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Hair (musical)
Encyclopedia
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical
with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni
and music by Galt MacDermot
. A product of the hippie
counter-culture
and sexual revolution
of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War
peace movement
. The musical's profanity, its depiction of the use of illegal drugs, its treatment of sexuality
, its irreverence for the American flag, and its nude scene caused much comment and controversy. The musical broke new ground in musical theatre
by defining the genre of "rock musical", using a racially integrated cast, and inviting the audience onstage for a "Be-In
" finale.
Hair tells the story of the "tribe", a group of politically active, long-haired
hippies of the "Age of Aquarius
" living a bohemian
life in New York City and fighting against conscription
into the Vietnam War
. Claude, his good friend Berger, their roommate Sheila and their friends struggle to balance their young lives, loves and the sexual revolution with their rebellion against the war and their conservative parents and society. Ultimately, Claude must decide whether to resist the draft
as his friends have done, or to succumb to the pressures of his parents (and conservative America) to serve in Vietnam, compromising his pacifistic
principles and risking his life.
After an Off-Broadway
debut in October 1967 at Joseph Papp
's Public Theater and a subsequent run in a midtown
discothèque space, the show opened on Broadway
in April 1968 and ran for 1,750 performances. Simultaneous productions in cities across the United States and Europe followed shortly thereafter, including a successful London production that ran for 1,997 performances. Since then, numerous productions have been staged around the world, spawning dozens of recordings of the musical, including the million-selling original Broadway cast recording. Some of the songs from its score became Top 10 hits, and a feature film adaptation
was released in 1979. A Broadway revival opened on March 31, 2009, earning strong reviews and winning the Tony Award
and Drama Desk Award
for best revival of a musical. In 2008, Time magazine
wrote, "Today Hair seems, if anything, more daring than ever."
. The two met in 1964 when they performed together in the Off-Broadway
flop Hang Down Your Head and Die, and they began writing Hair together in late 1964. The main characters were autobiographical, with Rado's Claude being a pensive romantic and Ragni's Berger an extrovert. Their close relationship, including its volatility, was reflected in the musical. Rado explained, "We were great friends. It was a passionate kind of relationship that we directed into creativity, into writing, into creating this piece. We put the drama between us on stage."
Rado described the inspiration for Hair as "a combination of some characters we met in the streets, people we knew and our own imaginations. We knew this group of kids in the East Village
who were dropping out
and dodging the draft
, and there were also lots of articles in the press about how kids were being kicked out of school for growing their hair long". He recalled, "There was so much excitement in the streets and the parks and the hippie areas, and we thought if we could transmit this excitement to the stage it would be wonderful.... We hung out with them and went to their Be-Ins
[and] let our hair grow." Many cast members (Shelley Plimpton
in particular) were recruited right off the street. Rado said, "It was very important historically, and if we hadn't written it, there'd not be any examples. You could read about it and see film clips, but you'd never experience it. We thought, 'This is happening in the streets,' and we wanted to bring it to the stage."
Rado and Ragni came from different artistic backgrounds. In college, Rado wrote musical revue
s and aspired to be a Broadway composer in the Rodgers and Hammerstein
tradition. He went on to study acting with Lee Strasberg
. Ragni, on the other hand, was an active member of The Open Theater
, one of several groups, mostly Off-off Broadway, that were developing experimental theatre
techniques. He introduced Rado to the modern theatre styles and methods being developed at The Open Theater. In 1966, while the two were developing Hair, Ragni performed in The Open Theater's production of Megan Terry
's play, Viet Rock, a story about young men being deployed to the Vietnam War. In addition to the war theme, Viet Rock employed the improvisational exercises being used in the experimental theatre scene and later used in the development of Hair.
Rado and Ragni brought their drafts of the show to producer Eric Blau who, through common friend Nat Shapiro
, connected the two with Canadian composer Galt MacDermot. MacDermot had won a Grammy Award
in 1961 for his composition "African Waltz" (recorded by Cannonball Adderley). The composer's lifestyle was in marked contrast to his co-creators: "I had short hair, a wife, and, at that point, four children, and I lived on Staten Island
." "I never even heard of a hippie when I met Rado and Ragni." But he shared their enthusiasm to do a rock and roll show. "We work independently," explained MacDermot in May 1968. "I prefer it that way. They hand me the material. I set it to music." MacDermot wrote the first score in three weeks, starting with the songs "I Got Life", "Ain't Got No", "Where Do I Go" and the title song. He first wrote "Aquarius" as an unconventional art piece, but later rewrote it into an uplifting anthem.
, decided he wanted Hair to open the new Public Theater
(still under construction) in New York City's East Village
. The musical was Papp's first non-Shakespeare offering. The production did not go smoothly: "The rehearsal and casting process was confused, the material itself incomprehensible to many of the theater’s staff. The director, Gerald Freedman
, the theater's associate artistic director, withdrew in frustration during the final week of rehearsals and offered his resignation. Papp accepted it, and the choreographer Anna Sokolow
took over the show.... After a disastrous final dress rehearsal, Papp wired Mr. Freedman in Washington, where he'd fled: 'Please come back.' Mr. Freedman did."
Hair premiered off-Broadway at the Public on October 17, 1967 and ran for a limited engagement of six weeks. The lead roles were played by Walker Daniels as Claude, Ragni as Berger, Jill O'Hara as Sheila, Steve Dean as Woof, Arnold Wilkerson
as Hud, Sally Eaton
as Jeanie and Shelley Plimpton as Crissy. Set design was by Ming Cho Lee
, costume design by Theoni Aldredge, and although Anna Sokolow began rehearsals as choreographer, Freedman received choreographer credit. Although the production had a "tepid critical reception", it was popular with audiences. A cast album was released in 1967.
Chicago businessman Michael Butler
was planning to run for the U.S. Senate on an anti-war platform. After seeing an ad for Hair in The New York Times
that led him to believe the show was about Native Americans
, he watched the Public's production several times and joined forces with Joe Papp to reproduce the show at another New York venue after the close of its run at the Public. Papp and Butler first moved the show to The Cheetah
, a discothèque at 53rd Street and Broadway. It opened there on December 22, 1967 and ran for 45 performances. There was no nudity in either the Public Theater or Cheetah production.
Before the move to Broadway, the creative team hired director Tom O'Horgan
, who had built a reputation directing experimental theater at the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club
. He had been the authors' first choice to direct the Public Theater production, but he was in Europe at the time. Newsweek
described O'Horgan's directing style as "sensual, savage, and thoroughly musical... [he] disintegrates verbal structure and often breaks up and distributes narrative and even character among different actors.... He enjoys sensory bombardment." In rehearsals, O'Horgan used techniques passed down by Viola Spolin
and Paul Sills
involving role playing and improvisational "games". Many of the improvisations tried during this process were incorporated into the Broadway script. O'Horgan and new choreographer Julie Arenal encouraged freedom and spontaneity in their actors, introducing "an organic, expansive style of staging" that had never been seen before on Broadway. The inspiration to include nudity came when the authors saw an anti-war demonstration in Central Park where two men stripped naked as an expression of defiance and freedom, and they decided to incorporate the idea into the show. O'Horgan had used nudity in many of the plays he directed, and he helped integrate the idea into the fabric of the show.
Papp declined to pursue a Broadway production, and so Butler produced the show himself. For a time it seemed that Butler would be unable to secure a Broadway theater, as the Shuberts, Nederlanders and other theater owners deemed the material too controversial. However, Butler pulled some political strings through family connections and convinced theater owner David Cogan to make the Biltmore Theatre available.
Claude, the nominal leader of the "tribe", sits center stage as the tribe mingles with the audience. Tribe members Sheila, a New York University
student who is a determined political activist, and Berger, an irreverent free spirit, cut a lock of Claude's hair and burn it in a receptacle. After the tribe converges in slow-motion toward the stage, through the audience, they begin their celebration as children of the Age of Aquarius ("Aquarius"). Berger removes his trousers to reveal a loincloth. Interacting with the audience, he introduces himself as a "psychedelic teddy bear" and reveals that he is "looking for my Donna" ("Donna").
The tribe recites a list of pharmaceuticals, legal and illegal ("Hashish"). Woof, a gentle soul, extols several sexual practices ("Sodomy") and says, "I grow things." He loves plants, his family and the audience, telling the audience, "We are all one." Hud, a militant African-American, is carried in upside down on a pole. He declares himself "president of the United States of love" ("Colored Spade"). In a fake English accent, Claude says that he is "the most beautiful beast in the forest" from "Manchester
, England". A tribe member reminds him that he's really from . Hud, Woof and Berger declare what color they are ("I'm Black"), while Claude says that he's "invisible". The tribe recites a list of things they lack ("Ain't Got No"). Four African-American tribe members recite street signs in symbolic sequence ("Dead End").
Sheila is carried onstage ("I Believe in Love") and leads the tribe in a protest chant. The tribe reprises "Ain't Got No (Grass)". Jeanie, an eccentric young woman, appears wearing a gas mask, satirizing pollution ("Air"). She is pregnant and in love with Claude. Although she wishes it was Claude's baby, she was "knocked up by some crazy speed freak". The tribe link together LBJ (President Lyndon B. Johnson
), FBI (the Federal Bureau of Investigation
), CIA (the Central Intelligence Agency
) and LSD
("Initials"). Six members of the tribe appear dressed as Claude's parents, berating him for his various transgressions – he does not have a job, and he collects "mountains of paper" clippings and notes. They say that they will not give him any more money, and "the army'll make a man out of you". In defiance, Claude leads the tribe in celebrating their vitality ("I Got Life").
After handing out imaginary pills to the tribe members, saying the pills are for high profile people such as Richard Nixon
, the Pope, and "Alabama Wallace
", Berger relates how he was expelled from high school ("Goin' Down"). Claude returns from his draft board
physical, which he passed. He pretends to burn his Vietnam War draft card, which Berger reveals as a library card. Claude agonizes about what to do about being drafted.
Two tribe members dressed as tourists come down the aisle to ask the tribe why they have such long hair
. In answer, Claude and Berger lead the tribe in explaining the significance of their "Hair". The tourist lady states that kids should "be free, no guilt" and should "do whatever you want, just so long as you don't hurt anyone." She observes that long hair is natural, like the "elegant plumage" of male birds ("My Conviction"). She opens her coat to reveal that she's a man in drag
. As the couple leaves, the tribe calls her Margaret Mead
.
Sheila gives Berger a yellow shirt. He goofs around and ends up tearing it in two. Sheila voices her distress that Berger seems to care more about the "bleeding crowd" than about her ("Easy to be Hard"). Jeanie summarizes everyone's romantic entanglements: "I'm hung up on Claude, Sheila's hung up on Berger, Berger is hung up everywhere. Claude is hung up on a cross over Sheila and Berger." The tribe runs out to the audience with fliers inviting them to a Be-In. Berger, Woof and another tribe member pay satiric tribute to the American flag as they fold it ("Don't Put it Down"). After young and innocent Crissy describes "Frank Mills", a boy she's looking for, the tribe participates in the "Be-In". The men of the tribe burn their draft cards
. Claude puts his card in the fire, then changes his mind and pulls it out. He asks, "where is the something, where is the someone, that tells me why I live and die?" ("Where Do I Go"). The tribe emerges naked, intoning "beads, flowers, freedom, happiness."
Act II
Four tribe members have the "Electric Blues". After a black-out, the tribe enters worshiping "Oh Great God of Power." Claude returns from the induction center, and tribe members act out an imagined conversation from Claude's draft interview, with Hud saying "the draft is white people sending black people to make war on the yellow people to defend the land they stole from the red people". Claude gives Woof a Mick Jagger
poster, and Woof is excited about the gift, as he has said he's hung up on Jagger. Three white women of the tribe tell why they like "Black Boys" ("black boys are delicious..."), and three black women of the tribe, dressed like The Supremes
, explain why they like "White Boys" ("white boys are so pretty...").
Berger gives a joint to Claude that is laced with a hallucinogen. Claude starts to trip as the tribe acts out his visions ("Walking in Space"). He hallucinates that he is skydiving from a plane into the jungles of Vietnam. Berger appears as General George Washington
and is told to retreat because of an Indian attack. The Indians shoot all of Washington's men. General Ulysses S. Grant
appears and begins a roll call: Abraham Lincoln
(played by a black female tribe member), John Wilkes Booth
, Calvin Coolidge
, Clark Gable
, Scarlett O'Hara
, Aretha Franklin
, Colonel George Custer. Claude Bukowski is called in the roll call, but Clark Gable says "he couldn't make it". They all dance a minuet
until three African witch doctor
s kill them – all except for Abraham Lincoln who says, "I'm one of you". Lincoln, after the three Africans sing his praises, recites an alternate version of the Gettysburg Address ("Abie Baby"). Booth shoots Lincoln, but Lincoln says to him, "I ain't dying for no white man".
As the visions continue, enter. One monk pours a can of gasoline over another monk, who is set afire (reminiscent of the self-immolation
of Thích Quảng Đức) and runs off screaming. strangle the . shoot the nuns with ray guns. people stab the astronauts with knives. kill the Chinese with bows and tomahawks. kill the Native Americans with machine guns and then kill each other. A Sergeant and two parents appear holding up a suit on a hanger. The parents talk to the suit as if it is their son and they are very proud of him. The bodies rise and play like children. The play escalates to violence until they are all dead again. They rise again ("Three-Five-Zero-Zero
") and, at the end of the trip sequence, two tribe members sing, over the dead bodies, a melody set to a Shakespeare
lyric about the nobility of Man ("What A Piece of Work Is Man").
After the trip, Claude says "I can't take this moment to moment living on the streets.... I know what I want to be... invisible". As they "look at the moon," Sheila and the others enjoy a light moment ("Good Morning Starshine
"). The tribe pays tribute to an old mattress ("The Bed"). Claude is left alone with his doubts. He leaves as the tribe enters wrapped in blankets in the midst of a snow storm. They start a protest chant and then wonder where Claude has gone. Berger calls out "Claude! Claude!" Claude enters dressed in a military uniform, his hair short, but they do not see him because he is an invisible spirit. Claude says, "like it or not, they got me."
Claude and everyone sing "Flesh Failures". The tribe moves in front of Claude as Sheila and Dionne take up the lyric. The whole tribe launches into "Let the Sun Shine In", and as they exit, they reveal Claude lying down center stage on a black cloth. During the curtain call, the tribe reprises "Let the Sun Shine In" and brings audience members up on stage to dance.
(Note: This plot summary is based on the original Broadway script. The script has varied in subsequent productions.)
on April 29, 1968. The production was directed by Tom O'Horgan and choreographed by Julie Arenal, with set design by Robin Wagner
, costume design by Nancy Potts, and lighting design by Jules Fisher
. The original Broadway "tribe" (i.e., cast) included authors Rado and Ragni, who played the lead roles of Claude and Berger, respectively, and Lynn Kellogg as Sheila, Lamont Washington as Hud, Sally Eaton and Shelley Plimpton reprising their off-Broadway roles as Jeanie and Crissy, Melba Moore
as Dionne, Steve Curry as Woof, Ronnie Dyson
(who sang "Aquarius"), Paul Jabara
and Diane Keaton
(both Moore and Keaton later played Sheila). Among the performers who appeared in Hair during its original Broadway run were Ben Vereen
, Keith Carradine
, Barry McGuire
, Ted Lange
, Meat Loaf
, Kenny Seymour (of Little Anthony and The Imperials), Joe Butler (of the Lovin' Spoonful), Peppy Castro (of the Blues Magoos
), Robin McNamara
, Heather MacRae (daughter of Gordon MacRae
), Eddie Rambeau
, Vicki Sue Robinson
, Beverly Bremers
and Kim Milford
.
The Hair team soon became embroiled in a lawsuit with the organizers of the Tony Awards. After assuring producer Michael Butler that commencing previews by April 3, 1968 would assure eligibility for consideration for the 1968 Tonys, the New York Theatre League later ruled Hair ineligible, moving the cutoff date to March 19. The producers brought suit but were unable to force the League to reconsider. At the 1969 Tonys, Hair was nominated for Best Musical
and Best Director
but lost out to 1776
in both categories. The production ran for four years and 1,750 performances, closing on July 1, 1972.
version played at the Aquarius Theatre on Sunset Boulevard
in Los Angeles beginning about six months after the Broadway opening and running for an unprecedented two years. The Los Angeles tribe included Rado, Ragni, Robert Rothman, Ben Vereen (who replaced Ragni), Red Shepard, Ted Neeley
(who replaced Rado), Meat Loaf
, Gloria Jones
, Táta Vega
, Jobriath
, Jennifer Warnes
, and Dobie Gray
.
There were soon nine simultaneous productions in U.S. cities, followed by national tours. Among the performers in these were Joe Mantegna
, André DeShields
, and Alaina Reed (Chicago), David Lasley
, David Patrick Kelly
and Shaun Murphy
(Detroit), Arnold McCuller
(tour), Bob Bingham
(Seattle) and Philip Michael Thomas
(San Francisco). The creative team from Broadway worked on Hair in Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco, as the Broadway staging served as a rough template for these and other early regional productions. One notable addition to the team in Los Angeles was Tom Smothers
, who served as co-producer. Regional casts consisted mostly of local actors, although a few Broadway cast members reprised their roles in other cities. O'Horgan or the authors sometimes took new ideas and improvisations from a regional show and brought them back to New York, such as when live chickens were tossed onto the stage in Los Angeles.
It was rare for so many productions to run simultaneously during an initial Broadway run. Producer Michael Butler, who had declared that Hair is "the strongest anti-war statement ever written", said the reason that he opened so many productions was to influence public opinion against the Vietnam War and end it as soon as possible.
in London on September 27, 1968 with the same creative team as the Broadway production. The opening night was delayed until the abolition of theatre censorship in England under the Theatres Act 1968
. As with other early productions, the London show added a sprinkling of local allusions and other minor departures from the Broadway version.
