was there, as I was, for three years, and he didn’t come back, and I’ve been here.  So this is my 32nd year in the festival. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: So your first production was around 1978. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Right. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Okay, great.  And what has your role been throughout? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: My role has always been as the makeup and wig designer, and that’s my job.  No matter what comes in or what is needed, whether it’s - it’s always opera, theatre, dance, and any other little projects.  Sometimes Piccolo, they need something, or a concert needs something.  Whatever they need in wigs and makeup or hair and makeup, I help them. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: So some productions come in and they have their own hair and -  \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Very rare, very rare.  Dancers usually do their own makeup and they usually use their own hair, but if they do have wigs - that’s true with the theatre, too.  Actors do their own makeup.  If they have wigs then we’ll help maintain them or if it’s a period piece and their hair needs to be done, we’ll help them with that.  Or the dancers, if they have wigs - there’s been companies from Russia and other places that have brought in wigs and had stylized makeup so we would help them do that.  And there’s been some independent companies that have come self-contained, but I would only think there was one or two that actually came like that in all this time. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: And so you bring your wigs with you, or do you have a stock? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: I bring my wigs with me.  I have a stock, but it’s my stock, and so they come with me. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: And your makeup materials. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Yes, and I’m a wigmaker, so if I need something different, then I make it, or my staff.  It gets done. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: So you work, then, closely in conjunction with the production or the artistic director of the shows? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: The director has the basic concept.  So usually I get my information from the director, what he’s looking for, and then it evolves.  It could change during dress rehearsal.  Or if they have a costume designer who has the concept that the director has given to that person, then the costume designer would tell me.  But this is what I do, and I travel all over.  It’s usually the director that I deal with directly to get the look that they want. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Do you practice sometimes, you show them this is what you’re thinking on somebody, and then - or do they just sort of implicitly trust that you will know what you’re doing? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Yeah, they’re going to see it the first time I do it.  But I’ve been doing this for so long, and I know most of them, so to speak.  Usually a verbal conversation is enough.  And then if they see it and they don’t like it, then I change it. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: And the first time they would see it would be at the dress rehearsal. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Yeah, well, often they would come in before that when I set up, and if I think there might be a problem, I ask them to please come before the dress rehearsal, so that they can see.  And often I have photos of the chorus and the principals that I hang on the block, the canvas block on which the wig is held, so they can have a better perspective.  Because sometimes there’s sixty, eighty people in the chorus, and they don’t necessarily know every face, but sometimes they have special things they’re thinking for this person or that person that’s not a principal.  Principal people, of course, they know well. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: So who hired you for this festival? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: For this year? \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: No.  Every year it changes, depending on who is in charge of Spoleto, I’m guessing, but your first year it was? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: The first year, 32 years ago, I was hired by the wig and makeup master of San Francisco Opera, and he brought three people, and I was one of them.  And then I came the second and third year with him, and then he did not return.  And John Paul III, who was originally the production manager, offered the job to me, and I’ve been here since. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Okay.  And I’m assuming there’s a story behind it, and that’s not something you’re willing to share.  [pause, silence]  Okay.  We’ll move on. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: He wasn’t asked back. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Okay. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: You don’t have to say that part, but that’s the story. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Sure. Well that’s for public record, I’m sure.  So you get to interact with performers in a way that nobody really gets to interact with them, can you tell me about that? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Well, it’s an intimate contact.  I’m touching their face.  I’m dealing with their vanity and their personality, and we have to kind of connect, and I’m very calm and soft.  So I try to get what they want also, so they feel good.  They’re the one going out there on stage, so they need to feel good for how they look, and they’re looking at the mirror like this close.  So we work together, but if there’s a disagreement and they want something that’s totally contrary to what the director perhaps has requested, then I chat with them, and if it’s still a problem, then I chat with the director, and often the director will let them have what they want, which is fine with me, so everybody’s happy. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: So your interactions are very intimate? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: It’s very intimate.  Touching somebody’s face and being that close to them. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: How do they react to you?  They talk to you about -  \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Oh, they talk to me, yeah. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: What kind of things do they share with you? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Different things.  Sometimes they’re in tears because they’ve had a problem, or their best friend died, or their cat, or, you know, sometimes that happens.  