'Do Over?
Hair, the American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is about to turn 40
Baby boomers, here's a moment of reckoning: Hair, the American Tribal Love-Rock Musical — once the quintessence of counterculture — is about to turn 40. And almost nobody under the age of 50 has ever seen it! My musical theater students at Penn know the show mostly as a title. For them, Hair is a historical artifact, like Oklahoma! or The Merry Widow.
So how viable is Hair? Does this famously in-your-face, anti-establishment, pacifist show still pack a wallop? To help with the question, the Prince Music Theater offers a loving and mostly thoughtful re-creation of Hair — including the nudity that was such a cause célèbre in the original. And the answer? Yes and no.
Let's start by admitting that Hair was always a bizarre event. Its earliest off-Broadway performances were notable for the sense of impromptu about them — book and songs could change almost nightly. But the basic plot remained the same. A tribe of young hippies is presided over by two charismatic young men: Berger, gorgeous and narcissistic, and Claude, gorgeous and slightly less self-absorbed. Claude has recently received his draft card, and must figure out what to do about it. Should he protest at home, or head for Vietnam?
OK, not much of a plot (though for better and worse, much of the original book is used in this production). But in 1967, Hair felt electrifyingly fresh and topical. One might think the anti-war sentiment is equally topical now. And Hair is also crammed full of drugs and race and gender and the darkest hours of American history. Surely all this is as pertinent as ever? Maybe, but it doesn't play that way. Perhaps because our current situation seems even grimmer, the show feels naïve: less about war than about jejune kids about to face harsh reality.
What has aged well is the score, tuneful and flavorful, but also surprisingly complex. I should say Hair once sounded like radical rock, but contemporary ears will hear it as altogether gentler theater music. But whether it was rock, or rock opera, or show music, composer Galt MacDermot did some exceptionally advanced and interesting things.
Director Richard Parison Jr.'s production does reasonable justice to both theatrical and musical values. The '60s sensibility is fun, and he's made a game attempt to plunge the audience into an environmental staging (a bit awkward in Prince Theater, true). I'm of two minds about the cast — many supporting ensemble members are terrific, but several of the featured performers are short on both voice and charm. The small orchestra is excellent.
What's most important here is that Hair is delivered with energy and affection — and it's an opportunity to see an important piece of theater history. So you can judge for yourselves whether the show still works. There are young theatergoers — and, I'll bet, a number of nostalgic middle-aged ones — who'll revel in it. For me, Hair is in the category of a number of other '60s curiosities, like bell bottoms: If you did them the first time around, you probably shouldn't do them again.
HAIR
Through June 17, Prince Music Theater, 1412 Chestnut St., 215-569-9700, www.princemusictheater.org
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