The original London tribe included Sonja Kristina, Paul Nicholas
, Melba Moore, Elaine Paige
, Paul Korda
, Marsha Hunt
, Floella Benjamin
, Alex Harvey
, Oliver Tobias
, Richard O'Brien
and Tim Curry
. This was Curry's first full-time theatrical acting role, where he met future Rocky Horror Show collaborator O'Brien. Hairs engagement in London surpassed the Broadway production, running for 1,997 performances until its closure was forced by the roof of the theatre collapsing in July 1973.
, Butler's partner and executive producer of the Broadway show. Castelli was a writer/producer who traveled in Paris art circles and rubbed elbows with Pablo Picasso
and Jean Cocteau
. Butler described him as a "crazy showman... the guy with the business suit and beads". Castelli made the decision to do the show in the local language of each country at a time when Broadway shows were always done in English. The translations followed the original script closely, and the Broadway stagings were used. Each script contained various local references, such as street names and the names or depictions of local politicians and celebrities. Castelli produced companies in France, Germany, Mexico and other countries, sometimes also directing the productions.
A German production, directed by Castelli, opened in 1968 in Munich
; the tribe included Donna Summer
and Liz Mitchell
(of Boney M
). A successful Parisian production of Hair opened on June 1, 1969. The original Australian production premiered in Sydney on June 6, 1969. It was produced by Harry M. Miller
and directed by Jim Sharman
, who also designed the production. The tribe included Keith Glass and then Reg Livermore
as Berger, John Waters
as Claude and Sharon Redd
as The Magician. Redd was one of six African-Americans brought to Australia to provide a racially integrated tribe. The production broke local box-office records and ran for two years, but because of some of the language in the show, the cast album was banned in Queensland and New Zealand. It transferred to Melbourne in 1971 and then had a national tour. The production also marked the stage debut of Boston
-born Australian vocalist Marcia Hines
. An 18 year-old Sônia Braga
appeared in the 1969 Brazilian production.
Another notable production was in the former Yugoslavia
(Belgrade
), the first Hair to be produced in a communist country. Directed by local female producer-director Mira Trailović
and attended by president Tito
, the Belgrade production was a favorite of authors Rado and Ragni, with Ragni declaring "there's no middle class prejudices here". Local references added to the script included barbs aimed at Mao Zedong
as well as Albania
, Yugoslavia's traditional rival.
By 1970, Hair was a huge financial success, and nineteen productions had been staged outside of North America. In addition to those named above, these included productions in Scandinavia, South America, Italy, Israel, Japan, Canada, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria. According to Billboard, the various productions of the show were raking in almost $1 million every ten days, and royalties were being collected for 300 different recordings of the show's songs, making it "the most successful score in history as well as the most performed score ever written for the Broadway stage."
(1927) and Porgy and Bess
(1935), Hair opened the Broadway musical to racial integration; fully one-third of the cast was African American. Except for satirically in skits, the roles for the black members of the tribe portrayed them as equals, breaking away from the traditional roles for blacks in entertainment as slaves or servants. An Ebony magazine article declared that the show was the biggest outlet for black actors in the history of the U.S. stage.
Several songs and scenes from the show address racial issues. "Colored Spade", which introduces the character Hud, a militant black male, is a long list of racial slurs ("jungle bunny... little black sambo") topped off with the declaration that Hud is the "president of the United States of love". At the end of his song, he tells the tribe that the "boogie man" will get them, as the tribe pretends to be frightened. "Dead End", sung by black tribe members, is a list of street signs that symbolize black frustration and alienation ("keep out... mad dog... hands off"). One of the tribe's protest chants is "What do we think is really great? To bomb, lynch and segregate!" "Black Boys/White Boys" is an exuberant acknowledgement of miscegenation
; the U.S. Supreme Court had struck down laws against the practice in 1967. Another of the tribe's protest chants is "Black, white, yellow, red. Copulate in a king-sized bed."
"Abie Baby" is part of the Act 2 "trip" sequence: four African witch doctors, who have just killed various American historical, cultural and fictional characters, sing the praises of Abraham Lincoln, portrayed by a black female tribe member, whom they decide not to kill. The first part of the song contains stereotypical language that black characters used in old movies, like "I's finished ... pluckin' y'all's chickens, fryin' mothers oats and grease" and "I's free now thanks to y'all Master Lincoln". The Lincoln character then recites a modernized version of the Gettysburg Address
, while a white female tribe member polishes Lincoln's shoes with her blond hair.
The many references to Native Americans throughout the script are part of the anti-civilization, anti-consumerism
, naturalism focus of the hippie movement and of Hair. The characters in the show are referred to as the "tribe", borrowing the term for Native American communities. The cast of each production chooses a tribal name: "The practice is not just cosmetic ... the entire cast must work together, must like each other, and often within the show, must work as a single organism. All the sense of family, of belonging, of responsibility and loyalty inherent in the word "tribe" has to be felt by the cast." To enhance this feeling, O'Horgan put the cast through sensitivity exercises based on trust, touching, listening and intensive examination that broke down barriers between the cast and crew and encouraged bonding. These exercises were based on techniques developed at the Esalen Institute
and Polish Lab Theater. The idea of Claude, Berger and Sheila living together is another facet of the '60s concept of tribe.
Hair glorifies sexual freedom in a variety of ways. In addition to acceptance of miscegenation, mentioned above, the characters' lifestyle acts as a sexually and politically charged updating of La bohème
; as Rado explained, "The love element of the peace movement was palpable." In the song "Sodomy", Woof exhorts everyone to "join the holy orgy Kama Sutra
". Toward the end of Act 2, the tribe members reveal their free love
tendencies when they banter back and forth about who will sleep with whom that night. As Clive Barnes
wrote in his original New York Times review of Hair, "homosexuality is not frowned upon." Woof has a crush on Mick Jagger, and a three-way embrace between Claude, Berger and Sheila turns into a Claude-Berger kiss.
Various illegal drugs are taken by the characters during the course of the show, most notably a hallucinogen during the trip sequence. The song "Walking in Space" starts off the sequence, and the lyrics celebrate the experience declaring "how dare they try to end this beauty ... in this dive we rediscover sensation ... our eyes are open, wide, wide, wide". Similarly, in the song "Donna", Berger sings that "I'm evolving through the drugs that you put down." At another point, Jeanie smokes a marijuana cigarette and says that anyone who thinks "pot" is bad is "full of shit". Generally, the tribe favors hallucinogenic or "mind expanding" drugs, such as LSD and marijuana, while disapproving of other drugs such as speed and depressants. For example, Jeanie, after revealing that she is pregnant by a "speed freak", says that "methedrine is a bad scene". The song "Hashish" provides a list of pharmaceuticals, both illegal and legal, including cocaine
, alcohol, LSD, cough syrup, opium
and Thorazine, which is used as an antipsychotic
.
over whether to burn his draft card
. Pacifism
is explored throughout the extended trip sequence in Act 2. The lyrics to "Three-Five-Zero-Zero
", which is sung during that sequence, evoke the horrors of war ("ripped open by metal explosion"). The song is based on Allen Ginsberg
's 1966 poem, "Wichita Vortex Sutra
". In the poem, General Maxwell Taylor proudly reports to the press the number of enemy soldiers killed in one month, repeating it digit by digit, for effect: "Three-Five-Zero-Zero." The song begins with images of death and dying and turns into a manic dance number, echoing Maxwell's glee at reporting the enemy casualties, as the tribe chants "Take weapons up and begin to kill". The song also includes the repeated phrase "Prisoners in niggertown/ It's a dirty little war".
"Don't Put It Down" satirizes the unexamined patriotism of people who are literally "crazy" for the American flag. "Be In (Hare Krishna)" praises the peace movement and events like the San Francisco and Central Park Be-In
s. Throughout the show, the tribe chants popular protest slogans like "What do we want? Peace – When do we want it? Now!" and "Do not enter the induction center". The upbeat song, "Let the Sun Shine In", is a call to action, to reject the darkness of war and change the world for the better.
Hair also aims its satire at the pollution caused by our civilization. Jeanie appears from a trap door in the stage wearing a gas mask and then sings the song "Air": "Welcome, sulfur dioxide. Hello carbon monoxide. The air ... is everywhere". She suggests that pollution will eventually kill her, "vapor and fume at the stone of my tomb, breathing like a sullen perfume". In a comic, pro-green vein, when Woof introduces himself, he explains that he "grows things" like "beets, and corn ... and sweet peas" and that he "loves the flowers and the fuzz and the trees".
. During "Sodomy", a hymn-like paean to all that is "dirty" about sex, the cast strikes evocative religious positions: the Pietà
and Christ on the cross. Before the song, Woof recites a modified rosary
. In Act II, when Berger gives imaginary pills to various famous figures, he offers "a pill for the Pope". In "Going Down", after being kicked out of school, Berger compares himself to Lucifer
: "Just like the angel that fell / Banished forever to hell / Today have I been expelled / From high school heaven." Claude becomes a classic Christ figure at various points in the script. In Act I, Claude enters, saying, "I am the Son of God. I shall vanish and be forgotten," then gives benediction to the tribe and the audience. Claude suffers from indecision, and, in his Gethsemane
at the end of Act I, he asks "Where Do I Go?". There are textual allusions to Claude being on a cross, and, in the end, he is chosen to give his life for the others. Berger can be seen as a John the Baptist
figure, preparing the way for Claude.
Songs like "Good Morning, Starshine" and "Aquarius" reflect the '60s cultural interest in astrological and cosmic concepts. "Aquarius" was the result of Rado's research into his own astrological sign
. The company's astrologer, Maria Crummere, was consulted about casting: Sheila was usually played by a Libra
or Capricorn and Berger by a Leo
, although Ragni, the original Berger, was a Virgo
. Crummere was also consulted when deciding when the show would open on Broadway and in other cities. The 1971 Broadway Playbill
reported that she chose April 29, 1968 for the Broadway premiere. "The 29th was auspicious ... because the moon was high, indicating that people would attend in masses. The position of the 'history makers' (Pluto
, Uranus
, Jupiter
) in the 10th house made the show unique, powerful and a money-maker. And the fact that Neptune
was on the ascendancy foretold that Hair would develop a reputation involving sex."
In Mexico, where Crummere did not pick the opening date, the show was closed down by the government after one night. She was not pleased with the date of the Boston
opening (where the producers were sued over the show's content) saying, "Jupiter will be in opposition to naughty Saturn
, and the show opens the very day of the sun's eclipse
. Terrible." But there was no astrologically safe time in the near future.
and Hamlet
, and, at times, takes lyrical material directly from Shakespeare. For example, the lyrics to the song "What a Piece of Work Is Man" are from Hamlet (II: scene 2) and portions of "Flesh Failures" ("the rest is silence") are from Hamlet's final lines. In "Flesh Failures/Let The Sun Shine In", the lyrics "Eyes, look your last!/ Arms, take your last embrace! And lips, O you/ The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss" are from Romeo and Juliet (V: iii, 111–14). According to Miller, the Romeo suicide imagery makes the point that, with our complicity in war, we are killing ourselves.
Symbolically, the running plot of Claude's indecision, especially his resistance to burning his draft card, which ultimately causes his demise, has been seen as a parallel to Hamlet: "the melancholy hippie". The symbolism is carried into the last scene, where Claude appears as a ghostly spirit among his friends wearing an army uniform in an ironic echo of an earlier scene, where he says, "I know what I want to be ... invisible". According to Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis
, "Both [Hair and Hamlet] center on idealistic brilliant men as they struggle to find their place in a world marred by war, violence, and venal politics. They see both the luminous possibilities and the harshest realities of being human. In the end, unable to effectively combat the evil around them, they tragically succumb."
Other literary references include the song "Three-Five-Zero-Zero", based on Ginsberg's poem "Wichita Vortex Sutra", and, in the psychedelic drug trip sequence, the portrayal of Scarlett O'Hara
, from Gone with the Wind
, and activist African-American poet LeRoi Jones.
says, "performance, action, and event are the key terms of our theatre – and these terms are not literary." In the 1950s, Off-off Broadway theaters began experimenting with non-traditional theater roles, blurring the lines between playwright, director, and actor. The playwright's job was not just to put words on a page, but to create a theatrical experience based on a central idea. By 1967, theaters such as the Living Theatre, La MaMa E.T.C., and The Open Theatre were actively devising plays from improvisational scenes crafted in the rehearsal space, rather than following a traditional script.
Hair was designed in much the same way. Tom O'Horgan, the show's Broadway director, was intimately involved in the experimental theatre movement. In the transition to Broadway, O'Horgan and the writers rearranged scenes to increase the experimental aspects of the show. Hair asks its actors to assume several different characters throughout the course of the piece, and, as in Claude's psychedelic trip in Act 2, sometimes during the same scene. Both Hair and Viet Rock include rock music, borrowed heavily from mass media, and frequently break down the invisible "fourth wall
" to interact with the audience. For example, in the opening number, the tribe mingles with audience members, and at the end of the show, the audience is invited on stage.
stenciled on the stage. The stage was raked, and a tower of abstract scaffolding upstage at the rear merged a Native American totem pole and a modern sculpture of a crucifix
-shaped tree. This scaffolding was decorated with found objects that the cast had gathered from the streets of New York. These included a life-size papier-mâché
bus driver, the head of Jesus, and a neon marquee of the Waverly movie theater in Greenwich Village. Potts' costumes were based on hippie street clothes, made more theatrical with enhanced color and texture. Some of these included mixed parts of military uniforms, bell bottom jeans with Ukrainian embroidery, tie dyed t-shirts and a red white and blue fringed coat. Early productions were primarily reproductions of this basic design.
, during the interval
at a London preview, to quip, "Did you happen to notice if any of them were Jewish?" Nevertheless, the scene prompted threats of censorship and even violent reactions in some places.
The nudity was optional for the performers. The French cast was "the nudest" of the foreign groups, while the London cast "found the nudity the hardest to achieve." The Swedish cast was reluctant to disrobe, but in Copenhagen
, the tribe thought the nudity too tame and decided to walk naked up and down the aisle during the show's prelude. In some early performances, the Germans played their scene behind a big sheet labeled "CENSORED". Original Broadway cast member Natalie Mosco said, "I was dead set against the nude scene at first, but I remembered my acting teacher having said that part of acting is being private in public. So I did it." According to Melba Moore, "It doesn't mean anything except what you want it to mean. We put so much value on clothing our bodies, but it doesn't mean a damn thing. It's like so much else people get uptight about. Sure, I was scared the first time. I thought 'Everybody's looking at me. I've got no protection.' Now I'm still kind of surprised that I'm standin' there naked, but I'm not embarrassed, the audience is." Donna Summer, who was in the German production, said that "it was not meant to be sexual in any way. We stood naked to comment on the fact that society makes more of nudity than killing. We worry more about someone walking around half dressed than somebody who's walking around shooting people." Rado said that "being naked in front of an audience, you're baring your soul. Not only the soul but the whole body was being exposed. It was very apt, very honest and almost necessary."
After studying the music of the Bantu at Cape Town University, McDermot incorporated African rhythms into the score of Hair. He listened to "what [the Bantu] called quaylas... [which have a] very characteristic beat, very similar to rock. Much deeper though.... Hair is very African – a lot of [the] rhythms, not the tunes so much." Quaylas
stress beats on unexpected syllables, and this influence can be heard in songs like "What a Piece of Work Is Man" and "Ain't Got No Grass". MacDermot said, "My idea was to make a total funk show. They said they wanted rock & roll – but to me that translated to 'funk.'" That funk
is evident throughout the score, notably in songs like "Colored Spade" and "Walking in Space".
MacDermot has claimed that the songs "can't all be the same. You've got to get different styles.... I like to think they're all a little different." As such, the music in Hair runs the gamut of rock: from the rockabilly
sensibilities of "Don't Put it Down" to the folk rock
rhythms of "Frank Mills" and "What a Piece of Work is Man". "Easy to be Hard" is pure rhythm and blues
, and protest rock
anthems abound: "Ain't Got No" and "The Flesh Failures". The acid rock
of "Walking in Space" and "Aquarius" are balanced by the mainstream pop of "Good Morning Starshine". Scott Miller ties the music of Hair to the hippies' political themes: "The hippies... were determined to create art of the people and their chosen art form, rock/folk music was by its definition, populist. ...[T]he hippies' music was often very angry, its anger directed at those who would prostitute the Constitution, who would sell America out, who would betray what America stood for; in other words, directed at their parents and the government." Theatre historian John Kenrick
explains the application of rock music to the medium of the stage:
The music did not resonate with everyone. Leonard Bernstein
remarked "the songs are just laundry lists" and walked out of the production. Richard Rodgers
could only hear the beat and called it "one-third music".
John Fogerty
said, "Hair is such a watered down version of what is really going on that I can’t get behind it at all." Gene Lees, writing for High Fidelity, claimed that John Lennon
found it "dull", and he wrote, "I do not know any musician who thinks it's good."
Act I
Act II
The show was under almost perpetual re-write. Thirteen songs were added between the production at the Public Theater and Broadway, including "I Believe in Love". "The Climax" and "Dead End" were cut between the productions, and "Exanaplanetooch" and "You Are Standing on My Bed" were present in previews but cut before Broadway. The Shakespearean speech "What a piece of work is a man
" was originally spoken by Claude and musicalized by MacDermot for Broadway, and "Hashish" was formed from an early speech of Berger's. Subsequent productions have included "Hello There", "Dead End", and "Hippie Life" – a song originally written for the film that Rado included in several productions in Europe in the mid-nineties. The current Broadway revival includes the ten-second "Sheila Franklin" and "O Great God of Power", two songs that were cut from the original production.
was made in 1967 featuring the off-Broadway cast. The original Broadway cast recording
received a Grammy Award in 1968 for Best Score from an Original Cast Show Album and sold nearly 3 million copies in the U.S. by December 1969. The New York Times noted in 2007 that "The cast album of Hair was... a must-have for the middle classes. Its exotic orange-and-green cover art imprinted itself instantly and indelibly on the psyche.... [It] became a pop-rock classic that, like all good pop, has an appeal that transcends particular tastes for genre or period." The 1993 London revival cast album contains new music that has been incorporated into the standard rental version.