And I just quietly take a tissue and -  \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: [laughing] Say, “Don’t smear this.” \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: [laughs] Well, I don’t do that, but I try to help them.  Things happen, and often I try to make light of some things.  But 98% of the time everything goes perfectly smooth. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: How often do you see and interact with these performers? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Well, surprisingly, they travel like I travel, and I do see many of them in different places.  And then as the years go by, I see them again.  They come back here, or they go to another company that I work for, and I see them, and that’s fun.  Then everybody’s happy.  Somebody else for them to - especially they know they can trust me, and so all is well.  Yeah, that’s kind of fun to go here, there, all over, and come upon the same one. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Yeah.  So where do you set up your - do you have the actors come in to a specific area or the -  \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Yeah.  It depends what theatre, but there would always be an area in whatever theatre that I would command, so to speak, and make sure there’s mirrors and lights and all, whatever equipment we might need.  Initially, if they’re going to wear a wig they would come to where I am at the wig shop, because that’s where all the wigs are, and I would fit a wig and make sure that it fits properly from the hundreds of wig sizes that I have in the right color, and then they have an idea of where it’s gonna go.  Then it would be styled.  They would be clean wigs, and then they would be styled however they’re supposed to be styled.  It’s usually dictated by the period of the setting of the opera. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: So you have to sort of have this encyclopedic knowledge of hairstyles through the ages? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Well I don’t, really.  I don’t try to.  I do have a basic knowledge, but I have many books of reference.  And I carry one; I call it my Bible, a complete book of just heads through the ages, from before Christ until - I think it just goes into the ‘40s, this particular book. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Where is your wig shop? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: This year it’s over by the harbor because I’m usually at the Dock Street Theatre but it’s being renovated.  So last year and this year they found a storefront for me to work out of. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: And from 1978 until the Dock Street closed you were at the Dock Street? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: I was, yes. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Okay.  So when do you come in?  And I’m assuming you have a staff.  Do you bring the staff with you?  Do you hire them here?  Do you come three weeks before the festival starts, or how long? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Yes, approximately.  It depends, but usually about three weeks, two to three weeks before. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: And you bring your staff with you? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Well, they’ve come from different places.  Most of them have worked for me before, and they fly in also.  I haven’t been lucky to find local people.  Sometimes if there’s something really simple and we have a lot of people to do, I have found local high school people and college people who will come for fun if it’s something simple that they can easily do and we have a mass of people to get a certain striping on, or something that’s not delicate makeup, but something that needs a lot of people.  Once in awhile I have come upon a hairdresser who was interested and they would come, but then there isn’t any work for them the rest of the year, really, so they move away.  So there isn’t anybody locally that I can depend on. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: So you hire the staff? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: I hire people from all over. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: How many people do you have working? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Well, this season I had 3 ½.  A half was only here through opening night.  And they’ve all worked for me before.   \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: And in previous years? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Usually the average is four or five people.  Last year there were fourteen people because it was so huge.  The most I’ve ever had before that was eight, so last year was an exception. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: A huge year.  Now, how have you seen Spoleto change through the years?  You’ve seen it through its various regimes, if you will, and how has that been? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: It’s consistent.  I mean, it evolves like everything.  It evolves.  When Menotti was here, it was a very busy time.  He always did one or two of his own compositions, and that was very exciting because he was a genius and he knew exactly what he wanted, and I respected that.  And when he left, they were struggling a little bit, but Nigel has been perfect in the role, obviously, because it’s gone very well.  And it seems to be doing quite well as far as I’m concerned.  Now if we take the city and talk about that, that’s a huge change, because when I first came here, most of King Street was boarded up and there were empty lots where the Charleston Inn [sic], that whole complex with the stores and everything, was an empty lot.  That whole area through the block on Market Street -  \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: The Charleston Place. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Yeah, and Meeting Street was mostly shoemaking places, manufacturing places, then shipped out.  Jestine’s was here at that time, and there was one other restaurant called Mary Ann’s on Meeting Street, and then there was the - what is it called - Waffle Inn, but it was out of town like a mile away.  That’s it.  And it’s blossomed into this huge, huge, happening place.  There’s more restaurants than you can possibly go to, and they’re all fabulous.  So it’s changed because of the festival.  It brings in what, $70,000,000 a season.  That’s a lot of change, and to the local people.  The production and the artists that come in, we spend a lot of money here, and all the people that come in to see the festival.  It’s helped. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Yeah.  How has Spoleto helped you, if it has at all, in developing your career? