Coastal Rep to Kick Off Summer Lineup with HAIR, 7/19-8/10

Coastal Repertory Theatre enters into the "Age of Aquarius" with what the New York Times calls "The Ultimate American Rock Musical", HAIR -- written by James Rado & Gerome Ragni and produced for the Broadway Stage by Michael Butler, originally produced by the New York Shakespeare Festival Theatre. This production is directed and choreographed by Joe Duffy with musical and vocal direction by Joseph Murphy. The show runs July 19, 2013 through August 10, 2013.

HAIR is about a group of young people in New York City's East Village who band together as a TRIBE. They are a New York contingent of flower children, (a freeform phenomenon that had begun a little earlier in Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco and would subsequently spread to Europe & elsewhere). Taking on the feel of an American Indian tribe, they question authority and the society they are living in and the war in Asia. They seek to find a new way. They yearn to change the world. They begin by recreating themselves. They find a potent organic natural esthetic; the most dramatic visible element, all the men grow their hair long. They tune in to Eastern thought & meditation. They turn on and drop out. They hang out in self-made clouds of incense and grass. They laugh and cavort, as they find a new freedom of expression and camaraderie. They live in crash pads, in the parks and on the streets. Unkempt, wild, free, and deep, they are unique, colorful, something genuinely original and beautiful...and so hip (yet in a different style from the earlier hipsters and beatniks). A new word is coined to identify them. They come to be called hippies. They try to live by the philosophy of "Peace and Love." They are on a trip of liberation. They commune, join hands in protest and in song. Within the context of the play, they struggle for the light, but are forced to fight & die, only to be reborn, again to suffer more, than to rise from the ashes, to glow, to shine in the Age of Aquarius.

Gerome Ragni (Co-Creator) was born and raised in Pittsburgh from a large Italian family. After a stint in the Air Force, as a young actor he won the Barter Theatre Award. He appeared on Broadway in the John Gielgud/Richard Burton Hamlet, starred in The Knack Off-Broadway and studied acting and new experimental theatre techniques with Nola Chilton and Joseph Chaikin and the Open Theater. An unusual stage presence, he created the role of Berger in HAIR. Movie: Lions Love. He wrote the Broadway musical Dude with music by Galt MacDermot and co-authored the yet-to-be-seen Sun. James Rado (Co-Creator) was born in Venice Beach, CA. Raised in Rochester, NY and Washington, D.C. Studied acting with Lee Strasberg. With Gerome Ragni created the book and lyrics of HAIR . On Broadway originated the roles of Richard the Lionhearted (The Lion in Winter) & Claude (HAIR). Did Agnes Varda's film Lions Love with Viva and Jerry Ragni. Has written two other shows: RAINBOW and SUN. Over the last dozen years, he has been focusing on the HAIR script again, to sharpen it for modern-day sensibilities. Galt MacDermot (Composer) is best known for the music he wrote for his Tony Award winning scores for HAIR and Two Gentlemen of Verona. His work spans the gamut of performing arts and he draws inspiration from a wealth of musical styles, crossing the boundaries of jazz, folk, gospel, reggae, classical styles and rap.MacDermot formed the New Pulse Jazz Band in 1979, which features his original music played by some of the world's best musicians.

The dynamic cast of HAIR includes actors from all over the Bay Area as well as some local favorites such as David Rock (Berger), Luke Chapman (Claude), Samantha Cardenas (Crissy), Phaedra Johnson (Dionne), Hayley Thirlwall (Sunny), Danny Martin (Hiram et al/Assistant Director), Anthone Jackson (Hud), Melissa Reinertson (Jeanie), Pablo Presti (Ny), Jennifer Gregoire (Sheila), Daniel Norberg (Eli et al), Kellie Morlock (Kiki), John Espejo (Woof).