RCA also released DisinHAIRited (RCA LSO-1163): an album of songs that had been written for the show, but saw varying amounts of stage time. Some of the songs were cut between the Public and Broadway, some had been left off the original cast album due to space, and a few were never performed onstage.
Songs from Hair have been recorded by numerous artists, including Shirley Bassey
, Barbra Streisand
and Diana Ross
. "Good Morning Starshine" was sung on a 1969 episode of Sesame Street
by cast member Bob McGrath
, and versions by artists such as Sarah Brightman
, Petula Clark
, and Strawberry Alarm Clock
have been recorded. Artists as varied as Liza Minnelli
and The Lemonheads
have recorded "Frank Mills", and Andrea McArdle
, Jennifer Warnes
, and Sérgio Mendes
have each contributed versions of "Easy to be Hard". Hair also helped launch recording careers for performers Meat Loaf, Dobie Gray, Jennifer Warnes, Jobriath, Bert Sommer
, Ronnie Dyson, Donna Summer and Melba Moore, among others.
The score of Hair saw chart successes, as well. The 5th Dimension released "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In
" in 1969, which won Record of the Year
and topped the charts
for six weeks. The Cowsills
's recording of the title song "Hair" climbed to #2 on the Billboard
charts while Oliver
's rendition of "Good Morning Starshine" reached #3. Three Dog Night
's version of "Easy to Be Hard" went to #4, and Nina Simone
's 1968 medley of "Ain't Got No / I Got Life" reached the top 5 on the British charts. In 1970, ASCAP announced that "Aquarius" was played more frequently on U.S. radio and television than any other song that year.
Productions in England, Germany, France, Sweden, Japan, Israel, Holland, Australia and elsewhere released cast albums, and over 1,000 vocal and/or instrumental performances of individual songs from Hair have been recorded. Such broad attention was paid to the recordings of Hair that, after an unprecedented bidding war, ABC Records
was willing to pay a record amount for MacDermot's next Broadway adaptation Two Gentlemen of Verona
. The 2009 revival recording, released on June 23, debuted at #1 on Billboards "Top Cast Album" chart and at #63 in the Top 200
, qualifying it as the highest debuting album in Ghostlight Records history.
said the show was "exuberantly defiant and the production explodes into every nook and cranny of the Biltmore Theater". Richard Watts Jr. of the New York Post
wrote that "it has a surprising if perhaps unintentional charm, its high spirits are contagious, and its young zestfulness makes it difficult to resist."
Television reviews were even more enthusiastic. Allan Jeffreys of ABC
said the actors were "the most talented hippies you'll ever see... directed in a wonderfully wild fashion by Tom O'Horgan." Leonard Probst of NBC
said "Hair is the only new concept in musicals on Broadway in years and it's more fun than any other this season". John Wingate of WOR TV
praised MacDermot's "dynamic score" that "blasts and soars", and Len Harris of CBS
said "I've finally found the best musical of the Broadway season... it's that sloppy, vulgar, terrific tribal love rock musical Hair."
A reviewer from Variety
, on the other hand, called the show "loony" and "without a story, form, music, dancing, beauty or artistry.... It's impossible to tell whether [the cast has] talent. Maybe talent is irrelevant in this new kind of show business." Reviews in the news weeklies were mixed; Jack Kroll in Newsweek wrote, "There is no denying the sheer kinetic drive of this new Hair... there is something hard, grabby, slightly corrupt about O'Horgan's virtuosity, like Busby Berkeley gone bitchy." But a reviewer from Time wrote that although the show "thrums with vitality [it is] crippled by being a bookless musical and, like a boneless fish, it drifts when it should swim."
Reviews were mixed when Hair opened in London. Irving Wardle in The Times
wrote, "Its honesty and passion give it the quality of a true theatrical celebration – the joyous sound of a group of people telling the world exactly what they feel." In The Financial Times, B. A. Young agreed that Hair was "not only a wildly enjoyable evening, but a thoroughly moral one." However, in his final review before retiring after 48 years, 78-year-old W. A. Darlington of The Daily Telegraph
wrote that he had "tried hard", but found the evening "a complete bore – noisy, ugly and quite desperately funny."
Acknowledging the show's critics, Scott Miller wrote in 2001 that "some people can't see past the appearance of chaos and randomness to the brilliant construction and sophisticated imagery underneath." Miller notes, "Not only did many of the lyrics not rhyme, but many of the songs didn't really have endings, just a slowing down and stopping, so the audience didn't know when to applaud.... The show rejected every convention of Broadway, of traditional theatre in general, and of the American musical in specific. And it was brilliant."
Hair challenged many of the norms
held by Western society in 1968. The name itself, inspired by the name of a Jim Dine
painting depicting a comb and a few strands of hair, was a reaction to the restrictions of civilization and consumerism and a preference for naturalism. Rado remembers that long hair "was a visible form of awareness in the consciousness expansion. The longer the hair got, the more expansive the mind was. Long hair was shocking, and it was a revolutionary act to grow long hair. It was kind of a flag, really."
The musical caused controversy when it was first staged. The Act I finale was the first time a Broadway show had seen totally naked actors and actresses, and the show was charged with the desecration of the American flag and the use of obscene language
. These controversies, in addition to the anti–Vietnam War theme, attracted occasional threats and acts of violence during the show's early years and became the basis for legal actions both when the show opened in other cities and on tour. Two cases eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
, the production was picketed by several church groups. In Indianapolis, Indiana
, the producers had difficulty securing a theater, and city authorities suggested that the cast wear body stockings as a compromise to the city's ordinance prohibiting publicly displayed nudity. Productions were frequently confronted with the closure of theaters by the fire marshal
, as in . Chattanooga's 1972 refusal to allow the play to be shown at the city-owned Memorial Auditorium
was later found by the U.S. Supreme Court to be an unlawful prior restraint
.
The legal challenges against the Boston production were appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Chief of the Licensing Bureau took exception to the portrayal of the American flag in the piece, saying, "anyone who desecrates the flag should be whipped on Boston Common
." Although the scene was removed before opening, the District Attorney
's office began plans to stop the show, claiming that "lewd and lascivious" actions were taking place onstage. The Hair legal team obtained an injunction
against criminal prosecution from the Superior Court, and the D.A. appealed to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
. At the request of both parties, several of the justices viewed the production and handed down a ruling that "each member of the cast [must] be clothed to a reasonable extent." The cast defiantly played the scene nude later that night, stating that the ruling was vague as to when it would take effect. The next day, April 10, 1970, the production closed, and movie houses, fearing the ruling on nudity, began excising scenes from films in their exhibition. After the Federal appellate bench reversed the Massachusetts court's ruling, the D.A. appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a 4–4 decision, the Court upheld the lower court's decision, allowing Hair to re-open on May 22.
In April 1971, a bomb was thrown at the exterior of a theater in that had been housing a production, bouncing off the marquee and shattering windows in the building and in nearby storefronts. That same month, the families of cast member Jonathon Johnson and stage manager Rusty Carlson died in a fire in the Cleveland hotel where 33 members of the show's troupe had been staying. The Sydney, Australia production's opening night was interrupted by a bomb scare in June 1969.
was seen dancing onstage in London, and in Washington DC, Henry Kissinger
attended. In , a protesting clergyman released 18 white mice into the lobby hoping to frighten the audience. Capt. Jim Lovell
and Jack Swigert
, after dubbing Apollo 13
's lunar module
"Aquarius" after the song, walked out of the production at the Biltmore in protest of perceived anti-Americanism and disrespect of the flag.
An Acapulco
, Mexico production of Hair, directed by Castelli, played in 1969 for one night. After the performance, the theater, located across the street from a popular local bordello, was padlocked by the government, which said the production was "detrimental to the morals of youth." The cast was arrested soon after the performance and taken to Immigration, where they agreed to leave the country, but because of legal complications they were forced to go into hiding. They were expelled from Mexico days later.
Hair effectively marked the end of stage censorship
in the United Kingdom. London's stage censor, the Lord Chamberlain
, originally refused to license the musical, and the opening was delayed until Parliament passed a bill stripping him of his licensing power. In Munich, authorities threatened to close the production if the nude scene remained; however, after a local Hair spokesman declared that his relatives had been marched nude into Auschwitz, the authorities relented. In Bergen
, Norway, local citizens formed a human barricade to try to prevent the performance.
The Parisian production encountered little controversy, and the cast disrobed for the nude scene "almost religiously" according to Castelli, nudity being common on stage in Paris. Even in Paris there was nevertheless occasional opposition, however, such as when a member of the local Salvation Army
used a portable loud speaker to exhort the audience to halt the presentation.
and Annie Golden
. Newcomer Peter Gallagher
left the ensemble during previews to take the role of Danny Zuko in a tour of Grease
. Reviews were generally negative, and critics accused the production of "showing its gray". Few major revivals of Hair followed until the early 1990s.
A movie version of Hair, with a screenplay by Michael Weller
, was directed by Miloš Forman
and released in 1979. Filmed primarily in New York City's Central Park
and Washington Square Park
, the cast includes Treat Williams
, Beverly D'Angelo
, John Savage
, Foley and Golden. Several of the songs were deleted, and the film's storyline departs significantly from the musical. The character of Claude is rewritten as an innocent draftee from Oklahoma
, newly arrived in New York to join the military, and Sheila is a high-society debutante
who catches his eye. In perhaps the greatest diversion from the stage version, a mistake leads Berger to go to Vietnam in Claude's place, where he is killed.
Rado and Ragni were unhappy with the film, feeling that Forman portrayed the hippies as "oddballs" and "some sort of aberration" without any connection to the peace movement, failing to capture the essence of the original stage production. They stated: "Any resemblance between the 1979 film and the original Biltmore version, other than some of the songs, the names of the characters, and a common title, eludes us." In their view, the screen version of Hair has not yet been produced.
However, the film received generally favorable reviews. Writing in The New York Times
, Vincent Canby
called it "a rollicking musical memoir.... Weller's inventions make this Hair seem much funnier than I remember the show's having been. They also provide time and space for the development of characters who, on the stage, had to express themselves almost entirely in song.... [T]he entire cast is superb.... Mostly... the film is a delight."
to benefit children with AIDS. The event was sponsored by First Lady
Nancy Reagan
with Barbara Walters
giving the night's opening introduction. Rado, Ragni and MacDermot reunited to write nine new songs for the concert. The cast of 163 actors included former stars from various productions around the globe: Melba Moore, Ben Vereen, Treat Williams and Donna Summer, as well as guest performers Bea Arthur, Frank Stallone
and Dr. Ruth Westheimer. Ticket prices ranged from $250 to $5,000 and the proceeds went to the United States Committee for UNICEF and the Creo Society's Fund for Children with AIDS.
A 1985 production of Hair mounted in Montreal was reportedly the 70th professional production of the musical. In November 1988, Michael Butler produced Hair at Chicago's Vic Theater to celebrate the shows' 20th anniversary. The production was well-received and ran until February 1989. From 1990 to 1991, Pink Lace Productions ran a U.S. national tour of Hair that included stops in South Carolina
, Georgia
, Tennessee
and Kentucky
. After Ragni died in 1991, MacDermot and Rado continued to write new songs for revivals through the 1990s. Hair Sarajevo, AD 1992 was staged during the Siege of Sarajevo
as an appeal for peace. Rado directed a $1 million, 11 city national tour in 1994 that featured actors Luther Creek
, Kent Dalian, Sean Jenness and Catrice Joseph. With MacDermot returning to oversee the music, Rado's tour celebrated the show's 25th anniversary. A small 1990 "bus and truck" production of Hair toured Europe for over 3 years, and Rado directed various European productions from 1995 to 1999.
A production opened in Australia in 1992 and a short-lived London revival starring John Barrowman
and Paul Hipp opened at the Old Vic
in London in 1993, directed by Michael Bogdanov
. While the London production was faithful to the original, a member of the production staff said the reason it "flopped" was because the tribe consisted of "Thatcher's
children who didn't really get it". Other productions were mounted around the world, including South Africa, where the show had been banned until the eradication of Apartheid. In 1996, Butler brought a month-long production to Chicago, employing the Pacific Musical Theater, a professional troupe in residence at California State University, Fullerton
. Butler ran the show concurrently with the 1996 Democratic National Convention
, echoing the last time the DNC was in Chicago: 1968
. A 30th Anniversary Off-Off Broadway production was staged at Third Eye Repertory. It was directed by Shawn Rozsa.
as Berger, Sam Harris
as Claude and Jennifer Leigh Warren as Sheila. That same year, Encores!
Great American Musicals in Concert ended its 2001 City Center season with a production of Hair starring Luther Creek, Idina Menzel
, Jessica-Snow Wilson and Tom Plotkin
, and featuring Hair composer Galt MacDermot on stage playing the keyboards. An Actors' Fund benefit of the show was performed for one night at the New Amsterdam Theater in New York City in 2004. The Tribe included Shoshana Bean
, Raul Esparza
, Jim J. Bullock, Liz Callaway
, Gavin Creel
, Eden Espinosa
, Harvey Fierstein
, Ana Gasteyer
, Annie Golden, Jennifer Hudson
, Julia Murney
, Jai Rodriguez
, RuPaul
, Michael McKean
, Laura Benanti
and Adam Pascal
.
In 2005, a London production opened at the Gate Theatre, directed by Daniel Kramer. James Rado approved an updating of the musical's script to place it in the context of the Iraq War instead of the Vietnam War. Kramer's modernized interpretation included "Aquarius" sung over a megaphone in Times Square, and nudity that called to mind images from Abu Ghraib
. In March 2006, Rado collaborated with director Robert Prior for a CanStage production of Hair in Toronto, and a revival produced by Pieter Toerien
toured South Africa in 2007. Directed by Paul Warwick Griffin, with choreography by Timothy Le Roux, the show ran at the Montecasino Theatre in Johannesburg and at Theatre on the Bay in Cape Town. A two-week run played at the Teatro Tapia
in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
, in March 2010, directed by Yinoelle Colón.
Michael Butler produced Hair at the MET Theatre in Los Angeles from September 14 through December 30, 2007. The show was directed and choreographed by Bo Crowell, with musical direction from Christian Nesmith (son of Michael Nesmith
). The Tribe featured James Barry, Lee Ferris, Johanna Unger, Dawn Worrall and Trance Thompson. Butler's production of Hair won the LA Weekly Theater Award
for Musical of the Year.
For three nights in September 2007, Joe's Pub
and the Public Theatre presented a 40th anniversary production of Hair at the Delacorte Theater
in Central Park. This concert version, directed by Diane Paulus
, featured Jonathan Groff
as Claude and Galt MacDermot on stage on the keyboards. The cast also included Karen Olivo
as Sheila, Will Swenson
as Berger and Darius Nichols as Hud. Actors from the original Broadway production joined the cast on stage during the encore of "Let the Sun Shine In." Demand for the show was overwhelming, as long lines and overnight waits for tickets far exceeded that for other Delacorte productions such as Mother Courage and Her Children
starring Meryl Streep
and Kevin Kline
.
Nine months later, The Public Theater presented a fully staged production of Hair at the Delacorte in a limited run from July 22, 2008 to September 14, 2008. Paulus again directed, with choreography by Karole Armitage
. Groff and Swenson returned as Claude and Berger, together with others from the concert cast. Caren Lyn Manuel
played Sheila, and Christopher J. Hanke
replaced Groff as Claude on August 17. Reviews were generally positive, with Ben Brantley
of The New York Times
writing that "this production establishes the show as more than a vivacious period piece. Hair, it seems, has deeper roots than anyone remembered". Time
magazine wrote: "Hair... has been reinvigorated and reclaimed as one of the great milestones in musical-theatre history. ... Today Hair seems, if anything, more daring than ever."
, beginning previews on March 6, 2009, with an official opening on March 31, 2009. Paulus and Armitage again directed and choreographed, and most of the cast returned from the production in the park. A pre-performance ticket lottery was held nightly for $25 box-seat tickets. The opening cast included Gavin Creel
as Claude, Will Swenson as Berger, Caissie Levy
as Sheila, Allison Case as Crissy, Darius Nichols as Hud, Bryce Ryness as Woof, Kacie Sheik as Jeanie, Megan Lawrence as Mom, Andrew Kober as Dad and Margaret Mead, and Sasha Allen
as Dionne. Designers included Scott Pask
(sets), Michael McDonald (costumes) and Kevin Adams
(lighting).
Critical response was almost uniformly positive. The New York Daily News headline proclaimed "Hair Revival's High Fun". The review praised the daring direction, "colorfully kinetic" choreography and technical accomplishments of the show, especially the lighting, commening that "as a smile-inducing celebration of life and freedom, [Hair is] highly communicable"; but warning: "If you're seated on the aisle, count on [the cast] to be in your face or your lap or ... braiding your tresses." The New York Post
wrote that the production "has emerged triumphant.... These days, the nation is fixated less on war and more on the economy. As a result, the scenes that resonate most are the ones in which the kids exultantly reject the rat race." Variety enthused, "Director Diane Paulus and her prodigiously talented cast connect with the material in ways that cut right to the 1967 rock musical's heart, generating tremendous energy that radiates to the rafters. ... What could have been mere nostalgia instead becomes a full-immersion happening. ... If this explosive production doesn't stir something in you, it may be time to check your pulse." The Boston Globe
dissented, saying that the production "felt canned" and "overblown" and that the revival "feels unbearably naive and unforgivably glib". Ben Brantley, writing for The New York Times, reflected the majority, however, delivering a glowing review:
The Public Theatre struggled to raise the $5.5 million budgeted for the Broadway transfer, because of the severity of the economic recession in late 2008, but it reached its goal by adding new producing partners. Director Diane Paulus helped keep costs low by using an inexpensive set. The show grossed a healthy $822,889 in its second week. On April 30, 2009 on the Late Show with David Letterman
, the cast recreated a performance on the same stage at the Ed Sullivan Theater
by the original tribe. The production won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical
, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Musical
and the Drama League Award
for Distinguished Revival of a Musical. Its cast album won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album. By August 2009, the revival had recouped its entire $5,760,000 investment, becoming one of the fastest-recouping musicals in Broadway history.
