With Lyric Theatre’s Rock of Ages coming up next month, costumes are in their final stages of being stitched – but it will be the hairdos that are centre-stage.

Hair designer Nikki McKinnon and her team started ordering the 1980s-style wigs as far back as last October.

Since then, they have been teasing and spraying the cast of 40 wigs, making them perfect for the jukebox musical cast.

“We’ve got perms, we’ve got frizz, we’ve got long men’s centre-parts, and we’ve got dreadlocks and bandanas for the guys,” Mrs McKinnon said.

“A lot of the girls are wearing curls with the perm, and the guys are mullety. There’s one very beautiful mullet that’s very short and very long.”

But despite her dedication to the show’s hair requirements, Mrs McKinnon said she was no fan of the short-on-the-top, long-at-the-back combination.

“I don’t miss the mullet,” she said.

“There are young kids that come in now to have them and you try to talk them out of it, but once they’ve mind their mind up, that’s it.”

Mrs McKinnon is also president of Angel Hair and Beauty Institute and has worked on a number of other Ballarat shows including Legally Blonde, Phantom of the Opera and Hairspray.

She said she has not yet experienced an on-stage hair malfunction.

“We’ve pulled them up before they’re on-stage. We’ve had some near mishaps but we’ve gone ‘stop’,” she said.

“Last year we had girls doing cartwheels – I would hold my breath.”

She is present at the rehearsals and every night during performance season.

“I oversee everything and make sure the girls are doing the right thing and make sure wigs are on straight,” she said.

“It’s pretty full-on work. We work backstage every night of the show and we prep the hair and pop the hair on and sometimes there are quick side changes.”

The cast will have a costume call this weekend, then will start full-dress rehearsals at the end of the month.

Rock of Ages will run March 3 to 13 at Her Majesty’s Theatre.

Tickets are available from www.hermaj.com/what-s-on/community/rock-of-ages