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Well, it’s nice to say that I’ve been working somewhere for this long.  It’s a little bit amusing.  32 years is a long time when you’re in a freelance business.  I worked for San Francisco Opera for 22 seasons and I quit ten years ago, so it’s the longest basic job that I’ve ever had in my career.  But I’m a freelance person too, I travel here and there, and companies open and they close. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Right.  What was the difference between working at the San Francisco Opera, for instance, and working at Spoleto? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Well that’s a repertory company; it has a main season from September into December, used to.  And then they had a summer season for about two months, which I was unable to go to because I was here, which was fine.  And I did a lot of film and makeup.  I have been very busy in my career, so things always fit in between. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: But in terms of the makeup and wig making itself, is there any difference in the feel of it? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: No, not really.  I mean, you evolve with any artistic work that you do, and certainly my makeup today from thirty years ago is more refined because it’s evolved, and my particular taste has evolved with all my experience.  But I’m still learning, and I think you must still learn, always if you’re doing something creative, keeping your mind open. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Yeah, for sure.  So why have you come back, year after year?  Is there something about it that -  \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Well, I love Charleston. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Okay. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: I know people here.  I know it pretty well now, being here.  If I’m here for six weeks a year times thirty years, that’s like I’ve lived here for 3 ½, four years almost.  It’s a very pleasant city, easy to move around, and of course everybody is wonderful that works with the festival.  Opera singers are the best people.  They are very pleasant and the administration is great, and the production manager is great.  I’m having a good time. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: So you just keep coming. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Keep coming, yeah. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Do you see it as a break from your routine? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: No, it’s a sure, stable thing that I know that all will be well.  And I’ll come in as long as they hire me. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: But that seems to be pretty good.  When do you get the designs for - your wigs, I’m assuming, will take some time to prepare. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: They do take time but often I don’t get any basic information until I get here, and then we have to whip them out, so to speak.  Well, if you went to the hairdresser for just a normal hairdo, for instance, and they set your hair and put you under the hairdryer, that’s like two, two hours coming out, depending.  It’s basically that’s how much time it’s gonna take.  If it’s a real elaborate do like those seventeenth-century hairdos and wigs, which they wear, it would take longer, but we just make it work.  We do long days, 12, 14 hour days if we have to.  And we get it done, and I make sure we have enough people because usually I would maybe know what the period is and then I’d get an idea, and often I’ve done the opera before.  Or not, but I look it up and do a little research and then maybe I have an idea ahead of time, so that helps. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Do you have any favorite operas or productions that you like to do? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Well, yeah, I have favorite operas, not necessarily just because I love opera.  I love all the Puccini operas. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: And you did several.  La Bohème was here, right?  Were you here for that? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: I don’t remember the Bohème.  One of my favorite operas that was done here was Madame Butterfly, which is also a Puccini.  And that particular opera was directed by a film director.  I can’t think of his name right now, but he directed the film Tommy, for instance.  And he was quite brilliant, and it’s actually one of my favorite operas because of the concept that he brought to it.  He changed the period and the whole concept.  It was pretty fascinating to me. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Madame Butterfly…John Matheson and Ken Russell?  Ken Russell is listed as the director. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Ken Russell.  Was that his name?  I don’t remember.  Yeah, it could be.  Anyway, whoever it was, that was really great, and it went to Australia, and it went to Houston Grand Opera, too, I believe.  They should have filmed it.  It should have been filmed. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Now, do you have any kind of budget considerations when you’re doing this stuff?  I’m assuming you, your staff, gets salaried, or you have some kind of salary budget, and then you really bring all your materials with you, so you don’t incur any expenses during the production? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Oh, no, there are always expenses because we deal with things that can perish, things that need to be fresh, and so we have to buy supplies usually here.  We bring a basic kit, our brushes.  As makeup people we need to have our own brushes. Those are our main tools.  And depending on whatever the design is, we have a supply of brushes and combs and things like that for hair.  But the artist brushes, everybody that does makeup has to have their own, and usually they have a certain set of makeup that they might prefer to use.  But often, like if it’s a Madame Butterfly, we dictate how it goes and what exactly they use so there’s a consistency in the pallet. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: So you let them do their own if they choose to? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Well, yes, but I’m watching.  I’m looking.  I see what they’ve done and I tell them that they need to change this or that.  Because I can’t stand there and move their hand. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: But you can’t train them, you can’t teach them, but at the same time you can’t insult them. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: No, I can’t, so they need to know.  Except the young people that come through, I’m not going to give a principal to do.  