When the Broadway cast transferred to London for the 2010 West-End revival, a mostly new tribe took over on Broadway on March 9, 2010, including former American Idol
finalists Ace Young
as Berger and Diana DeGarmo
as Sheila. Kyle Riabko
assumed the role of Claude, and Annaleigh Ashford
played Jeanie. Sales decreased after the original cast transferred to London, and the revival closed on June 27, 2010 after 29 previews and 519 regular performances.
A U.S. National Tour of the production began in October 2010. Kacie Sheik and Darius Nichols returned as Jeannie and Hud. Other principals are Steel Burkhardt as Berger, Paris Remillard as Claude, Caren Lyn Tackett as Sheila, Matt DeAngelis as Woof and Kaitlin Kiyan as Crissy. The tour has received mostly positive reviews. The tour had an engagement on Broadway at the St. James Theatre
from July 5 through September 10, 2011. After that, the tour resumed.
in London's West End
. Previews began on April 1, 2010 with an official opening on April 14. The producers were the Public Theatre, together with Cameron Mackintosh
and Broadway Across America
. Nearly all of the New York cast relocated to London. A new addition to the London cast was Luther Creek
as Woof. The London revival closed on September 4, 2010.
The production received mostly enthusiastic reviews. Michael Billington
of The Guardian
described it as "a vibrant, joyous piece of living theatre", writing, "it celebrates a period when the joy of life was pitted against the forces of intolerance and the death-dealing might of the military-industrial complex. As Shakespeare once said: 'There's sap in't yet.'" Charles Spencer in The Daily Telegraph
agreed: "This is a timely and irresistibly vital revival of the greatest of all rock musicals. ... The verve and energy of the company ... is irresistible." Michael Coveney
of The Independent
wrote that Hair is "one of the great musicals of all time, and a phenomenon that, I'm relieved to discover, stands up as a period piece". In The Times
, Benedict Nightingale
commented that "it's exhilarating, as well as oddly poignant, when a multihued cast dressed in everything from billowing kaftans to Ruritania
n army jackets race downstage while delivering that tuneful salute to an age of Aquarius that still refuses to dawn." Quentin Letts
was a dissenting voice in the Daily Mail
. Though praising the performances and the production, he wrote: "by the end the fraudulence of the gaiety becomes sickening. There is a lack of truthfulness in Hair which may not have been apparent when it was first performed in New York City in 1967 but which, today, is unavoidable."
fell, the show traveled for the first time to Poland, Lebanon, the Czech Republic and Sarajevo (featured on ABC's Nightline with Ted Koppel
, when Phil Alden Robinson
visited that city in 1996 and discovered a production of Hair there in the midst of the war). In 1999, Michael Butler and director Bo Crowell helped produce Hair in Russia at the Stas Namin
Theatre located in Moscow's Gorky Park
. The Moscow production caused a similar reaction as the original did 30 years earlier because Russian soldiers were fighting in Chechnya at the time.
Rado wrote in 2003 that the only places where the show had not been performed were "China, India, Vietnam, the Arctic and Antarctic continents as well as most African countries." Since then, an Indian production has been mounted.
's group The Lemonheads
recorded "Frank Mills" for their 1992 record It's A Shame About Ray
, and Run DMC sampled "Where Do I Go" for their 1993 single "Down With the King" which went to #1 on the Billboard rap charts and reached the top 25 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In 2004, "Aquarius" was honored at number 33 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs
.
Songs from the musical have been featured in films and television episodes. For example, in the 2005 movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
, the character Willy Wonka
welcomed the children with lyrics from "Good Morning Starshine". "Aquarius" was performed in the final episode of Laverne and Shirley in 1983, where the character Carmine moves to New York City to become an actor, and auditions for Hair. "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" was also performed in the final scene in the film The 40-Year-Old Virgin
, and Three Dog Night's recording of "Easy to be Hard" was featured in the first part of David Fincher's film Zodiac
. On the Simpsons
episode "The Springfield Files
", the townspeople, Leonard Nimoy
, Chewbacca
, Dana Scully
and Fox Mulder
all sing "Good Morning Starshine." In addition, Head of the Class
featured a two-part episode in 1990 where the head of the English department is determined to disrupt the school's performance of Hair. The continued popularity of Hair is seen in its number ten ranking in a 2006 BBC Radio 2
listener poll of the "[United Kingdom]'s Number One Essential Musicals."
Because of the universality of its pacifist theme, Hair continues to be a popular choice for high-school and university productions. Amateur productions of Hair are also popular worldwide. In 2002, Peter Jennings
featured a Boulder, Colorado, high school production of Hair for his ABC documentary series "In Search of America". A September 2006 community theater production at the 2,000-seat Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey
, was praised by original producer Michael Butler, who said it was "one of the best Hairs I have seen in a long time." Another example of a recent large-scale amateur production is the Mountain Play production at the 4,000-seat Cushing Memorial Amphitheatre in Mount Tamalpais
State Park in Mill Valley
, California in the spring of 2007.
, a form that dominated the musical theatre of the seventies, including shows like Company
, Follies
, Pacific Overtures
and A Chorus Line
. While the development of the concept musical was an unexpected consequence of Hairs tenure on Broadway, the expected rock music revolution on Broadway turned out to be less than complete.
MacDermot followed Hair with three successive rock scores: Two Gentlemen of Verona (1971); Dude
(1972), a second collaboration with Ragni; and Via Galactica
(1972). While Two Gentlemen of Verona found receptive audiences and a Tony for Best Musical, Dude failed after just sixteen performances, and Via Galactica flopped after a month. According to Horn, these and other such "failures may have been the result of producers simply relying on the label 'rock musical' to attract audiences without regard to the quality of the material presented." Jesus Christ Superstar
(1970) and Godspell
(1971) were two religiously themed successes of the genre. Grease
(1975) reverted to the rock sounds of the 1950s, and black-themed musicals like The Wiz
(1975) were heavily influenced by gospel, R&B and soul music
. By the late 1970s, the genre had played itself out. Except for a few outposts of rock, like Dreamgirls (1981) and Little Shop of Horrors
(1982), audience tastes in the 1980s turned to megamusicals with pop scores, like Les Misérables
(1985) and The Phantom of the Opera
(1986). Some later rock musicals, such as Rent
(1996) and Spring Awakening
(2006), as well as jukebox musicals featuring rock music, like We Will Rock You
(2002) and Rock of Ages
(2009), have found success. But the rock musical did not quickly come to dominate the musical theatre stage after Hair. Critic Clive Barnes
commented, "There really weren't any rock musicals. No major rock musician ever did a rock score for Broadway. ... You might think of the musical Tommy
, but it was never conceived as a Broadway show. ... And one can see why. There's so much more money in records and rock concerts. I mean, why bother going through the pain of a musical which may close in Philadelphia?"
On the other hand, Hair had a profound effect not only on what was acceptable on Broadway, but as part of the very social movements that it celebrated. For example, in 1970, Butler, Castelli and the various Hair casts contributed to fundraising for the World Youth Assembly, a United Nations-sponsored organization formed in connection with the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the United Nations. The Assembly enabled 750 young representatives from around the world to meet in New York in July 1970 to discuss social issues. For about a week, cast members worldwide collected donations at every show for the fund. Hair raised around $250,000 and ended up being the principal financier of the Assembly. Tribe members and Hair crews also contributed a days' pay, and Butler contributed a days' profits from these productions. Moreover, as Ellen Stewart
, La MaMa's founder, noted:
Rock musical
A rock musical is a musical theatre work with rock music. The genre of rock musical may overlap somewhat with album musicals, concept albums and song cycles, as they sometimes tell a story through the rock music, and some album musicals and concept albums become rock musicals...
with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni
Gerome Ragni
Gerome Bernard Ragni was an American actor, singer and songwriter, best known as the co-author of the groundbreaking 1960s Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical.-Early life:...
and music by Galt MacDermot
Galt MacDermot
Galt MacDermot is a Canadian composer, pianist and writer of musical theatre. He won a Grammy Award for the song African Waltz in 1960. His most successful musicals have been Hair and Two Gentlemen of Verona...
. A product of the hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
counter-culture
Counterculture of the 1960s
The counterculture of the 1960s refers to a cultural movement that mainly developed in the United States and spread throughout much of the western world between 1960 and 1973. The movement gained momentum during the U.S. government's extensive military intervention in Vietnam...
and sexual revolution
Sexual revolution
The sexual revolution was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the Western world from the 1960s into the 1980s...
of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War
Opposition to the Vietnam War
The movement against US involvment in the in Vietnam War began in the United States with demonstrations in 1964 and grew in strength in later years. The US became polarized between those who advocated continued involvement in Vietnam, and those who wanted peace. Peace movements consisted largely of...
peace movement
Peace movement
A peace movement is a social movement that seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war , minimize inter-human violence in a particular place or type of situation, often linked to the goal of achieving world peace...
. The musical's profanity, its depiction of the use of illegal drugs, its treatment of sexuality
Free love
The term free love has been used to describe a social movement that rejects marriage, which is seen as a form of social bondage. The Free Love movement’s initial goal was to separate the state from sexual matters such as marriage, birth control, and adultery...
, its irreverence for the American flag, and its nude scene caused much comment and controversy. The musical broke new ground in musical theatre
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
by defining the genre of "rock musical", using a racially integrated cast, and inviting the audience onstage for a "Be-In
Human Be-In
The Human Be-In was a happening in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, the afternoon and evening of January 14, 1967. It was a prelude to San Francisco's Summer of Love, which made the Haight-Ashbury district a symbol as the center of an American counterculture and introduced the word 'psychedelic'...
" finale.
Hair tells the story of the "tribe", a group of politically active, long-haired
Long hair
Long hair is a hairstyle. Exactly what constitutes long hair can change from culture to culture, or even within cultures. For example, a woman with chin-length hair in some cultures may be said to have short hair, while a man with the same length of hair in some of the same cultures would be said...
hippies of the "Age of Aquarius
Age of Aquarius
The Age of Aquarius is either the current or new age in the cycle of astrological ages. Each astrological age is approximately 2,150 years long, on average, but there are various methods of calculating this length that may yield longer or shorter time spans depending upon the technique used...
" living a bohemian
Bohemianism
Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits...
life in New York City and fighting against conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
into the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. Claude, his good friend Berger, their roommate Sheila and their friends struggle to balance their young lives, loves and the sexual revolution with their rebellion against the war and their conservative parents and society. Ultimately, Claude must decide whether to resist the draft
Conscientious objector
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion....
as his friends have done, or to succumb to the pressures of his parents (and conservative America) to serve in Vietnam, compromising his pacifistic
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
principles and risking his life.
After an Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
debut in October 1967 at Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp was an American theatrical producer and director. Papp established The Public Theater in what had been the Astor Library Building in downtown New York . "The Public," as it is known, has many small theatres within it...
's Public Theater and a subsequent run in a midtown
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan, or simply Midtown, is an area of Manhattan, New York City home to world-famous commercial zones such as Rockefeller Center, Broadway, and Times Square...
discothèque space, the show opened on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in April 1968 and ran for 1,750 performances. Simultaneous productions in cities across the United States and Europe followed shortly thereafter, including a successful London production that ran for 1,997 performances. Since then, numerous productions have been staged around the world, spawning dozens of recordings of the musical, including the million-selling original Broadway cast recording. Some of the songs from its score became Top 10 hits, and a feature film adaptation
Hair (film)
Hair is a 1979 American film adaptation of the 1968 Broadway musical of the same name about a Vietnam war draftee who meets and befriends a tribe of long-haired hippies on his way to the army induction center...
was released in 1979. A Broadway revival opened on March 31, 2009, earning strong reviews and winning the Tony Award
Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical
The Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical has been awarded since 1994. Before that time, both plays and musicals were considered together for the Tony Award for Best Revival....
and Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
for best revival of a musical. In 2008, Time magazine
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
wrote, "Today Hair seems, if anything, more daring than ever."
History
Hair was conceived by actors James Rado and Gerome RagniGerome Ragni
Gerome Bernard Ragni was an American actor, singer and songwriter, best known as the co-author of the groundbreaking 1960s Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical.-Early life:...
. The two met in 1964 when they performed together in the Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
flop Hang Down Your Head and Die, and they began writing Hair together in late 1964. The main characters were autobiographical, with Rado's Claude being a pensive romantic and Ragni's Berger an extrovert. Their close relationship, including its volatility, was reflected in the musical. Rado explained, "We were great friends. It was a passionate kind of relationship that we directed into creativity, into writing, into creating this piece. We put the drama between us on stage."
Rado described the inspiration for Hair as "a combination of some characters we met in the streets, people we knew and our own imaginations. We knew this group of kids in the East Village
East Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
who were dropping out
Turn on, tune in, drop out
"Turn on, tune in, drop out" is a counterculture phrase popularized by Timothy Leary in 1967. Leary spoke at the Human Be-In, a gathering of 30,000 hippies in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and uttered the famous phrase, "Turn on, tune in, drop out". In a 1988 interview with Neil Strauss, Leary...
and dodging the draft
Draft dodger
Draft evasion is a term that refers to an intentional failure to comply with the military conscription policies of the nation to which he or she is subject...
, and there were also lots of articles in the press about how kids were being kicked out of school for growing their hair long". He recalled, "There was so much excitement in the streets and the parks and the hippie areas, and we thought if we could transmit this excitement to the stage it would be wonderful.... We hung out with them and went to their Be-Ins
Human Be-In
The Human Be-In was a happening in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, the afternoon and evening of January 14, 1967. It was a prelude to San Francisco's Summer of Love, which made the Haight-Ashbury district a symbol as the center of an American counterculture and introduced the word 'psychedelic'...
[and] let our hair grow." Many cast members (Shelley Plimpton
Shelley Plimpton
Shelley Plimpton Carradine is an American former actress and Broadway performer.Plimpton was born in Roseburg, Oregon, to a father who ran an auto parts store. She is a "very distant" cousin of writer George Plimpton. She moved to New York with her researcher mother when she was 14, after her...
in particular) were recruited right off the street. Rado said, "It was very important historically, and if we hadn't written it, there'd not be any examples. You could read about it and see film clips, but you'd never experience it. We thought, 'This is happening in the streets,' and we wanted to bring it to the stage."
Rado and Ragni came from different artistic backgrounds. In college, Rado wrote musical revue
Revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
s and aspired to be a Broadway composer in the Rodgers and Hammerstein
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
tradition. He went on to study acting with Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg was an American actor, director and acting teacher. He cofounded, with directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as "America's first true theatrical collective"...
. Ragni, on the other hand, was an active member of The Open Theater
The Open Theater
The Open Theater was an experimental theatre group active from 1963 to 1973.It was founded in New York City by a group of former students of acting teacher Nola Chilton, and joined shortly thereafter by director Joseph Chaikin, formerly of The Living Theatre, and Peter Feldman...
, one of several groups, mostly Off-off Broadway, that were developing experimental theatre
Experimental theatre
Experimental theatre is a general term for various movements in Western theatre that began in the late 19th century as a retraction against the dominant vent governing the writing and production of dramatical menstrophy, and age in particular. The term has shifted over time as the mainstream...
techniques. He introduced Rado to the modern theatre styles and methods being developed at The Open Theater. In 1966, while the two were developing Hair, Ragni performed in The Open Theater's production of Megan Terry
Megan Terry
Megan Terry is an internationally known playwright and prolific writer. Terry, born in Seattle, Washington, United States in 1932, had a love for the theatre since the age of seven and became involved with the theatre at an early age...
's play, Viet Rock, a story about young men being deployed to the Vietnam War. In addition to the war theme, Viet Rock employed the improvisational exercises being used in the experimental theatre scene and later used in the development of Hair.
Rado and Ragni brought their drafts of the show to producer Eric Blau who, through common friend Nat Shapiro
Nat Shapiro
Nat Shapiro was an American jazz writer and record producer.Shapiro worked in the music industry from the late 1940s; he was a promotional director for Mercury Records in 1948-50, served as head of public relations for BMI in 1955-56, and was the A&R leader for Columbia Records from 1956-66,...
, connected the two with Canadian composer Galt MacDermot. MacDermot had won a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
in 1961 for his composition "African Waltz" (recorded by Cannonball Adderley). The composer's lifestyle was in marked contrast to his co-creators: "I had short hair, a wife, and, at that point, four children, and I lived on Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
." "I never even heard of a hippie when I met Rado and Ragni." But he shared their enthusiasm to do a rock and roll show. "We work independently," explained MacDermot in May 1968. "I prefer it that way. They hand me the material. I set it to music." MacDermot wrote the first score in three weeks, starting with the songs "I Got Life", "Ain't Got No", "Where Do I Go" and the title song. He first wrote "Aquarius" as an unconventional art piece, but later rewrote it into an uplifting anthem.
Off-Broadway productions
The creators pitched the show to Broadway producers and received many rejections. Eventually Joe Papp, who ran the New York Shakespeare FestivalNew York Shakespeare Festival
New York Shakespeare Festival is the previous name of the New York City theatrical producing organization now known as the Public Theater. The Festival produced shows at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, as part of its free Shakespeare in the Park series, at the Public Theatre near Astor Place...
