With a score including such enduring musical numbers as "Let the Sunshine In," "Aquarius," "Hair" and "Good Morning Starshine," Hair depicts the the birth of a cultural movement in the 60's and 70's that changed America forever: the musical follows a group of hopeful, free-spirited young people who advocate a lifestyle of pacifism and free-love in a society riddled with intolerance and brutality during the Vietnam War. As they explore sexual identity, challenge racism, experiment with drugs and burn draft cards, the "tribe" in Hair creates an irresistable message of 'hope' that continues to resonate with audiences 40 years later.
This acclaimed production played Central Park last summer.
You’ll be happy to hear that the kids are all right. Quite a bit more than all right. Having moved indoors to Broadway from the Delacorte Theater in Central Park — where last summer they lighted up the night skies, howled at the moon and had ticket seekers lining up at dawn — the young cast members of Diane Paulus’s thrilling revival of “Hair” show no signs of becoming domesticated. On the contrary, they’re tearing down the house in the production that opened on Tuesday night at the Al Hirschfeld Theater. And any theatergoer with a pulse will find it hard to resist their invitation to join the demolition crew. This emotionally rich revival of “The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical” from 1967 delivers what Broadway otherwise hasn’t felt this season: the intense, unadulterated joy and anguish of that bi-polar state called youth.
The show flies by and it's without a doubt a crowd-pleaser. But what, I asked myself, is finally the point of this production of Hair? People younger than me even by a few years never knew a military draft in this country; there's nothing remotely shocking or surprising about the sex, drugs, rock & roll, bad language, nudity, or funky hairdos and far-out costumes. I found this great quote in Wikipedia from La MaMa founder Ellen Stewart: 'Hair came with blue jeans, comfortable clothing, colors, beautiful colors, sounds, movement.... And you can go to AT&T and see a secretary today, and she's got on blue jeans....' I think that completely sums up how much the world has changed since Hair burst unto the cultural scene in 1967. It really was revolutionary then. I'd sure love to see something really revolutionary on Broadway now.
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