Maybe they would start out doing the base, the foundation, but wouldn’t get to the delicate eye makeup or the contouring of the face, not right away.  I make it as easy as I can so everybody succeeds unless I know that they’re qualified.  And so many of them are, because I know them, for years, and they come and work with me. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Right.  But the actors themselves who decide to do these things -  \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: No, they don’t. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Okay.  You don’t let them, or they don’t want to. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Very rarely would that happen.  They like having the attention, especially the opera people.  They’re used to it.  They’re used to this attention. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: They just come in, sit down, and they talk to you about their problems, and you just sit there and work on their face for two hours. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Well, no, it can’t take two hours.  I’m lucky if I get a half an hour on a female.  I’d like to have 45 minutes, but there isn’t enough time.  We can’t bring them in so early that they’re going to be exhausted by the time the curtain goes up, so I have to plan it out with how many other people I have doing principal makeup and then schedule it.  Some like to come two, two and a half hours ahead of time, because then they can get done, and then they can relax, and they warm up, and you check their props, and they feel good.  But some, if they have to come more than a half an hour early, they get anxious, so I try to work it out so everybody’s happy.  So a man can take fifteen minutes, but a woman usually has a lot more makeup on, lipstick and eyelashes, and more details with the rouge and all that, so it takes longer to do the women.  So I just back it up from the curtain, or the stage manager will give me first entrance list.  So in this particular opera, Louise, the main chorus doesn’t go on for 57 minutes in, and three of the ladies don’t go on for 47 minutes in, so I actually have three people at curtain, one man and two of the women, because there’s plenty of time to do them at that point, and then the rest of them, I backed it up. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: So they go on, and before they’re going on, you’re just working on them frantically, and then there’s people clasping buttons, and then off they go? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Well, it’s never really frantic unless something went wrong.  It’s pretty calm.  You should come and visit. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: I need to, this is exciting. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Yes, it is.  Well, the last chance is tomorrow. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: I know. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: And you’ll sit there, “Boy, this is boring.” \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: No way, it sounds exciting. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Yeah, you should come. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: So you have this limited amount of time with each performer, and yet in this half an hour frame, they’re spilling their guts to you. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: No, no, not all of them. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Okay. [laughing] \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: They have to stay still pretty much.  They don’t do it all the time.  But then a lot of them, they’re sitting chatting when they’re not on.  We’re all in this area together, and some of them like to chat a lot, and some go into their dressing room and do whatever.  It depends, each one is different. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: So your challenges come from the difficulty of the makeup itself, the number of people who are in the production, and what other kind of caveats are there in your job that make it challenging? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Challenging is perhaps not the right word because this is my passion, this is what I love to do.  So the challenge is the fun part of it, to then make it work.  So it’s a pleasure.  Every challenge is then kind of a pleasure to make sure that it works right, it comes out okay. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Right, I guess maybe then, what other elements are there?  Maybe that’s a better way of asking it.  Do individual personalities come in to play? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: You know, opera singers in particular, they’re terrific.  I’ve had very little trouble.  I can name maybe one at this point that I can think of.  There’s probably been another one, but I’ve probably forgotten about that person.  And usually that person doesn’t stay around, because if they have a personality problem, nobody wants to work with them, including the other singers and the director.  And the reputation that’s offered; it’s kind of a small area, and the word gets out.  But they’re usually all wonderful.  Absolutely, 99.5% of them are wonderful people, and I don’t have any trouble. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: But you also do the dancers, don’t you?  Do you do the choirs? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: The chorus people, and often there are dancers here, but they’re fine.  Everybody wants to cooperate.  Usually if they’re in this business, they all want to do well and continue doing it, because they also have a passion for it, so basically everybody gets along.  People ask me that a lot, actually, about the divas and all the - I tell ya, it doesn’t happen.  Especially from the ones at the top, because they’ve been really good all along and everybody wants to work with them.  And then of course their vocal quality for singers.  But I really haven’t had trouble with people.  I can think of a second one now, which was pretty amusing.  This particular singer, a female who sabotaged herself in a quick change.  It’s one of my favorite stories that I tell people, because she was so stupid to sabotage herself.  It was very funny. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: What was the story?  You don’t have to name her. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: No, I won’t.  We had a quick change on stage, and she had a little disguise.  And we used her own hair; she was playing a man.  We used her own hair, and she was great because she was tall and rather slender, and her hair was down to here so I just put it in a ponytail because it was 17th century.  And she had this disguise on, and so she came through the curtain and she tore this disguise off.  