, decided he wanted Hair to open the new Public Theater
Public Theater
The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as The Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers. It is headquartered at 425 Lafayette Street in the former Astor Library in the East Village...
(still under construction) in New York City's East Village
East Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
. The musical was Papp's first non-Shakespeare offering. The production did not go smoothly: "The rehearsal and casting process was confused, the material itself incomprehensible to many of the theater’s staff. The director, Gerald Freedman
Gerald Freedman
Gerald Freedman is an American theatre director, librettist, and lyricist, and a college dean.Born in Lorain, Ohio, Freedman was educated at Northwestern University, where he received both BA and MA degrees. He began his career as assistant director of such projects as Bells Are Ringing, West Side...
, the theater's associate artistic director, withdrew in frustration during the final week of rehearsals and offered his resignation. Papp accepted it, and the choreographer Anna Sokolow
Anna Sokolow
Anna Sokolow was a Jewish American dancer and choreographer.-Training:...
took over the show.... After a disastrous final dress rehearsal, Papp wired Mr. Freedman in Washington, where he'd fled: 'Please come back.' Mr. Freedman did."
Hair premiered off-Broadway at the Public on October 17, 1967 and ran for a limited engagement of six weeks. The lead roles were played by Walker Daniels as Claude, Ragni as Berger, Jill O'Hara as Sheila, Steve Dean as Woof, Arnold Wilkerson
Arnold Wilkerson
Arnold Wilkerson is an American actor and the creator and owner of the Little Pie Company in Manhattan, New York City. As an actor he is particularly known for portraying roles in the original productions of the musicals Hair, Jimmy Shine, and Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope.-Biography:Wilkerson was...
as Hud, Sally Eaton
Sally Eaton
Sally Eaton is a Wiccan High Priestess, liturgist, singer and actress, whose credits include creating and playing the role of Jeanie in the stage production of the hit Broadway musical Hair, and, as a member of Doric Wilson's professional theater company TOSOS , acting in the Doric Wilson plays Now...
as Jeanie and Shelley Plimpton as Crissy. Set design was by Ming Cho Lee
Ming Cho Lee
Ming Cho Lee is a Chinese-born American theatrical set designer and a longtime professor at the Yale School of Drama....
, costume design by Theoni Aldredge, and although Anna Sokolow began rehearsals as choreographer, Freedman received choreographer credit. Although the production had a "tepid critical reception", it was popular with audiences. A cast album was released in 1967.
Chicago businessman Michael Butler
Michael Butler (producer)
Michael Butler is an American theatrical producer best known for bringing the rock musical Hair from the Public Theater to Broadway in 1968. During his time as Hair producer he was dubbed by the press as "the hippie millionaire"...
was planning to run for the U.S. Senate on an anti-war platform. After seeing an ad for Hair in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
that led him to believe the show was about Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
, he watched the Public's production several times and joined forces with Joe Papp to reproduce the show at another New York venue after the close of its run at the Public. Papp and Butler first moved the show to The Cheetah
Cheetah (nightclub)
Cheetah was a discotheque in Manhattan, New York City which opened May 28, 1966, and closed in the 1970s.The club was located at 53rd Street and Broadway.Jackie Cassen and Rudi Stern were associated with the club....
, a discothèque at 53rd Street and Broadway. It opened there on December 22, 1967 and ran for 45 performances. There was no nudity in either the Public Theater or Cheetah production.
Revision for Broadway
Hair underwent a thorough overhaul between its closing at the Cheetah in January 1968 and its Broadway opening three months later. The Off-Broadway book, already light on plot, was loosened even further and made more realistic. For example, Claude had been written as a space alien who aspires to be a cinematic director; he became human for the Broadway version. Moreover, were added. The song "Let the Sun Shine In" was added so that the ending would be more uplifting.Before the move to Broadway, the creative team hired director Tom O'Horgan
Tom O'Horgan
Tom O'Horgan was an American theatre and film director, composer, actor and musician. He is best known for his Broadway work as director of the hit musicals Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar...
, who had built a reputation directing experimental theater at the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club
La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club
La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club is an off-off Broadway theatre founded in 1961 by Ellen Stewart, and named in reference to her. Located on Manhattan's Lower East Side, the theatre grew out of Stewart's tiny basement boutique for her fashion designs; the boutique's space acted as a theatre for...
. He had been the authors' first choice to direct the Public Theater production, but he was in Europe at the time. Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
described O'Horgan's directing style as "sensual, savage, and thoroughly musical... [he] disintegrates verbal structure and often breaks up and distributes narrative and even character among different actors.... He enjoys sensory bombardment." In rehearsals, O'Horgan used techniques passed down by Viola Spolin
Viola Spolin
Viola Spolin was an important innovator of the American theater in the 20th century. She created directorial techniques to help actors to be focused in the present moment and to find choices improvisationally, as if in real life...
and Paul Sills
Paul Sills
Paul Sills was a director and improvisation teacher, and the original director of Chicago's The Second City.-Biography:...
involving role playing and improvisational "games". Many of the improvisations tried during this process were incorporated into the Broadway script. O'Horgan and new choreographer Julie Arenal encouraged freedom and spontaneity in their actors, introducing "an organic, expansive style of staging" that had never been seen before on Broadway. The inspiration to include nudity came when the authors saw an anti-war demonstration in Central Park where two men stripped naked as an expression of defiance and freedom, and they decided to incorporate the idea into the show. O'Horgan had used nudity in many of the plays he directed, and he helped integrate the idea into the fabric of the show.
Papp declined to pursue a Broadway production, and so Butler produced the show himself. For a time it seemed that Butler would be unable to secure a Broadway theater, as the Shuberts, Nederlanders and other theater owners deemed the material too controversial. However, Butler pulled some political strings through family connections and convinced theater owner David Cogan to make the Biltmore Theatre available.
Synopsis
Act IClaude, the nominal leader of the "tribe", sits center stage as the tribe mingles with the audience. Tribe members Sheila, a New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
student who is a determined political activist, and Berger, an irreverent free spirit, cut a lock of Claude's hair and burn it in a receptacle. After the tribe converges in slow-motion toward the stage, through the audience, they begin their celebration as children of the Age of Aquarius ("Aquarius"). Berger removes his trousers to reveal a loincloth. Interacting with the audience, he introduces himself as a "psychedelic teddy bear" and reveals that he is "looking for my Donna" ("Donna").
The tribe recites a list of pharmaceuticals, legal and illegal ("Hashish"). Woof, a gentle soul, extols several sexual practices ("Sodomy") and says, "I grow things." He loves plants, his family and the audience, telling the audience, "We are all one." Hud, a militant African-American, is carried in upside down on a pole. He declares himself "president of the United States of love" ("Colored Spade"). In a fake English accent, Claude says that he is "the most beautiful beast in the forest" from "Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, England". A tribe member reminds him that he's really from . Hud, Woof and Berger declare what color they are ("I'm Black"), while Claude says that he's "invisible". The tribe recites a list of things they lack ("Ain't Got No"). Four African-American tribe members recite street signs in symbolic sequence ("Dead End").
Sheila is carried onstage ("I Believe in Love") and leads the tribe in a protest chant. The tribe reprises "Ain't Got No (Grass)". Jeanie, an eccentric young woman, appears wearing a gas mask, satirizing pollution ("Air"). She is pregnant and in love with Claude. Although she wishes it was Claude's baby, she was "knocked up by some crazy speed freak". The tribe link together LBJ (President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
), FBI (the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
), CIA (the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
) and LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
("Initials"). Six members of the tribe appear dressed as Claude's parents, berating him for his various transgressions – he does not have a job, and he collects "mountains of paper" clippings and notes. They say that they will not give him any more money, and "the army'll make a man out of you". In defiance, Claude leads the tribe in celebrating their vitality ("I Got Life").
After handing out imaginary pills to the tribe members, saying the pills are for high profile people such as Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
, the Pope, and "Alabama Wallace
George Wallace
George Corley Wallace, Jr. was the 45th Governor of Alabama, serving four terms: 1963–1967, 1971–1979 and 1983–1987. "The most influential loser" in 20th-century U.S. politics, according to biographers Dan T. Carter and Stephan Lesher, he ran for U.S...
", Berger relates how he was expelled from high school ("Goin' Down"). Claude returns from his draft board
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
physical, which he passed. He pretends to burn his Vietnam War draft card, which Berger reveals as a library card. Claude agonizes about what to do about being drafted.
Two tribe members dressed as tourists come down the aisle to ask the tribe why they have such long hair
Long hair
Long hair is a hairstyle. Exactly what constitutes long hair can change from culture to culture, or even within cultures. For example, a woman with chin-length hair in some cultures may be said to have short hair, while a man with the same length of hair in some of the same cultures would be said...
. In answer, Claude and Berger lead the tribe in explaining the significance of their "Hair". The tourist lady states that kids should "be free, no guilt" and should "do whatever you want, just so long as you don't hurt anyone." She observes that long hair is natural, like the "elegant plumage" of male birds ("My Conviction"). She opens her coat to reveal that she's a man in drag
Drag (clothing)
Drag is used for any clothing carrying symbolic significance but usually referring to the clothing associated with one gender role when worn by a person of another gender. The origin of the term "drag" is unknown, but it may have originated in Polari, a gay street argot in England in the early...
. As the couple leaves, the tribe calls her Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead was an American cultural anthropologist, who was frequently a featured writer and speaker in the mass media throughout the 1960s and 1970s....
.
Sheila gives Berger a yellow shirt. He goofs around and ends up tearing it in two. Sheila voices her distress that Berger seems to care more about the "bleeding crowd" than about her ("Easy to be Hard"). Jeanie summarizes everyone's romantic entanglements: "I'm hung up on Claude, Sheila's hung up on Berger, Berger is hung up everywhere. Claude is hung up on a cross over Sheila and Berger." The tribe runs out to the audience with fliers inviting them to a Be-In. Berger, Woof and another tribe member pay satiric tribute to the American flag as they fold it ("Don't Put it Down"). After young and innocent Crissy describes "Frank Mills", a boy she's looking for, the tribe participates in the "Be-In". The men of the tribe burn their draft cards
Draft-card burning
Draft-card burning was a symbol of protest performed by thousands of young American men as part of the opposition to the involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War. Beginning in May 1964, some activists burned their draft cards at anti-war rallies and demonstrations. By May 1965 it was...
. Claude puts his card in the fire, then changes his mind and pulls it out. He asks, "where is the something, where is the someone, that tells me why I live and die?" ("Where Do I Go"). The tribe emerges naked, intoning "beads, flowers, freedom, happiness."
Act II
Four tribe members have the "Electric Blues". After a black-out, the tribe enters worshiping "Oh Great God of Power." Claude returns from the induction center, and tribe members act out an imagined conversation from Claude's draft interview, with Hud saying "the draft is white people sending black people to make war on the yellow people to defend the land they stole from the red people". Claude gives Woof a Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
poster, and Woof is excited about the gift, as he has said he's hung up on Jagger. Three white women of the tribe tell why they like "Black Boys" ("black boys are delicious..."), and three black women of the tribe, dressed like The Supremes
The Supremes
The Supremes, an American female singing group, were the premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s.Originally founded as The Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, The Supremes' repertoire included doo-wop, pop, soul, Broadway show tunes, psychedelic soul, and disco...
, explain why they like "White Boys" ("white boys are so pretty...").
Berger gives a joint to Claude that is laced with a hallucinogen. Claude starts to trip as the tribe acts out his visions ("Walking in Space"). He hallucinates that he is skydiving from a plane into the jungles of Vietnam. Berger appears as General George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
and is told to retreat because of an Indian attack. The Indians shoot all of Washington's men. General Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
appears and begins a roll call: Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
(played by a black female tribe member), John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth was an American stage actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. Booth was a member of the prominent 19th century Booth theatrical family from Maryland and, by the 1860s, was a well-known actor...
, Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
, Clark Gable
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh...
, Scarlett O'Hara
Scarlett O'Hara
Scarlett O' Hara is the protagonist in Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind and in the later film of the same name...
, Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
, Colonel George Custer. Claude Bukowski is called in the roll call, but Clark Gable says "he couldn't make it". They all dance a minuet
Minuet
A minuet, also spelled menuet, is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in 3/4 time. The word was adapted from Italian minuetto and French menuet, and may have been from French menu meaning slender, small, referring to the very small steps, or from the early 17th-century popular...
until three African witch doctor
Witch doctor
A witch doctor originally referred to a type of healer who treated ailments believed to be caused by witchcraft. It is currently used to refer to healers in some third world regions, who use traditional healing rather than contemporary medicine...
s kill them – all except for Abraham Lincoln who says, "I'm one of you". Lincoln, after the three Africans sing his praises, recites an alternate version of the Gettysburg Address ("Abie Baby"). Booth shoots Lincoln, but Lincoln says to him, "I ain't dying for no white man".
As the visions continue, enter. One monk pours a can of gasoline over another monk, who is set afire (reminiscent of the self-immolation
Self-immolation
Self-immolation refers to setting oneself on fire, often as a form of protest or for the purposes of martyrdom or suicide. It has centuries-long traditions in some cultures, while in modern times it has become a type of radical political protest...
of Thích Quảng Đức) and runs off screaming. strangle the . shoot the nuns with ray guns. people stab the astronauts with knives. kill the Chinese with bows and tomahawks. kill the Native Americans with machine guns and then kill each other. A Sergeant and two parents appear holding up a suit on a hanger. The parents talk to the suit as if it is their son and they are very proud of him. The bodies rise and play like children. The play escalates to violence until they are all dead again. They rise again ("Three-Five-Zero-Zero
Three-Five-Zero-Zero
"Three-Five-Zero-Zero" is an anti-war song, from the 1968 musical Hair, consisting of a montage of words and phrases similar to those of the 1966 Allen Ginsberg poem "Wichita Vortex Sutra". In the song, the phrases are combined to create images of the violence of military combat and aspects of the...
") and, at the end of the trip sequence, two tribe members sing, over the dead bodies, a melody set to a Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
lyric about the nobility of Man ("What A Piece of Work Is Man").
After the trip, Claude says "I can't take this moment to moment living on the streets.... I know what I want to be... invisible". As they "look at the moon," Sheila and the others enjoy a light moment ("Good Morning Starshine
Good Morning Starshine
"Good Morning Starshine" is a pop song from the musical Hair. It was a #3 hit in the United States in June of 1969 for the singer Oliver.-History:...
"). The tribe pays tribute to an old mattress ("The Bed"). Claude is left alone with his doubts. He leaves as the tribe enters wrapped in blankets in the midst of a snow storm. They start a protest chant and then wonder where Claude has gone. Berger calls out "Claude! Claude!" Claude enters dressed in a military uniform, his hair short, but they do not see him because he is an invisible spirit. Claude says, "like it or not, they got me."
Claude and everyone sing "Flesh Failures". The tribe moves in front of Claude as Sheila and Dionne take up the lyric. The whole tribe launches into "Let the Sun Shine In", and as they exit, they reveal Claude lying down center stage on a black cloth. During the curtain call, the tribe reprises "Let the Sun Shine In" and brings audience members up on stage to dance.
(Note: This plot summary is based on the original Broadway script. The script has varied in subsequent productions.)
Broadway
Hair opened on Broadway at the Biltmore TheatreBiltmore Theatre
The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 261 West 47th Street in midtown-Manhattan.-History:...
on April 29, 1968. The production was directed by Tom O'Horgan and choreographed by Julie Arenal, with set design by Robin Wagner
Robin Wagner (designer)
Robin Wagner is an American scenic designer.Born Robin Samuel Anton Wagner in San Francisco, he attended art school and started his career in theatres in that city with designs for Don Pasquale, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Tea and Sympathy, and Waiting for Godot, among others...
, costume design by Nancy Potts, and lighting design by Jules Fisher
Jules Fisher
Jules Fisher is a lighting designer and producer. He is credited with lighting designs for more than 200 productions over the course of his 45 year career in Broadway and off-Broadway shows, as well extensive work in film, ballet, opera, television, and rock and roll concert tours...
. The original Broadway "tribe" (i.e., cast) included authors Rado and Ragni, who played the lead roles of Claude and Berger, respectively, and Lynn Kellogg as Sheila, Lamont Washington as Hud, Sally Eaton and Shelley Plimpton reprising their off-Broadway roles as Jeanie and Crissy, Melba Moore
Melba Moore
Beatrice Melba Smith , known by her stage name, Melba Moore is an American disco, R&B singer and actress. She is the daughter of saxophonist Teddy Hill and R&B singer Bonnie Davis.-Early life:...
as Dionne, Steve Curry as Woof, Ronnie Dyson
Ronnie Dyson
Ronnie Dyson was an American singer and actor.-Career:Born in Washington, D.C., Dyson grew up in Brooklyn, New York where he sang in church choirs. At just 18 years of age, he won lead part in the Broadway production of Hair debuting in New York in 1968...
(who sang "Aquarius"), Paul Jabara
Paul Jabara
Paul Jabara was an American actor, singer, and songwriter of Lebanese ancestry. He wrote Donna Summer's "Last Dance" from Thank God It's Friday and Barbra Streisand's song "The Main Event/Fight" from The Main Event...
and Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton is an American film actress, director, producer, and screenwriter. Keaton began her career on stage, and made her screen debut in 1970...
(both Moore and Keaton later played Sheila). Among the performers who appeared in Hair during its original Broadway run were Ben Vereen
Ben Vereen
Ben Vereen is an American actor, dancer, and singer who has appeared in numerous Broadway theatre shows. Vereen graduated from Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts.- Early years :...
, Keith Carradine
Keith Carradine
Keith Ian Carradine is an American actor who has had success on stage, film and television. In addition, he is a Golden Globe and Oscar winning songwriter. As a member of the Carradine family, he is part of an acting "dynasty" that began with his father, John Carradine.-Early life:Keith...