Joe Duffy (Director/Choreographer) is an award winning artist with more than 30 years experience. His work in multi-media includes over 100 productions and spans several continents. Joe is the recipient of three National Association of Teachers of Singing Awards in Classical Voice, he holds a Dean Goodman Choice Award, a Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award and his work for CRT's Sweeney Todd in 2012 earned him a BroadwayWorld Nomination for Best Director. He opened at the Kennedy Center in 1988 as a principal soloist with U.S. Chorus and stayed a company member there for 4 seasons. Broadway/NYC and National Tour credits: PARADE - First B'way/National Company for Director, Harold Prince; Gypsy (US/Canadian Co.), Babes in Toyland at Madison Square Garden, Monster in the Woods (Orig. Cast-Workshop/Kennedy Center/Televised). Off-Broadway: Assoc. Director/Choreographer I GOT MERMAN (American Premiere) and Sacramento...50 Miles! (NYC Children's Music Workshop) For The San Francisco Symphony, he worked as Assoc. Director for Patricia Birch and Maestro Michael Tilson Thomas on Gershwin's Of Thee I Sing/ Let 'Em Eat Cake and Stravinsky's Le Rossignol. Other credits: Gershwin! By George (World Premiere/Dance Arrangements), Philadelphia Orchestra 100th Birthday Celebration, Candide and The Snow Queen at the Hal Prince Theatre and some 11 productions for the former American Musical Theatre of San Jose. He freelances as faculty in many programs and offers private lessons, career guidance and education counseling to artists in voice/dance and acting.

Joe Murphy (Vocal/Musical Director) Joe Murphy is happy to be making his debut as the Musical and Vocal Director at the Coastal Rep for HAIR. You may have seen him playing music at the Coastal Rep over the past 8 years also. Joe is the band director at Tierra Linda Middle School in San Carlos and works as the Technical Music Director at San Carlos Children's Theater along with his wife Sara. Joe is actively involved with Hillbarn Theatre in Foster City as assistant music director or actor in shows such as Oklahoma!, The Drowsy Chaperone and The Producers. Recent credits include Harry Houdini in Ragtime at Hillbarn. Past acting credits include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Reuben), Annie (Daddy Warbucks) and Once Upon a Mattress (Prince Dauntless).

Director's Notes: It seems hard to imagine that HAIR premiered off-Broadway nearly 46 years ago. Since that time versions of the work have played in countries across the world and in so many different tongues. It's also hard to imagine the number of lives that have been created since the show's inception. Alternately, I fear the number of lives that have been lost in those 46 years. And although HAIR has been perceived as anti-American, controversial or a subversive showing of counter-culture, it has gone on to become a classic in theatre repertoire, worldwide. And at any given time since the 1967 production, a production of HAIR is continually somewhere in this, our world. As does the theatre, HAIR creates unity and new life, again and again in peaceful tribes worldwide. This gives me hope and understanding that HAIR and it's once feared or shunned values has become a sustainable resources to all of us. HAIR is the world's musical. It is Eden for our delight and enlightenment as we pursue our Life, our Liberty and our Happiness. 'Tune in and Drop out' with us as we commemorate this great work and as we all celebrate The Troops, The Tribes, Our Community of Families, the ability to Dream and Love and truly, The Theatre. Orbiting planets never collide, but travel on their own path waiting to align with the others. We can, too. Where have all the flowers gone? They are all still here. Stop and smell the flowers on your path. Pass them on to others.

Dates and showtimes for HAIR: Opens, July 19th, 2013 at 8pm and runs through August 10th, 2013. Friday and Saturday nights at 8pm and Sundaymatinees at 2pm. Tickets range from $27 - $45. Adult themes and language. Recommended for mature audiences over 13 years of age. For more information and to purchase tickets: (650) 569-3266 or www.coastalrep.com. Coastal Repertory Theatre is located at 1167 Main Street in Half Moon Bay, California, 94019.

About the Coastal Repertory Theatre: Coastal Repertory Theatre surprises, inspires and delights its patrons with memorable dramatic, musical and comedic performances. Coastal Rep provides opportunities for artistic development in all aspects of the theater. Discovering and fostering new talent creates excitement and energy like no other Bay Area theatre, now for over 27 years.

To post a comment, you must register and login.