Well I’m standing there with the dresser.  I’m holding a coat for the dresser, because it’s a quick change.  And then she has to sing a little bit out the curtain.  And I’m standing - it’s smaller than this.  I’m here and she’s here, that’s how close I am. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: You’re about a foot away. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Yeah, I’m looking at her.  Her hair was fine when she pulled this thing off.  It was fine.  So when the dresser took the coat I was holding, I just stepped out.  There was another curtain; I just stepped out to get out of the way.  And then the dresser asked me to come in, and she said, “Leslie darling, where’s the hairspray?”  And I said, “It’s in my pocket, but you’re fine.”  Well, she then took her hair out, on purpose.  She just went up and pulled her hair out like this.  She sabotaged herself in really a quick - I think it’s hysterical.  I love this story.  So I took the comb out of my pocket, and I had the hairspray.  And she was taller than me, so I went, whatever her name was, I said, “I would never let you go out there if your hair wasn’t okay.”  I’m four inches away from her face because I have to reach up on top of her head because she’s taller than I am, and that’s what I - what could I do? \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: You just stroked her ego. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: But she [laughing], she took her hair out on purpose.  I think that’s hysterical. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: And you kept your cool? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Oh yeah, oh yeah.  It’s no good - absolutely. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: That’s the secret of the trade? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: I mean, I didn’t laugh about it until later, and now I laugh about it all the time. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: My goodness. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: I try to remember that one when people ask me.  Funny things, I think that’s hysterical, that she -  \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Do you have any more anecdotes like that, that you share with people? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Well one is with a director.  I guess he may have had a foot fetish, this particular director. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Was this at Spoleto? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: No, it wasn’t.  And it was a very grand scene.  I was at the production table during the first dress.  And there was a grand staircase in the center going up, and it was all mirrored.  A very famous designer designed the set.  It was all mirrored, and the leading lady is going up, ascending up the stairs.  And the chorus was in a couple of rows downstage close to where the curtain would fall, and they’re singing, and they have long robes.  They actually came from San Francisco Opera, but it wasn’t in San Francisco, it was somewhere else.  They long robes to the floor, and they had bare feet.  And the director turns to me - all this is going on, he turns to me and says, “Leslie, I thought I told you that I wanted clear nail polish on the men, on their toes, and I wanted frosted nail polish on the toes and fingers of the women.”  And I said, “Yes.”  And then I kind of nodded, and then he came back with, “And besides that, their toenails aren’t” - oh, I can’t even say it with a straight face - “Their toenails need clipping.”  Excuse me.  I mean, it’s their toenails, and they’re fifty feet away from this table.  But he saw them.  It’s like, nobody is ever going to see that.  So that was a huge joke.  I left as soon as I could to bang my head on the wall inside laughing, because nobody’s ever going to see this.  So it became a big thing; I got toenail clippers.  I’m not going to cut their toenails. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: No. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: I don’t force anybody to do anything, by the way.  So I got toenail clippers for them and made sure they had enough clear nail polish for their toes and the women, made little notes, but they could do that themselves. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Please frost your own toes [laughing]. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Ladies, frost your own toes. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: What about anything related to Spoleto? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: In that way?  Can’t think of anything. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: You’ve done so many. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Probably there’s been - things happen, but I can’t remember.  There probably is something, but it didn’t stick with me like that. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Yeah.  Which one was your favorite Spoleto opera or performance to do, to work on? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Oh, that would be tough, because it would be for different reasons that maybe I liked it.   \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Well, you can have more than one favorite. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: The singers were wonderful.  I enjoyed them.  I enjoyed all of them.  Louise is unusual.  I’ve worked Louise before but it wasn’t anything like this, and the singers are -  \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Why was this unusual? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: I don’t even remember what the other one was like, exactly.  I know I worked it because it’s my mother’s name.  That’s why.  It’s not performed very much.  So I can’t think of any. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: So Louise was just unusual because it’s not normally performed? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: It’s not done well.  Yeah, and I’m sure that this design is very different.  I think I would have remembered, probably. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Have there been any really outrageous hair and makeup requests? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Oh yeah, yeah. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Tell me about some of them. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Okay.  So there was one opera, I don’t remember when it was now, but it was probably ten, fifteen years ago.  The chorus people, all the small women were men, and all the tall men were women.  And it was also a period where the hair was very high.  Was it 17th century again?  It could have been.  Anyway, those pictures are very funny because I did drag makeup on the men, basically, and then you made the women a little bit butch, so that was fun.  