, Barry McGuire
Barry McGuire
Barry McGuire is an American singer-songwriter best known for the hit song "Eve of Destruction", and later as a pioneering singer and songwriter of Contemporary Christian Music.-Early life:...
, Ted Lange
Ted Lange
Theodore William "Ted" Lange is an American actor, director, and screenwriter best known for his role as the bartender, Isaac Washington, in the 1970s TV series The Love Boat...
, Meat Loaf
Meat Loaf
Michael Lee Aday , better known by his stage name, Meat Loaf, is an American hard rock musician and actor...
, Kenny Seymour (of Little Anthony and The Imperials), Joe Butler (of the Lovin' Spoonful), Peppy Castro (of the Blues Magoos
Blues Magoos
The Blues Magoos was a rock music group from the The Bronx, New York. They were at the forefront of the psychedelic music trend, beginning as early as 1966.-1964 - 1971:The band was formed in 1964 as "The Trenchcoats"...
), Robin McNamara
Robin McNamara
Robin McNamara is an American singer, songwriter and musician.In 1963, while in tenth grade, McNamara formed a rock and roll group with a few school mates; they christened their band Robin and the Hoods, performing locally in the New England area with McNamara as the lead vocalist...
, Heather MacRae (daughter of Gordon MacRae
Gordon MacRae
Gordon MacRae was an American actor and singer, best known for his appearances in the film versions of two Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, Oklahoma! and Carousel and films with Doris Day like Starlift.-Early life:Born Albert Gordon MacRae in East Orange, New Jersey, MacRae graduated from...
), Eddie Rambeau
Eddie Rambeau
Eddie Rambeau is an American singer, songwriter, and actor.-Career:While performing in a high-school musical he had written, Rambeau met songwriter and musician Bud Rehak, who went on to become his manager...
, Vicki Sue Robinson
Vicki Sue Robinson
Vicki Sue Robinson was an American theatre and film actress and singer, closely associated with the disco era of late 1970s pop music; she is most famous for her 1976 hit, "Turn the Beat Around."-Early life and career:...
, Beverly Bremers
Beverly Bremers
Beverly Bremers is an American singer and actress. After roles on Broadway, Bremers released a successful 1972 album, I'll Make You Music, containing the hit single "Don't Say You Don't Remember." She also recorded under the name of Beverly Ann....
and Kim Milford
Kim Milford
Richard Kim Milford was an American actor, singer-songwriter, and composer. He is best known for his acting in musicals such as The Rocky Horror Show and Jesus Christ Superstar. Born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, Milford grew up in Winnetka, Illinois where he attended New Trier High School...
.
The Hair team soon became embroiled in a lawsuit with the organizers of the Tony Awards. After assuring producer Michael Butler that commencing previews by April 3, 1968 would assure eligibility for consideration for the 1968 Tonys, the New York Theatre League later ruled Hair ineligible, moving the cutoff date to March 19. The producers brought suit but were unable to force the League to reconsider. At the 1969 Tonys, Hair was nominated for Best Musical
Tony Award for Best Musical
This is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Musical, first awarded in 1949. This award is presented to the producers of the musical.-1940s:* 1949: Kiss Me, Kate – Music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by Samuel and Bella Spewack...
and Best Director
Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical
This is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical. Prior to 1960, category for direction included plays and musicals.-1950s:Note: this category was for both dramatic and musical productions...
but lost out to 1776
1776 (musical)
1776 is a musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. The story is based on the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence...
in both categories. The production ran for four years and 1,750 performances, closing on July 1, 1972.
Early regional productions
The West CoastWest Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
version played at the Aquarius Theatre on Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades...
in Los Angeles beginning about six months after the Broadway opening and running for an unprecedented two years. The Los Angeles tribe included Rado, Ragni, Robert Rothman, Ben Vereen (who replaced Ragni), Red Shepard, Ted Neeley
Ted Neeley
Ted Neeley is a rock and roll drummer, singer, actor, composer, and record producer. He is probably best known for performing the title role in the film Jesus Christ Superstar in 1973....
(who replaced Rado), Meat Loaf
Meat Loaf
Michael Lee Aday , better known by his stage name, Meat Loaf, is an American hard rock musician and actor...
, Gloria Jones
Gloria Jones
Gloria Richetta Jones is an American singer and songwriter from Los Angeles, California. She recorded the 1964 northern soul song, "Tainted Love", later a hit for the British synth-pop duo, Soft Cell. She was the girlfriend of glam rock artist Marc Bolan of the band T...
, Táta Vega
Tata Vega
Táta Vega is an American vocalist whose career spans theater, film, and a variety of musical genres.-Early life:...
, Jobriath
Jobriath
Jobriath , was an American folk and glam rock musician and actor...
, Jennifer Warnes
Jennifer Warnes
Jennifer Jean Warnes is an American singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer. She is known for her interpretations of compositions written by herself and many others, as well as an extensive playlist as a vocalist on movie soundtracks.Between 1979 and 1987 Warnes surpassed Frank Sinatra as...
, and Dobie Gray
Dobie Gray
Dobie Gray is an African American singer and songwriter, whose musical career has spanned soul, country, pop and musical theater...
.
There were soon nine simultaneous productions in U.S. cities, followed by national tours. Among the performers in these were Joe Mantegna
Joe Mantegna
Joseph Anthony "Joe" Mantegna, Jr. is an American actor, producer, writer,director, and voice actor. He is best known for his roles in box office hits such as Three Amigos , The Godfather Part III , Forget Paris , and Up Close & Personal...
, André DeShields
André DeShields
André De Shields is an American actor, singer, dancer, acclaimed novelist, choreographer, and college professor....
, and Alaina Reed (Chicago), David Lasley
David Lasley
David Lasley is an American singer-songwriter, best known for his contributions as a background singer for such artists as Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor and Luther Vandross....
, David Patrick Kelly
David Patrick Kelly
David Patrick Kelly is an American actor and musician who has appeared in numerous films, including some major roles.-Career:...
and Shaun Murphy
Shaun Murphy (singer)
Shaun Murphy is an American R&B singer songwriter, best known for her powerhouse singing style. Her recording career started in 1971 with Motown Records and continues to this day.-Biography:...
(Detroit), Arnold McCuller
Arnold McCuller
Arnold McCuller is an American vocalist, record producer, born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. While establishing his own career as a singer, and working as a very busy session musician, McCuller has become best known for his work as a back-up singer for famous artists with long careers, including...
(tour), Bob Bingham
Bob Bingham
Robert 'Bob' Bingham born 29 October 1946 in Seattle, Washington U.S. is an actor and singer. Bingham is most remembered for playing the role of Caiaphas in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar....
(Seattle) and Philip Michael Thomas
Philip Michael Thomas
Philip Michael Thomas is an American actor. Thomas's most famous role is that of detective Ricardo Tubbs on the hit 1980s TV series Miami Vice. His first notable roles were in Coonskin and opposite Irene Cara in the 1976 film Sparkle...
(San Francisco). The creative team from Broadway worked on Hair in Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco, as the Broadway staging served as a rough template for these and other early regional productions. One notable addition to the team in Los Angeles was Tom Smothers
Tom Smothers
Tom Smothers is an American comedian, composer and musician, best known as half of the musical comedy team The Smothers Brothers, alongside his younger brother Dick.-Early life:...
, who served as co-producer. Regional casts consisted mostly of local actors, although a few Broadway cast members reprised their roles in other cities. O'Horgan or the authors sometimes took new ideas and improvisations from a regional show and brought them back to New York, such as when live chickens were tossed onto the stage in Los Angeles.
It was rare for so many productions to run simultaneously during an initial Broadway run. Producer Michael Butler, who had declared that Hair is "the strongest anti-war statement ever written", said the reason that he opened so many productions was to influence public opinion against the Vietnam War and end it as soon as possible.
West End
Hair opened at the Shaftesbury TheatreShaftesbury Theatre
The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End Theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden.-History:The theatre was designed for the brothers Walter and Frederick Melville by Bertie Crewe and opened on 26 December 1911 with a production of The Three Musketeers, as the New...
in London on September 27, 1968 with the same creative team as the Broadway production. The opening night was delayed until the abolition of theatre censorship in England under the Theatres Act 1968
Theatres Act 1968
The Theatres Act 1968 abolished censorship of the stage in the United Kingdom.Since 1737, scripts had been licensed for performance by the Lord Chamberlain's Office a measure initially introduced to protect Walpole's administration from political satire...
. As with other early productions, the London show added a sprinkling of local allusions and other minor departures from the Broadway version.
The original London tribe included Sonja Kristina, Paul Nicholas
Paul Nicholas
Paul Nicholas is an English actor and singer who has had considerable success on stage, screen and in the pop charts.-Biography:Nicholas was born as Paul Oscar Beuselinck in Peterborough, England...
, Melba Moore, Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16...
, Paul Korda
Paul Korda
Paul Korda is an English songwriter, singer, musician, and actor. He has been writing and performing music since the 1960s...
, Marsha Hunt
Marsha Hunt (singer and novelist)
Marsha Hunt is an American singer, novelist, actress and model.-Early life:Hunt was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1946 and lived in North Philadelphia near 23rd and Columbia then in Germantown and Mount Airy for the first 13 years of her life...
, Floella Benjamin
Floella Benjamin
Floella Karen Yunies Benjamin, Baroness Benjamin OBE DL is a British actress, author, television presenter, businesswoman and politician...
, Alex Harvey
Alex Harvey (musician)
Alex Harvey was a Scottish rock musician. With The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, he built a reputation as an exciting live performer during the 1970s glam rock era.-Biography:...
, Oliver Tobias
Oliver Tobias
Oliver Tobias is a UK-based film, stage, and television actor and directorBorn Oliver Tobias Freitag in Zürich, Switzerland, he is the son of Austrian-Swiss actor Robert Freitag and German actress Maria Becker. He came to the United Kingdom at the age of eight and trained at East 15 Acting School,...
, Richard O'Brien
Richard O'Brien
Richard Timothy Smith , better known under his stage name Richard O'Brien, is an English writer, actor, television presenter and theatre performer. He is perhaps best known for writing the cult musical The Rocky Horror Show and for his role in presenting the popular TV show The Crystal Maze...
and Tim Curry
Tim Curry
Timothy James "Tim" Curry is a British actor, singer, composer and voice actor, known for his work in a diverse range of theatre, film and television productions. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California....
. This was Curry's first full-time theatrical acting role, where he met future Rocky Horror Show collaborator O'Brien. Hairs engagement in London surpassed the Broadway production, running for 1,997 performances until its closure was forced by the roof of the theatre collapsing in July 1973.
Early international productions
The job of leading the foreign language productions of Hair was given to Bertrand CastelliBertrand Castelli
Bertrand Castelli was a French producer, director, lighting designer, choreographer, painter and writer best known as the executive producer of many productions of the rock musical Hair in partnership with the show's main producer Michael Butler...
, Butler's partner and executive producer of the Broadway show. Castelli was a writer/producer who traveled in Paris art circles and rubbed elbows with Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
and Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...
. Butler described him as a "crazy showman... the guy with the business suit and beads". Castelli made the decision to do the show in the local language of each country at a time when Broadway shows were always done in English. The translations followed the original script closely, and the Broadway stagings were used. Each script contained various local references, such as street names and the names or depictions of local politicians and celebrities. Castelli produced companies in France, Germany, Mexico and other countries, sometimes also directing the productions.
A German production, directed by Castelli, opened in 1968 in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
; the tribe included Donna Summer
Donna Summer
LaDonna Adrian Gaines , known by her stage name, Donna Summer, is an American singer/songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She has a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Summer is a five-time Grammy winner and was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach...
and Liz Mitchell
Liz Mitchell
Liz Mitchell is a singer, best known as the former lead singer of the 1970s disco/pop band, Boney M.-Early life:...
(of Boney M
Boney M
Boney M. is a Eurodisco group created by German record producer Frank Farian. Originally based in Germany, the four original members of the group's official line-up were Jamaicans Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett, Maizie Williams from Montserrat and Bobby Farrell from Aruba...
). A successful Parisian production of Hair opened on June 1, 1969. The original Australian production premiered in Sydney on June 6, 1969. It was produced by Harry M. Miller
Harry M. Miller
-Early career:Born in New Zealand, Miller grew up in Grey Lynn, Auckland, and moved to Australia in 1963, where he established a company called Pan Pacific Productions with Keith and Dennis Wong, owners of the noted Sydney nightclub "Chequers"...
and directed by Jim Sharman
Jim Sharman
James "Jim" Sharman , the son of boxing tent entrepreneur Jimmy Sharman, is a director and writer for film and stage with over 70 productions to his credit...
, who also designed the production. The tribe included Keith Glass and then Reg Livermore
Reg Livermore
Reginald Dawson Livermore AO is an Australian actor, singer, theatrical performer and television presenter.-Childhood:From a young age, Livermore demonstrated an interest in the performing arts...
as Berger, John Waters
John Waters (actor)
John Russell Waters is a film, theatre and television actor and musician best known in Australia, to where he moved in 1968...
as Claude and Sharon Redd
Sharon Redd
Sharon Redd was an American singer from New York. She was the half sister of R&B singer Pennye Ford.-Biography and career:...
as The Magician. Redd was one of six African-Americans brought to Australia to provide a racially integrated tribe. The production broke local box-office records and ran for two years, but because of some of the language in the show, the cast album was banned in Queensland and New Zealand. It transferred to Melbourne in 1971 and then had a national tour. The production also marked the stage debut of Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
-born Australian vocalist Marcia Hines
Marcia Hines
Marcia Elaine Hines, AM is a vocalist, actress and TV personality who achieved success in her adopted homeland of Australia. Hines made her debut, at the age of sixteen, in the Australian version of the stage musical Hair and followed with the role of Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar...
. An 18 year-old Sônia Braga
Sônia Braga
Sônia Maria Campos Braga is a Brazilian actress. She has been nominated for both a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award.-Early life:...
appeared in the 1969 Brazilian production.
Another notable production was in the former Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
(Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
), the first Hair to be produced in a communist country. Directed by local female producer-director Mira Trailović
Mira Trailovic
Mira Trailović was a Serbian dramaturg, theatre director and founder of Atelje 212 Theatre....
and attended by president Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
, the Belgrade production was a favorite of authors Rado and Ragni, with Ragni declaring "there's no middle class prejudices here". Local references added to the script included barbs aimed at Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
as well as Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
, Yugoslavia's traditional rival.
By 1970, Hair was a huge financial success, and nineteen productions had been staged outside of North America. In addition to those named above, these included productions in Scandinavia, South America, Italy, Israel, Japan, Canada, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria. According to Billboard, the various productions of the show were raking in almost $1 million every ten days, and royalties were being collected for 300 different recordings of the show's songs, making it "the most successful score in history as well as the most performed score ever written for the Broadway stage."
Themes
Hair explores many of the themes of the hippie movement of the '60s. Theatre writer Scott Miller described these themes in terms of the hippies' goals, targets and beliefs, as follows:[T]he youth of America, especially those on college campuses, started protesting all the things that they saw wrong with America: racism, environmental destruction, poverty, sexism and sexual repression, violence at home and the war in Vietnam, depersonalization from new technologies, and corruption in politics.... Contrary to popular opinion, the hippies had great respect for America and believed that they were the true patriots, the only ones who genuinely wanted to save our country and make it the best it could be once again.... [Long] hair was the hippies' flag – their... symbol not only of rebellion but also of new possibilities, a symbol of the rejection of discrimination and restrictive gender roles (a philosophy celebrated in the song "My Conviction"). It symbolized equality between men and women. In addition... the hippies' chosen clothing also made statements. Drab work clothes (jeans, work shirts, pea coats) were a rejection of materialism. Clothing from other cultures, particularly the Third World and native Americans, represented their awareness of the global community and their rejection of U.S. imperialism and selfishness. Simple cotton dresses and other natural fabrics were a rejection of synthetics, a return to natural things and simpler times. Some hippies wore old World War II or Civil War jackets as way of co-opting the symbols of war into their newfound philosophy of nonviolence.
Race and the tribe
Extending the precedents set by Show BoatShow Boat
Show Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...
(1927) and Porgy and Bess
Porgy and Bess
Porgy and Bess is an opera, first performed in 1935, with music by George Gershwin, libretto by DuBose Heyward, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward. It was based on DuBose Heyward's novel Porgy and subsequent play of the same title, which he co-wrote with his wife Dorothy Heyward...
(1935), Hair opened the Broadway musical to racial integration; fully one-third of the cast was African American. Except for satirically in skits, the roles for the black members of the tribe portrayed them as equals, breaking away from the traditional roles for blacks in entertainment as slaves or servants. An Ebony magazine article declared that the show was the biggest outlet for black actors in the history of the U.S. stage.
Several songs and scenes from the show address racial issues. "Colored Spade", which introduces the character Hud, a militant black male, is a long list of racial slurs ("jungle bunny... little black sambo") topped off with the declaration that Hud is the "president of the United States of love". At the end of his song, he tells the tribe that the "boogie man" will get them, as the tribe pretends to be frightened. "Dead End", sung by black tribe members, is a list of street signs that symbolize black frustration and alienation ("keep out... mad dog... hands off"). One of the tribe's protest chants is "What do we think is really great? To bomb, lynch and segregate!" "Black Boys/White Boys" is an exuberant acknowledgement of miscegenation
Miscegenation
Miscegenation is the mixing of different racial groups through marriage, cohabitation, sexual relations, and procreation....
; the U.S. Supreme Court had struck down laws against the practice in 1967. Another of the tribe's protest chants is "Black, white, yellow, red. Copulate in a king-sized bed."
