(crowd murmuring) (orchestra warming up) (singers singing in foreign language) - [Geoffrey] It takes years of training for a singer to make it to Lyric Opera of Chicago.

But as talented as they are, they rely on a loyal crew backstage to fully bring their performances to life, starting with the hair on their heads.

- So every wig that we've made lives right here.

So this is one that we would use if you needed to be in the court.

- Oh, no.

- In a period piece.

- Oh, Charlotte, off with their heads.

Period piece or not, each artist on Lyric's stage wears their own custom wig.

It's actually more efficient than styling hundreds of singers' hair before each performance.

So you are making this wig one hair at a time.

- Yep.

- [Geoffrey] Emily Young is one of seven full-time wig makers at the Lyric.

- And then we do a little loop, and then you just take it and you just start tying.

- Did you catch that?

Let's see it again in super slow mo.

Emily estimates that a wig like this would take 100,000 individual hairs.

Imagine if you got paid by the strand.

- Oh man, I would be rolling.

- A dollar a strand, you guys.

(Emily chuckling) (singers singing in foreign language) - When our job is done well, you don't notice us.

We're trying to fool everybody every time.

- [Geoffrey] If you think the wig makers are experts at illusion, where do you meet prop master Charlie Reilley.

- So any kind of flower.

- [Geoffrey] Over four decades, he's amassed a collection that would make a hoarder jealous.

At this point, he can supply just about anything an opera director might ask for.

- The craziest stuff people ask me for, and, you know, they're like, "I'm sure you don't have that."

I'm like, "I do."

- [Geoffrey] Even the macabre.

- Say, you know, something like a severed head.

We have one.

- Okay.

Oh, it's heavy.

- It is heavy.

Break a leg.

- Ah.

- You know, there it is.

- Oh God.

Even at its most gruesome, Charlie has no regrets about his career choice.

- I love this job, it's become part of my family.

I spend more time here than I do at home.

Every major thing that's ever happened in my life happened while I was here.

- [Geoffrey] With so many moving parts on stage and off, it takes a conductor to keep everyone working together.

- Well, you see, in a way, I think the conductor is the one who can really create the magic at the opera to 3,200 people every night.

- Maestro Enrique Mazzola is one of only three artists who've ever held the title of music director at Lyric.

This is what you're looking at while you're conducting.

- Yes.

(both humming) - That's those trumpet.

- Yes.

The famous Egyptian trumpets, yes.

- So can you teach me a little conducting here?

- Yes, of course.

So the fundamentals is that we have the one is always down in front of you.

The one, two.

That way.

Three, four, one, two, three, four.

- Pow.

- Pow.

Oh yeah.

Okay.

- So there is no doubt.

- While I wait to hear if I pass the audition, I have a request for the masters of illusion back in the wig shop.

Now, I'm a bald guy.

- Yeah.

- Can I have a wig?

- I think we can make something happen.

All right, so the process that we do to have your head shape is called a head wrap.

You ready?

- Oh yeah.

Don't put it over my mouth.

(Emily chuckling) - No promises if you're good.

- All right.

This is weird.

- Now we draw your hairline so that we-- - I don't have a hairline.

- Then we make it up, so then we trace it.

- Juup.

- There it is.

My head.

This is what you thought you were gonna be doing for a living?

- Yeah, actually, well, maybe not so specifically but-- - You always wanted to be a wig maker?

- Well, in kindergarten I told everyone I wanted to be a hairdresser, and it just kind of was an offshoot of that.

- [Geoffrey] Okay.

It's time for my fitting.

- We take this guy.

(Geoffrey chuckling) - Oh my God, oh my God.

Oh, I feel like Ronald Reagan.

Oh, I don't like it.

(Emily laughing) Well, face too old for hair this dark.

- And just like it's on, it comes off.

- Now I feel like myself again.

(playful music ending) (car whooshing)