BWW Reviews: HAIR, A Transcendental Tribal Trip

Hair, playing at the Durham Performing Arts Center through Sunday, is a wonderfully trippy tribute to the heyday of the hippie movement. Of course, to call Hair a tribute might diminish the power of this musical's position in the pantheon of the American musicals. This isn't a jukebox musical or a modern musical built around the sounds of a distant generation. Hair was written in the moment. The songs which are now so familiar (Good Morning Starshine, Let the Sun Shine In, Aquarius, and of course Hair) were products of the time. It might not be possible to see Hair today, over forty years after it was created, and not think of it as a period piece and, ultimately, as a tribute to times gone by. However, Hair was a groundbreaking musical. It was the first true "rock-musical" and the forefather of Rent, Spring Awakening and Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson. Don't mistake Hair as a simple feel-good musical. Hair was revolutionary, and the story of its development at The Public Theatre is the stuff of legends.

The musical, which won the 2009 Tony Award for Best Revival of a musical, is part musical review, part hashish trip (complete with wild hallucinations), and part anti-war missive. Certainly the musical has lost some of its impact with today's audiences. War has become such a part of our everyday lives, yet it affects so few of us directly, that thoughts of the draft are but a distant memory. The nude scene, while somewhat thrilling, especially with so many young beautiful bodies on stage, is hardly shocking with today's 24/7, all-access porn machine (the Internet). "Be-in's," love beads, and all that hair may seem a little corny to our hipster, oversharing, and Facebook[hyphen with no spaces]connected lives, but the production stands the test of time because of the brilliance of the music and because it so perfectly captures a moment in time.

For me, the most touching and moving part of the production is the (somewhat veiled) focus on the intense love between Claude and Berger. Is it free love, brotherly love, or homosexual love? To my mind it is clear that these two men are intensely and romantically in love with one another, but in a pre-Stonewall, "love that dare not speak its name" manner.  It was perhaps much easier to make love to your same-sex lover when there is a third, opposite sex, partner in the mix. This revival seems to allow that love to shine through more clearly than previous iterations. It is this relationship that gives the story its emotional impact.

Hair is fun and joyous and almost completely lacking in plot until the second act, when we get deep into Claude decision to accept his draft into the army. Why does he join the army when so many of his tribe burn their draft cards? Well, your guess is as good as mine, and the musical would be that much better had the audience been given more insight into this internal struggle. Instead we get a confounding, though thoroughly enjoyable, hallucination about Abraham Lincoln… and Clark Gable.

Regardless, Hair is love, peace, joy and happiness. It's beautifully designed and incredibly well acted. The entire tribe is fantastic with a youthful energy and a blinding physical beauty that makes the experience well worth the price of admission. Steel Burkhart as Berger, Paris Remillard as Claude, Phyre Hawkins as Dionne, Caren Lyn Tackett as Shelia, Matt DeAngelis as Woof are especially brilliant.

Do yourself a favor and go see Hair while it's in town. It might be a trip down memory lane, or it might be an interesting insight into the subset of a previous generation. One thing I promise, you will have one hell of a good time.

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