"Abie Baby" is part of the Act 2 "trip" sequence: four African witch doctors, who have just killed various American historical, cultural and fictional characters, sing the praises of Abraham Lincoln, portrayed by a black female tribe member, whom they decide not to kill. The first part of the song contains stereotypical language that black characters used in old movies, like "I's finished ... pluckin' y'all's chickens, fryin' mothers oats and grease" and "I's free now thanks to y'all Master Lincoln". The Lincoln character then recites a modernized version of the Gettysburg Address
Gettysburg Address
The Gettysburg Address is a speech by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and is one of the most well-known speeches in United States history. It was delivered by Lincoln during the American Civil War, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery...
, while a white female tribe member polishes Lincoln's shoes with her blond hair.
The many references to Native Americans throughout the script are part of the anti-civilization, anti-consumerism
Anti-consumerism
Anti-consumerism refers to the socio-political movement against the equating of personal happiness with consumption and the purchase of material possessions...
, naturalism focus of the hippie movement and of Hair. The characters in the show are referred to as the "tribe", borrowing the term for Native American communities. The cast of each production chooses a tribal name: "The practice is not just cosmetic ... the entire cast must work together, must like each other, and often within the show, must work as a single organism. All the sense of family, of belonging, of responsibility and loyalty inherent in the word "tribe" has to be felt by the cast." To enhance this feeling, O'Horgan put the cast through sensitivity exercises based on trust, touching, listening and intensive examination that broke down barriers between the cast and crew and encouraged bonding. These exercises were based on techniques developed at the Esalen Institute
Esalen Institute
Esalen Institute is a residential community and retreat in Big Sur, California, which focuses upon humanistic alternative education. Esalen is a nonprofit organization devoted to activites such as meditation, massage, Gestalt, yoga, psychology, ecology, and spirituality...
and Polish Lab Theater. The idea of Claude, Berger and Sheila living together is another facet of the '60s concept of tribe.
Nudity, sexual freedom and drug use
The brief nude scene at the end of Act I was a subject of controversy and notoriety. Miller writes that "nudity was a big part of the hippie culture, both as a rejection of the sexual repression of their parents and also as a statement about naturalism, spirituality, honesty, openness, and freedom. The naked body was beautiful, something to be celebrated and appreciated, not scorned and hidden. They saw their bodies and their sexuality as gifts, not as 'dirty' things."Hair glorifies sexual freedom in a variety of ways. In addition to acceptance of miscegenation, mentioned above, the characters' lifestyle acts as a sexually and politically charged updating of La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
; as Rado explained, "The love element of the peace movement was palpable." In the song "Sodomy", Woof exhorts everyone to "join the holy orgy Kama Sutra
Kama Sutra
The Kama Sutra is an ancient Indian Hindu text widely considered to be the standard work on human sexual behavior in Sanskrit literature written by Vātsyāyana. A portion of the work consists of practical advice on sexual intercourse. It is largely in prose, with many inserted anustubh poetry verses...
". Toward the end of Act 2, the tribe members reveal their free love
Free love
The term free love has been used to describe a social movement that rejects marriage, which is seen as a form of social bondage. The Free Love movement’s initial goal was to separate the state from sexual matters such as marriage, birth control, and adultery...
tendencies when they banter back and forth about who will sleep with whom that night. As Clive Barnes
Clive Barnes (critic)
Clive Alexander Barnes, CBE was a British-born American writer and critic. From 1965 to 1977 he was the dance and theater critic for the New York Times, the most powerful position he had held, since its theater critics' reviews historically have had great influence on the success or failure of...
wrote in his original New York Times review of Hair, "homosexuality is not frowned upon." Woof has a crush on Mick Jagger, and a three-way embrace between Claude, Berger and Sheila turns into a Claude-Berger kiss.
Various illegal drugs are taken by the characters during the course of the show, most notably a hallucinogen during the trip sequence. The song "Walking in Space" starts off the sequence, and the lyrics celebrate the experience declaring "how dare they try to end this beauty ... in this dive we rediscover sensation ... our eyes are open, wide, wide, wide". Similarly, in the song "Donna", Berger sings that "I'm evolving through the drugs that you put down." At another point, Jeanie smokes a marijuana cigarette and says that anyone who thinks "pot" is bad is "full of shit". Generally, the tribe favors hallucinogenic or "mind expanding" drugs, such as LSD and marijuana, while disapproving of other drugs such as speed and depressants. For example, Jeanie, after revealing that she is pregnant by a "speed freak", says that "methedrine is a bad scene". The song "Hashish" provides a list of pharmaceuticals, both illegal and legal, including cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
, alcohol, LSD, cough syrup, opium
Opium
Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...
and Thorazine, which is used as an antipsychotic
Antipsychotic
An antipsychotic is a tranquilizing psychiatric medication primarily used to manage psychosis , particularly in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. A first generation of antipsychotics, known as typical antipsychotics, was discovered in the 1950s...
.
Pacifism and environmentalism
The theme of opposition to the war that pervades the show is unified by the plot thread that progresses through the book – Claude's moral dilemmaConscientious objector
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion....
over whether to burn his draft card
Draft dodger
Draft evasion is a term that refers to an intentional failure to comply with the military conscription policies of the nation to which he or she is subject...
. Pacifism
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
is explored throughout the extended trip sequence in Act 2. The lyrics to "Three-Five-Zero-Zero
Three-Five-Zero-Zero
"Three-Five-Zero-Zero" is an anti-war song, from the 1968 musical Hair, consisting of a montage of words and phrases similar to those of the 1966 Allen Ginsberg poem "Wichita Vortex Sutra". In the song, the phrases are combined to create images of the violence of military combat and aspects of the...
", which is sung during that sequence, evoke the horrors of war ("ripped open by metal explosion"). The song is based on Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
's 1966 poem, "Wichita Vortex Sutra
Wichita Vortex Sutra
"Wichita Vortex Sutra" is an anti-war poem by Allen Ginsberg, written in 1966. It appears in his collections Planet News and The Fall of America: Poems of These States...
". In the poem, General Maxwell Taylor proudly reports to the press the number of enemy soldiers killed in one month, repeating it digit by digit, for effect: "Three-Five-Zero-Zero." The song begins with images of death and dying and turns into a manic dance number, echoing Maxwell's glee at reporting the enemy casualties, as the tribe chants "Take weapons up and begin to kill". The song also includes the repeated phrase "Prisoners in niggertown/ It's a dirty little war".
"Don't Put It Down" satirizes the unexamined patriotism of people who are literally "crazy" for the American flag. "Be In (Hare Krishna)" praises the peace movement and events like the San Francisco and Central Park Be-In
Central Park Be-In
Between 1967 and 1968 several "be-ins" were held in Central Park to protest against various issues such as US involvement in the Vietnam War and racism. This park was a place where all of the different types of people that New York contained could mingle....
s. Throughout the show, the tribe chants popular protest slogans like "What do we want? Peace – When do we want it? Now!" and "Do not enter the induction center". The upbeat song, "Let the Sun Shine In", is a call to action, to reject the darkness of war and change the world for the better.
Hair also aims its satire at the pollution caused by our civilization. Jeanie appears from a trap door in the stage wearing a gas mask and then sings the song "Air": "Welcome, sulfur dioxide. Hello carbon monoxide. The air ... is everywhere". She suggests that pollution will eventually kill her, "vapor and fume at the stone of my tomb, breathing like a sullen perfume". In a comic, pro-green vein, when Woof introduces himself, he explains that he "grows things" like "beets, and corn ... and sweet peas" and that he "loves the flowers and the fuzz and the trees".
Religion and astrology
Religion appears both overtly and symbolically throughout the piece, and it is often made the brunt of a joke. Berger sings of looking for "my Donna", which takes on the double meaning of the woman he's searching for and the MadonnaMary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
. During "Sodomy", a hymn-like paean to all that is "dirty" about sex, the cast strikes evocative religious positions: the Pietà
Pietà
The Pietà is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus, most often found in sculpture. As such, it is a particular form of the Lamentation of Christ, a scene from the Passion of Christ found in cycles of the Life of Christ...
and Christ on the cross. Before the song, Woof recites a modified rosary
Rosary
The rosary or "garland of roses" is a traditional Catholic devotion. The term denotes the prayer beads used to count the series of prayers that make up the rosary...
. In Act II, when Berger gives imaginary pills to various famous figures, he offers "a pill for the Pope". In "Going Down", after being kicked out of school, Berger compares himself to Lucifer
Lucifer
Traditionally, Lucifer is a name that in English generally refers to the devil or Satan before being cast from Heaven, although this is not the original meaning of the term. In Latin, from which the English word is derived, Lucifer means "light-bearer"...
: "Just like the angel that fell / Banished forever to hell / Today have I been expelled / From high school heaven." Claude becomes a classic Christ figure at various points in the script. In Act I, Claude enters, saying, "I am the Son of God. I shall vanish and be forgotten," then gives benediction to the tribe and the audience. Claude suffers from indecision, and, in his Gethsemane
Gethsemane
Gethsemane is a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem most famous as the place where, according to Biblical texts, Jesus and his disciples are said to have prayed the night before Jesus' crucifixion.- Etymology :...
at the end of Act I, he asks "Where Do I Go?". There are textual allusions to Claude being on a cross, and, in the end, he is chosen to give his life for the others. Berger can be seen as a John the Baptist
John the Baptist
John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
figure, preparing the way for Claude.
Excerpt from "Aquarius" Sympathy and trust abounding. No more falsehoods or derisions Golden living dreams of visions Mystic crystal revelation And the mind's true liberation. Aquarius |
Songs like "Good Morning, Starshine" and "Aquarius" reflect the '60s cultural interest in astrological and cosmic concepts. "Aquarius" was the result of Rado's research into his own astrological sign
Astrological sign
Astrological signs represent twelve equal segments or divisions of the zodiac. According to astrology, celestial phenomena reflect or govern human activity on the principle of "as above, so below", so that the twelve signs are held to represent twelve basic personality types or characteristic modes...
. The company's astrologer, Maria Crummere, was consulted about casting: Sheila was usually played by a Libra
Libra (astrology)
Libra is the seventh astrological sign in the Zodiac, originating from the constellation of Libra. In astrology, Libra is considered a "masculine", positive sign. It is also considered an air sign and is one of four cardinal signs...
or Capricorn and Berger by a Leo
Leo (astrology)
Leo is the fifth astrological sign of the Zodiac, originating from the constellation of Leo. In astrology, Leo is considered to be a "masculine", positive sign. It is also considered a fire sign and is one of four fixed signs ruled by the Sun.Individuals born when the Sun is in this sign are...
, although Ragni, the original Berger, was a Virgo
Virgo (astrology)
Virgo is the sixth astrological sign in the Zodiac, which spans the zodiac between the 150th and 179th degree of celestial longitude. Generally, the Sun transits this area of the zodiac between August 23 to September 22 each year...
. Crummere was also consulted when deciding when the show would open on Broadway and in other cities. The 1971 Broadway Playbill
Playbill
Playbill is a monthly U.S. magazine for theatregoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most Playbills are printed for particular shows to be distributed at the door...
reported that she chose April 29, 1968 for the Broadway premiere. "The 29th was auspicious ... because the moon was high, indicating that people would attend in masses. The position of the 'history makers' (Pluto
Pluto
Pluto, formal designation 134340 Pluto, is the second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the tenth-most-massive body observed directly orbiting the Sun...
, Uranus
Uranus
Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It has the third-largest planetary radius and fourth-largest planetary mass in the Solar System. It is named after the ancient Greek deity of the sky Uranus , the father of Cronus and grandfather of Zeus...
, Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
) in the 10th house made the show unique, powerful and a money-maker. And the fact that Neptune
Neptune
Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun in the Solar System. Named for the Roman god of the sea, it is the fourth-largest planet by diameter and the third largest by mass. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 times...
was on the ascendancy foretold that Hair would develop a reputation involving sex."
In Mexico, where Crummere did not pick the opening date, the show was closed down by the government after one night. She was not pleased with the date of the Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
opening (where the producers were sued over the show's content) saying, "Jupiter will be in opposition to naughty Saturn
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...
, and the show opens the very day of the sun's eclipse
Solar eclipse
As seen from the Earth, a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, and the Moon fully or partially blocks the Sun as viewed from a location on Earth. This can happen only during a new moon, when the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction as seen from Earth. At least...
. Terrible." But there was no astrologically safe time in the near future.
Literary themes and symbolism
Hair makes many references to Shakespeare's plays, especially Romeo and JulietRomeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
and Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
, and, at times, takes lyrical material directly from Shakespeare. For example, the lyrics to the song "What a Piece of Work Is Man" are from Hamlet (II: scene 2) and portions of "Flesh Failures" ("the rest is silence") are from Hamlet's final lines. In "Flesh Failures/Let The Sun Shine In", the lyrics "Eyes, look your last!/ Arms, take your last embrace! And lips, O you/ The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss" are from Romeo and Juliet (V: iii, 111–14). According to Miller, the Romeo suicide imagery makes the point that, with our complicity in war, we are killing ourselves.
Symbolically, the running plot of Claude's indecision, especially his resistance to burning his draft card, which ultimately causes his demise, has been seen as a parallel to Hamlet: "the melancholy hippie". The symbolism is carried into the last scene, where Claude appears as a ghostly spirit among his friends wearing an army uniform in an ironic echo of an earlier scene, where he says, "I know what I want to be ... invisible". According to Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis
Oskar Eustis
Oskar Eustis is the artistic director at the Public Theater and has worked as a director, dramaturg, and artistic director for theaters around the country.-Career:...
, "Both [Hair and Hamlet] center on idealistic brilliant men as they struggle to find their place in a world marred by war, violence, and venal politics. They see both the luminous possibilities and the harshest realities of being human. In the end, unable to effectively combat the evil around them, they tragically succumb."
Other literary references include the song "Three-Five-Zero-Zero", based on Ginsberg's poem "Wichita Vortex Sutra", and, in the psychedelic drug trip sequence, the portrayal of Scarlett O'Hara
Scarlett O'Hara
Scarlett O' Hara is the protagonist in Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind and in the later film of the same name...
, from Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind
The slaves depicted in Gone with the Wind are primarily loyal house servants, such as Mammy, Pork and Uncle Peter, and these slaves stay on with their masters even after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 sets them free...
, and activist African-American poet LeRoi Jones.
Dramatics
In his introduction to the published script of Viet Rock, Richard SchechnerRichard Schechner
Richard Schechner is Professor of Performance Studies at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University , editor of TDR: The Drama Review, and artistic director of East Coast Artists. His BA is from Cornell University , MA from the University of Iowa , and PhD from Tulane University...
says, "performance, action, and event are the key terms of our theatre – and these terms are not literary." In the 1950s, Off-off Broadway theaters began experimenting with non-traditional theater roles, blurring the lines between playwright, director, and actor. The playwright's job was not just to put words on a page, but to create a theatrical experience based on a central idea. By 1967, theaters such as the Living Theatre, La MaMa E.T.C., and The Open Theatre were actively devising plays from improvisational scenes crafted in the rehearsal space, rather than following a traditional script.
Viet Rock and Hair
Megan Terry's Viet Rock was created using this improvisational process. Scenes in Viet Rock were connected in "prelogical ways": a scene could be built from a tangent from the scene before, it could be connected psychologically, or it could be in counterpoint to the previous scene. Actors were asked to switch roles in the middle of a show, and frequently in mid-scene. In her stage directions for a Senate hearing scene in Viet Rock, Terry wrote, "The actors should take turns being senators and witnesses; the transformations should be abrupt and total. When the actor is finished with one character he becomes another, or just an actor."Hair was designed in much the same way. Tom O'Horgan, the show's Broadway director, was intimately involved in the experimental theatre movement. In the transition to Broadway, O'Horgan and the writers rearranged scenes to increase the experimental aspects of the show. Hair asks its actors to assume several different characters throughout the course of the piece, and, as in Claude's psychedelic trip in Act 2, sometimes during the same scene. Both Hair and Viet Rock include rock music, borrowed heavily from mass media, and frequently break down the invisible "fourth wall
Fourth wall
The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...
" to interact with the audience. For example, in the opening number, the tribe mingles with audience members, and at the end of the show, the audience is invited on stage.
Production design
In the original Broadway production, the stage was completely open, with no curtain and the fly area and grid exposed to the audience. The proscenium arch was outlined with climb-ready scaffolding. Wagner's spare set was painted in shades of grey with street graffitiGraffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
stenciled on the stage. The stage was raked, and a tower of abstract scaffolding upstage at the rear merged a Native American totem pole and a modern sculpture of a crucifix
Crucifix
A crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....
-shaped tree. This scaffolding was decorated with found objects that the cast had gathered from the streets of New York. These included a life-size papier-mâché
Papier-mâché
Papier-mâché , alternatively, paper-mache, is a composite material consisting of paper pieces or pulp, sometimes reinforced with textiles, bound with an adhesive, such as glue, starch, or wallpaper paste....
bus driver, the head of Jesus, and a neon marquee of the Waverly movie theater in Greenwich Village. Potts' costumes were based on hippie street clothes, made more theatrical with enhanced color and texture. Some of these included mixed parts of military uniforms, bell bottom jeans with Ukrainian embroidery, tie dyed t-shirts and a red white and blue fringed coat. Early productions were primarily reproductions of this basic design.
Nude scene
"Much has been written about that scene ... most of it silly," wrote Gene Lees in High Fidelity. The scene was inspired by two men who took off their clothes to antagonize the police during an informal anti-war gathering. During "Where Do I Go?", the stage was covered in a giant scrim, beneath which those choosing to participate in the scene removed their clothes. At the musical cue, "they [stood] naked and motionless, their bodies bathed in Fisher's light projection of floral patterns. They chant[ed] of 'beads, flowers, freedom, and happiness.'" It lasted only twenty seconds. Indeed, the scene happened so quickly and was so dimly lit that it prompted Jack BennyJack Benny
Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film...