That’s the concept of the director, so it seemed to be okay, accept it. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Yeah.  What are some character traits without which you don’t think you would have succeeded without doing so many Spoleto performances?  Or keeping it positive, that are necessary to have a job like yours?  Clearly, people before you didn’t have the staying power.  So why do you have the staying power? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: The one person. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Right. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Probably because I’m calm, and I’m of course a good artist, because otherwise I wouldn’t have lasted all this time.  I think being calm and not getting flustered is very important.  Things happen, and sometimes you have to respond quickly, but you just do it, and you don’t go crazy and get out of hand. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Do you have any other connection to Charleston other than Spoleto every year? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Not really. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: So is it something you look forward to? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Yeah, yeah.  I mean, I know people.  There was one woman who lives here - well she’s lived here for probably 20 years or something like that - who I worked with in Virginia.  She was the artistic director there and she lives here, and I just spoke to her a couple days ago.  So local people that I’ve made friends with, I say hello.  Sometimes I don’t get to see them because I’m busy.  And then there’s another - actually I had lunch with a man today who was in the -  what is that called now, it just went out of my head - John Kennedy started the Peace - the people going to help people in other countries, what is that called?  Peace Corps?  John Kennedy? \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Peace Corps, AmeriCorps? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: What is that called?  That’s not what it’s called.  I can’t remember.  Well, anyway, a friend of mine in San Francisco, he was in Brazil with this gentleman.  And for two years I think they go to do that.  I don’t remember what it’s called now.  Anyway, I say hello to him for my friend, and we had lunch today.  So that’s fun. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Your connection.  But as someone who’s seen Spoleto through the years and Charleston change through the years, what do you think it is about the city of Charleston that makes Spoleto successful? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Well I think the closeness of the small peninsula, it’s easy walking around, and they’re able to use so many different venues for the so many different types of performances that they have.  And Mayor Riley, of course, he’s helped it all along this whole time.  And the local people seem to love it and support it, so, I think something like that. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Yeah.  You did work the festival in San Francisco, but are there any sort of Spoleto-type festivals that you’ve worked on that are comparable? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Other festival?  No, there’s nothing like this.  There isn’t anything like this one. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: I don’t think there is. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: I’ve worked other summer festivals, but no, nothing this grand, this big, or this prestigious. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: What are your feelings on the Dock Street Theatre? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: I love the Dock Street Theatre.  I’ll be anxious; I’ll be very happy to go back next year, and that’s where my wig room would be. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: How was it before, when you worked there? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Well, it was fine, as far as I’m concerned.  We made it work, but now it’s going to be much better all the way around, and backstage in particular.  Everything’s going to work better and be able to hold more people. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: I’ve never been backstage at the Dock Street, so I don’t know what that’s like. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Yeah, you weren’t there before it all -  \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: I’ve been before it closed just to see the performances, but I’ve never been on the backstage.  So people, artists - obviously it needs renovation - but many artists were complaining about the backstage area. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Well it was old, yeah.  But now it’s completely redone. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: It was old.  How did you set up there? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: I was in a large room on the second level, and that’s my wig room, and when we did make up for those shows, we were in that room also.  So again, I’ll be on the second level, but they’re all nice dressing rooms now, so I’ll be in a dressing room. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: You’ve seen them? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Yeah, they’re not complete, but it’s all - the counters and the mirrors aren’t there, for instance, but the floors and the structure, all that’s there.  So it’s gonna be great.  Everybody’s gonna be very pleased. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: What were some of the challenges with the Dock Street? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Well, the stage is pretty small.  They have now renovated it, so there’s a little more area to get around, but if you wanted to go onto the stage right side, sometimes it was a little bit of a problem.  But it seemed to work, otherwise. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Where did you set up at the Gaillard? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: I set up upstairs where the principal dressing rooms are in the lobby.  There’s a little lobby area there, so you’ll see it tomorrow when you come. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: And have you worked at any other venues? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: I’ve worked at Sottile and the Memminger and the Circular Church, the Garden Theatre, and a couple of other small things where things were happening. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Were there ever any outdoor productions? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: That I worked, no, I think they were all inside.  Small things, like in the College, or theatres, the small theatres.  I don’t remember anything outside that I - yeah, I don’t think so. