The Artistry of GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE's Makeup Designer Brian Strumwasser

Clearly, Brian Strumwasser is an artist, having garnered inspiration and expressed his creativity through a variety of media throughout his life. Beginning with painting and fine arts, the circuitous journey of life has eventually led him to his current career as a noted make-up designer for the national touring company of the Broadway hit, Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder.

Nashville audiences will have the opportunity to see Strumwasser's artistry for themselves starting tonight as the Tony Award-winning Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder opens at Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Jackson Hall for an eight-performance run through Sunday, January 29.

Inspired by Edward Gorey drawings and the high-fashion look of the Edwardian era, the show's design aesthetic is visually stunning, adding greatly to the fanciful story that plays out onstage. For Strumwasser, designing make-up for the national tour is perhaps even more challenging than for a set-down production in a Broadway theater: With the company moving from one city to the next, it's up to the actors to maintain the looks created for them in order to retain the integrity of the design.

"I've popped into a few cities," Strumwasser explains in a telephone interview from New York City. "I taught all the actors before they left for the tour what they should do prior to each performance. They all have face charts that makes it easier for them to maintain the look and I will sometimes come in to do consultations with new people when they're added to the cast, and the hair supervisor (who travels with the company) is always there to maintain the integrity."

With his fine art training and his experience in painting, the challenge of make-up design seems a likely progression in the evolution of a contemporary artist: "Somehow, I ended up in the world of hair and makeup," he says. "I'm a licensed cosmetologist. I approach it as if it's just another canvas...I'm putting paint on a new canvas whenever I do makeup design."

His work for Gentleman's Guide started with a meeting with costume designer Linda Cho, who explained her approach to the colorful show and what she hoped to convey to audiences. "Because of the time period - there was no makeup in in 1910 in London - we came up with a lot of different design possibilities and Linda Chose the ones that fit into the realm of the show...where she was going with her design."

Joining the Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder design team in anticipation of its Broadway opening (he was not involved in the show's pre-Broadway run), presented its own special challenge for Strumwasser: "Getting my own look in the production was important to me. I had to explain to Linda what my ideas were and we went through a whole different design process than what was done prior to Broadway. We were creating a look for the characters."

And the creation of those specific looks, particularly inspired by the characters, their costumes and the various settings of the musical required amazing attention to detail. For example, the character of Sibella Hallward (played on tour by Kristen Beth Williams) changes her lipstick with each costume to ensure that she is perfectly styled and helping to develop the production's color story throughout the show. The show's leading women - each represented by contrasting color stories - require different make-up design in order to accentuate their onstage looks. While one is clad in primarily warm tones, the other wears cooler tones and they swap back and forth from light to dark throughout the show.

Using the basis of the designer's color story, the character of Sibella leans towards pinks and reds, while Phoebe D'Ysquith (Kristen Hahn) tends to be dressed in shades of purple and mauve. When choosing the make-up for each of the characters, Strumwasser worked with the actresses to give them what they both wanted and needed.

"There was a point in designing the makeup in which they had input, which was really nice for them because they got to have their own voice in the process," he recalls.

As a result, the process of applying make-up and how each woman does her own became part of the design process, as did the reality of actors wearing period-perfect costumes (complete with corsets and what have you that contemporary fashion has evolved from) and the particularly theatrical challenge of creating looks that would look somewhat natural in a 3,000-seat theater.

"I helped the actors to learn how to apply their makeup in such a way that it's clear they're wearing make-up, but yet it doesn't look like they're wearing tons of it, whether you're up-close or far from the stage," Strumwasser suggests.

About Brian Strumwasser: Brian Strumwasser is a New York based visual artist who also works in film, print, and Broadway as makeup artist and hair stylist. He has worked with some of the most celebrated people in the entertainment industry.

His work as a makeup artist has graced some of the most prestigious magazines. With his tremendous talent and outgoing personality he has worked the fashion industry, film, television, runway shows, Broadway, and have published work in magazines such as: Make-up Artist Magazine, People, Vanity Fair, Women's Wear Daily.

His training and education, along with his affable personality provides his clients with a dependable, detail-oriented, and multifaceted professionalism to add to the success of the creative team of any project, within the production budget and schedule, regardless of the nature, scope or location.

Brian's diverse background and experience creates a unique style accredited only to his artistic talent. He has the innate ability to bring out the natural beauty of his subject, no matter the gender, ethnicity or character portrayal.

Currently Brian is the makeup designer on A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder and The Bridges of Madison County National Tours. He is also the Makeup Supervisor on Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Recently he has been the Makeup designer for A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, Larry David's Fish in the Dark on Paper Mill Playhouse's Ever After directed by Kathleen Marshall, a makeup artist for Alan Cumming on Cabaret, hairdresser for A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, Matilda, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, Disney's Aladdin and Disney's The Lion King on Broadway.

Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder Photos by Joan Marcus