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Okay.  I think I want to just make sure I give you an opportunity to talk about anything that you think might be important for people down the line, when they consider the history of Spoleto and the role that you played and your department played in it. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: I don’t know.  I think I’ve told you quite a bit. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Yes, have I missed anything, asking you about anything? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: I don’t think so. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Did you interact with Menotti himself? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Oh, yeah. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Oh, well that’s an area we need to cover [laughing]. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: No, he was great.  Absolutely.  He knew what he wanted.  I respected that.  And if it didn’t come out right, he wasn’t shy, he would tell me, and I would fix it, make it work for him.  And sometimes when you have people working under you, and you’ve been given an instruction by a director, and they think they know better - unfortunately that does happen, because you can’t follow people around.  And there was one woman who I gave instructions and then I reiterated it because he came back to me, “I told you,” and then she wasn’t going to listen to me.  She wanted to do it her way.  And then he came back again and that’s no good. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: What kind of instruction was it? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Well, it was regarding not putting so much - it was during a quick change on stage, not putting so much white or something on, and she thought she knew better.  That’s not how it works.  If they give me an instruction and I think it should go a different direction, the big thing that I know and have learned through the years, if they want something a certain way and this is how they want it, you have to give - even though I might think that’s not gonna work, you have to give it to them the way they’ve asked for it before they know that’s not what they want, and then we can change it.  But if you don’t, then they’re angry, and then it just stalls the whole process, because they’re still going to demand that this is the way they want something in particular.  As far as the Menotti thing, I didn’t disagree with him, it’s just she did, and it wasn’t her place to do that. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: What production was it? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: I don’t even remember, because he was here, what, the first twelve years or something?  That was a long time ago, but I remember that person, of course I never hired that person again.  But I hear about her.  It’s been awhile. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Were there any particular productions that Menotti did, like Chip and His Dog, how involved was Chip in the whole process?  Did you see him? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Well Chip and the Dog [sic] was over at the College as I recall, and it was his adopted son, Chip, who did that. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Yes. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: I think I did put a person on that, but I wasn’t involved too much, and I don’t remember at this point.  It was a small production, and there weren’t very many performances, as I recall.  He had quite a lot of wonderful things that I’m so happy and privileged that he produced and directed here that I was part of. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: What were your feelings when he left? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Well, I was sad, but he was going on to bigger and better places, so to speak.  He was going to Rome, and it conflicted.  They gave him the artistic directorship for Rome Opera, and I’m sure he probably maybe wanted that for a long time.  And he still had Spoleto, Italy, so that was his decision, you have to respect it. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: So you just kind of try to stay away from all the politics? \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: All the politics, none of my business.  Right. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: And so, for you, Spoleto has been a good place, a good thing. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Absolutely, or I wouldn’t be here.  Yeah. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: And the city of Charleston has changed. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: The city of Charleston has changed for the better a thousand-fold, absolutely.  I mean, the airport alone.  We’d come into the airport and they’d roll the stairs out, and then you go down the stairs in the heat of the day.  And now they have this beautiful airport, which is at least 15 years old.  I don’t keep track of all these things.  But the whole area has been enhanced and enriched by the fact that the festival is here.  The freeways, everything is better than it used to be. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: How do you get a hundred wigs?  Do you have them in special - I don’t understand the logistics of it. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Well, it’s the real hair.  Most of my wigs are hair, real hair.  And they wash, and they need a foundation to live on, and all you do is fold them in half, and you can have fifty wigs in just a package like that. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: So really, just with three suitcases. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: Yeah.  Because they’re just clean, and nothing’s gonna harm them, because it’s all hair and foundation, which is basically like a thick thread and netting.  So they’re not hurting themselves by laying on top of each other.  And then we put them on a block - different size, everybody has a different size head.  So we put them on a block for the performer, and set it, or whatever we have to do to it.  And then at the end we take it apart and re-shampoo it, and dry it in the wig dryer, and then pack them up and go home. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Wow. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: It’s really easy.  I’m very self-contained in my department.  We just do whatever we have to do and it works. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: Well, thank you very much for taking your time to talk with me. \n\nLESLEE NEWCOMB: My pleasure. \n\nJESSICA LANCIA: I’m gonna turn the recorder off.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1695/collection_resources/53016/file/125191#t=0.0,3126.84"}]}]}]}