, during the interval
Intermission
An intermission or interval is a recess between parts of a performance or production, such as for a theatrical play, opera, concert, or film screening....
at a London preview, to quip, "Did you happen to notice if any of them were Jewish?" Nevertheless, the scene prompted threats of censorship and even violent reactions in some places.
The nudity was optional for the performers. The French cast was "the nudest" of the foreign groups, while the London cast "found the nudity the hardest to achieve." The Swedish cast was reluctant to disrobe, but in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, the tribe thought the nudity too tame and decided to walk naked up and down the aisle during the show's prelude. In some early performances, the Germans played their scene behind a big sheet labeled "CENSORED". Original Broadway cast member Natalie Mosco said, "I was dead set against the nude scene at first, but I remembered my acting teacher having said that part of acting is being private in public. So I did it." According to Melba Moore, "It doesn't mean anything except what you want it to mean. We put so much value on clothing our bodies, but it doesn't mean a damn thing. It's like so much else people get uptight about. Sure, I was scared the first time. I thought 'Everybody's looking at me. I've got no protection.' Now I'm still kind of surprised that I'm standin' there naked, but I'm not embarrassed, the audience is." Donna Summer, who was in the German production, said that "it was not meant to be sexual in any way. We stood naked to comment on the fact that society makes more of nudity than killing. We worry more about someone walking around half dressed than somebody who's walking around shooting people." Rado said that "being naked in front of an audience, you're baring your soul. Not only the soul but the whole body was being exposed. It was very apt, very honest and almost necessary."
Music
Kwela
Kwela is a happy, often pennywhistle-based, street music from southern Africa with jazzy underpinnings and a distinctive, skiffle-like beat. It evolved from the marabi sound and brought South African music to international prominence in the 1950s....
stress beats on unexpected syllables, and this influence can be heard in songs like "What a Piece of Work Is Man" and "Ain't Got No Grass". MacDermot said, "My idea was to make a total funk show. They said they wanted rock & roll – but to me that translated to 'funk.'" That funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
is evident throughout the score, notably in songs like "Colored Spade" and "Walking in Space".
MacDermot has claimed that the songs "can't all be the same. You've got to get different styles.... I like to think they're all a little different." As such, the music in Hair runs the gamut of rock: from the rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
sensibilities of "Don't Put it Down" to the folk rock
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
rhythms of "Frank Mills" and "What a Piece of Work is Man". "Easy to be Hard" is pure rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
, and protest rock
Protest song
A protest song is a song which is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of topical songs . It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre...
anthems abound: "Ain't Got No" and "The Flesh Failures". The acid rock
Acid rock
Acid rock is a form of psychedelic rock, which is characterized with long instrumental solos, few lyrics and musical improvisation. Tom Wolfe describes the LSD-influenced music of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Pink Floyd, The Doors, Iron Butterfly, Big Brother & The Holding Company, Cream,...
of "Walking in Space" and "Aquarius" are balanced by the mainstream pop of "Good Morning Starshine". Scott Miller ties the music of Hair to the hippies' political themes: "The hippies... were determined to create art of the people and their chosen art form, rock/folk music was by its definition, populist. ...[T]he hippies' music was often very angry, its anger directed at those who would prostitute the Constitution, who would sell America out, who would betray what America stood for; in other words, directed at their parents and the government." Theatre historian John Kenrick
John Kenrick (theatre writer)
John Kenrick is an American author, teacher and theatre and film historian. Kenrick is an adjunct teacher of musical theatre history at New York University, Brind School – University of the Arts and The New School, and lectures frequently on the subject elsewhere...
explains the application of rock music to the medium of the stage:
The music did not resonate with everyone. Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
remarked "the songs are just laundry lists" and walked out of the production. Richard Rodgers
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...
could only hear the beat and called it "one-third music".
John Fogerty
John Fogerty
John Cameron Fogerty is an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for his time with the swamp rock/roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival and as a #1 solo recording artist. Fogerty has a rare distinction of being named on Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 Greatest...
said, "Hair is such a watered down version of what is really going on that I can’t get behind it at all." Gene Lees, writing for High Fidelity, claimed that John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
found it "dull", and he wrote, "I do not know any musician who thinks it's good."
Songs
The score had many more songs than were typical of Broadway shows of the day. Most Broadway shows had about per act; Hairs total is in the thirties. This list reflects the most common Broadway lineup.Act I
- Aquarius – Tribe and soloist (often Dionne)
- Donna – Berger and Tribe
- Hashish – Tribe
- Sodomy – Woof and Tribe
- I'm Black/Colored Spade – Hud, Woof, Berger, Claude and Tribe
- Manchester England – Claude and Tribe
- Ain't Got No – Woof, Hud, Dionne and Tribe
- I Believe in Love – Sheila and Tribe trio
- Air – Jeanie, Crissy and Dionne
- Initials (L.B.J.) – Tribe
- I Got Life – Claude and Tribe
- Going Down – Berger and Tribe
- HairHair (song)"Hair" is the title song to the 1968 musical Hair, as well as the 1979 film version of the musical.The song was a major hit single for The Cowsills in 1969 and their most successful single. Their version spent two weeks at #1 on the Cash Box Top 100 and reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100...
– Claude, Berger, and Tribe - My Conviction – Margaret Mead (tourist lady)
- Easy to be Hard – Sheila
- Don't Put It Down – Berger, Woof and male Tribe member
- Frank Mills – Crissy
- Be-In (Hare Krishna) – Tribe
- Where Do I Go? – Claude and Tribe
Act II
- Electric Blues – Tribe quartet
- Black Boys – Tribe sextet (three male, three female)
- White Boys – Tribe Supremes trio
- Walking in Space – Tribe
- Yes, I's Finished/Abie Baby – Abraham Lincoln and Tribe trio (Hud and two men)
- Three-Five-Zero-ZeroThree-Five-Zero-Zero"Three-Five-Zero-Zero" is an anti-war song, from the 1968 musical Hair, consisting of a montage of words and phrases similar to those of the 1966 Allen Ginsberg poem "Wichita Vortex Sutra". In the song, the phrases are combined to create images of the violence of military combat and aspects of the...
– Tribe - What a Piece of Work Is Man – Tribe duo
- Good Morning StarshineGood Morning Starshine"Good Morning Starshine" is a pop song from the musical Hair. It was a #3 hit in the United States in June of 1969 for the singer Oliver.-History:...
– Sheila and Tribe - The Bed – Tribe
- Aquarius (reprise) – Tribe
- Manchester England (Reprise) – Claude and Tribe
- Eyes Look Your Last – Claude and Tribe
- The Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine In) – Claude, Sheila, Dionne and Tribe
The show was under almost perpetual re-write. Thirteen songs were added between the production at the Public Theater and Broadway, including "I Believe in Love". "The Climax" and "Dead End" were cut between the productions, and "Exanaplanetooch" and "You Are Standing on My Bed" were present in previews but cut before Broadway. The Shakespearean speech "What a piece of work is a man
What a piece of work is a man
The phrase "What a piece of work is a man!" comes from Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act II, Scene 2, and it is often used in reference to the whole speech containing the line.-The speech:...
" was originally spoken by Claude and musicalized by MacDermot for Broadway, and "Hashish" was formed from an early speech of Berger's. Subsequent productions have included "Hello There", "Dead End", and "Hippie Life" – a song originally written for the film that Rado included in several productions in Europe in the mid-nineties. The current Broadway revival includes the ten-second "Sheila Franklin" and "O Great God of Power", two songs that were cut from the original production.
Recordings
The first recording of HairHair (Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording)
Hair is the cast recording of the original, Off-Broadway cast of the musical Hair. It was released in 1967 on the RCA label. Hair premiered Off-Broadway at the Public Theatre on October 17, 1967, and the cast album was recorded two weeks later...
was made in 1967 featuring the off-Broadway cast. The original Broadway cast recording
Hair (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
Hair is a 1968 cast recording of the musical Hair on the RCA label. Sarah Erlewine, for Allmusic, wrote: "The music is heartening and invigorating, including the classics "Aquarius," "Good Morning Starshine," "Let the Sunshine In," "Frank Mills" , and "Easy to Be Hard." The joy that has been...
received a Grammy Award in 1968 for Best Score from an Original Cast Show Album and sold nearly 3 million copies in the U.S. by December 1969. The New York Times noted in 2007 that "The cast album of Hair was... a must-have for the middle classes. Its exotic orange-and-green cover art imprinted itself instantly and indelibly on the psyche.... [It] became a pop-rock classic that, like all good pop, has an appeal that transcends particular tastes for genre or period." The 1993 London revival cast album contains new music that has been incorporated into the standard rental version.
RCA also released DisinHAIRited (RCA LSO-1163): an album of songs that had been written for the show, but saw varying amounts of stage time. Some of the songs were cut between the Public and Broadway, some had been left off the original cast album due to space, and a few were never performed onstage.
- One Thousand-Year-Old Man
- So Sing the Children of the Avenue
- Manhattan Beggar
- Sheila Franklin/Reading the Writing
- Washing the World
- Exanaplanetooch
- Hello There
- Mr. Berger
- I'm Hung
- The Climax
- Electric Blues
- I Dig
- Going Down
- You Are Standing on My Bed
- The Bed
- Mess O' Dirt
- Dead End
- Oh Great God of Power
- Eyes Look Your Last/Sentimental Ending
Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...
, Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
and Diana Ross
Diana Ross
Diana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...
. "Good Morning Starshine" was sung on a 1969 episode of Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
by cast member Bob McGrath
Bob McGrath
Robert Emmet "Bob" McGrath is an American singer and actor best known for playing the human character Bob on Sesame Street. He was born in Ottawa, Illinois. McGrath was named for Irish patriot Robert Emmet....
, and versions by artists such as Sarah Brightman
Sarah Brightman
Sarah Brightman is an English classical crossover soprano, actress, songwriter and dancer. She is famous for possessing a vocal range of over 3 octaves and singing in the whistle register...
, Petula Clark
Petula Clark
Petula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...
, and Strawberry Alarm Clock
Strawberry Alarm Clock
Strawberry Alarm Clock is a psychedelic rock band from Los Angeles best known for their 1967 hit "Incense and Peppermints". The group took its name as an homage to the Beatles' psychedelic hit "Strawberry Fields Forever", reportedly, at the suggestion of their record company Uni Records.They are...
have been recorded. Artists as varied as Liza Minnelli
Liza Minnelli
Liza May Minnelli is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....
and The Lemonheads
The Lemonheads
The Lemonheads are an American alternative rock band first formed in 1986 by Evan Dando, Ben Deily and Jesse Peretz. Dando has remained the band's only constant member....
have recorded "Frank Mills", and Andrea McArdle
Andrea McArdle
Andrea McArdle is an American singer and actress best known for playing Annie in the Broadway musical Annie, as well as for her alto range and strong vocal belt.-Career:She was born in Philadelphia...
, Jennifer Warnes
Jennifer Warnes
Jennifer Jean Warnes is an American singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer. She is known for her interpretations of compositions written by herself and many others, as well as an extensive playlist as a vocalist on movie soundtracks.Between 1979 and 1987 Warnes surpassed Frank Sinatra as...
, and Sérgio Mendes
Sergio Mendes
Sérgio Santos Mendes is a Brazilian musician. He has released over thirty-five albums, and plays bossa nova heavily crossed with jazz and funk....
have each contributed versions of "Easy to be Hard". Hair also helped launch recording careers for performers Meat Loaf, Dobie Gray, Jennifer Warnes, Jobriath, Bert Sommer
Bert Sommer
Bert Sommer was a folk singer who performed at Woodstock in 1969. Bert wrote "We're All Playing In The Same Band" at and about Woodstock, and his recording peaked at #48 on the Hot 100 on 12 September 1970...
, Ronnie Dyson, Donna Summer and Melba Moore, among others.
The score of Hair saw chart successes, as well. The 5th Dimension released "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In
Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In
"Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" is a medley of two songs written for the 1967 musical Hair by James Rado & Gerome Ragni , and Galt MacDermot , released as a single by The 5th Dimension. The song peaked at number one for six weeks on the U.S...
" in 1969, which won Record of the Year
Record Of The Year
Record of the Year may refer to:*Grammy Award for Record of the Year*The Record of the Year, a British award based on public polling...
and topped the charts
Hot 100 number-one hits of 1969 (USA)
These are the Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1969.-See also:*1969 in music*List of number-one hits *Cashbox Top 100 number-one singles of 1969...
for six weeks. The Cowsills
The Cowsills
The Cowsills are an American singing group from Newport, Rhode Island. They specialized in harmonies and the ability to sing and play music at an early age. The band was formed in the spring of 1965 by brothers Bill, Bob, and Barry, then shortly thereafter added John...
's recording of the title song "Hair" climbed to #2 on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
charts while Oliver
Oliver (William Oliver Swofford)
William Oliver Swofford , known professionally as Oliver, was an American pop singer. Born in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, he began singing as an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the early 1960s...
's rendition of "Good Morning Starshine" reached #3. Three Dog Night
Three Dog Night
Three Dog Night is an American rock band best known for their music from 1968 to 1975. During that time the band charted 21 Billboard top 40 hits in America, three of which reached Number One...
's version of "Easy to Be Hard" went to #4, and Nina Simone
Nina Simone
Eunice Kathleen Waymon , better known by her stage name Nina Simone , was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music...
's 1968 medley of "Ain't Got No / I Got Life" reached the top 5 on the British charts. In 1970, ASCAP announced that "Aquarius" was played more frequently on U.S. radio and television than any other song that year.
Productions in England, Germany, France, Sweden, Japan, Israel, Holland, Australia and elsewhere released cast albums, and over 1,000 vocal and/or instrumental performances of individual songs from Hair have been recorded. Such broad attention was paid to the recordings of Hair that, after an unprecedented bidding war, ABC Records
ABC Records
ABC Records was an American record label, founded in New York City in 1955 as ABC-Paramount Records. It originated as the main popular music label operated the Am-Par Record Corporation, the music subsidiary of the American Broadcasting Company . ABC-Paramount Records' first president was Samuel H....
was willing to pay a record amount for MacDermot's next Broadway adaptation Two Gentlemen of Verona
Two Gentlemen of Verona (musical)
Two Gentlemen of Verona is a rock musical, with a book by John Guare and Mel Shapiro, lyrics by Guare and music by Galt MacDermot, based on the Shakespeare comedy of the same name....
. The 2009 revival recording, released on June 23, debuted at #1 on Billboards "Top Cast Album" chart and at #63 in the Top 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, qualifying it as the highest debuting album in Ghostlight Records history.
Critical reception
Reception to Hair upon its Broadway premiere was, with exceptions, overwhelmingly positive. Clive Barnes wrote in the New York Times: "What is so likable about Hair...? I think it is simply that it is so likable. So new, so fresh, and so unassuming, even in its pretensions." John J. O'Connor of The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
said the show was "exuberantly defiant and the production explodes into every nook and cranny of the Biltmore Theater". Richard Watts Jr. of the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
wrote that "it has a surprising if perhaps unintentional charm, its high spirits are contagious, and its young zestfulness makes it difficult to resist."
Television reviews were even more enthusiastic. Allan Jeffreys of ABC
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
said the actors were "the most talented hippies you'll ever see... directed in a wonderfully wild fashion by Tom O'Horgan." Leonard Probst of NBC
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
said "Hair is the only new concept in musicals on Broadway in years and it's more fun than any other this season". John Wingate of WOR TV
WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the flagship station of the MyNetworkTV programming service, licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey and serving the Tri-State metropolitan area. WWOR is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox network flagship...
praised MacDermot's "dynamic score" that "blasts and soars", and Len Harris of CBS
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
said "I've finally found the best musical of the Broadway season... it's that sloppy, vulgar, terrific tribal love rock musical Hair."
A reviewer from Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, on the other hand, called the show "loony" and "without a story, form, music, dancing, beauty or artistry.... It's impossible to tell whether [the cast has] talent. Maybe talent is irrelevant in this new kind of show business." Reviews in the news weeklies were mixed; Jack Kroll in Newsweek wrote, "There is no denying the sheer kinetic drive of this new Hair... there is something hard, grabby, slightly corrupt about O'Horgan's virtuosity, like Busby Berkeley gone bitchy." But a reviewer from Time wrote that although the show "thrums with vitality [it is] crippled by being a bookless musical and, like a boneless fish, it drifts when it should swim."
Reviews were mixed when Hair opened in London. Irving Wardle in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
wrote, "Its honesty and passion give it the quality of a true theatrical celebration – the joyous sound of a group of people telling the world exactly what they feel." In The Financial Times, B. A. Young agreed that Hair was "not only a wildly enjoyable evening, but a thoroughly moral one." However, in his final review before retiring after 48 years, 78-year-old W. A. Darlington of The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
wrote that he had "tried hard", but found the evening "a complete bore – noisy, ugly and quite desperately funny."
Acknowledging the show's critics, Scott Miller wrote in 2001 that "some people can't see past the appearance of chaos and randomness to the brilliant construction and sophisticated imagery underneath." Miller notes, "Not only did many of the lyrics not rhyme, but many of the songs didn't really have endings, just a slowing down and stopping, so the audience didn't know when to applaud.... The show rejected every convention of Broadway, of traditional theatre in general, and of the American musical in specific. And it was brilliant."
Social change
Excerpts from "Hair" Give a home to the fleas in my hair. A home for fleas, a hive for bees A nest for birds, there ain't no words For the beauty, the splendor, the wonder of my Hair.... Flow it, show it, long as God can grow it, my hair.... Oh say, can you see my eyes? If you can Then my hair's too short.... They'll be ga ga at the Go Go when they see me in my toga, My toga made of blond, brilliantined, biblical hair. My hair like Jesus wore it, Hallelujah, I adore it.... |
Hair challenged many of the norms
Norm (sociology)
Social norms are the accepted behaviors within a society or group. This sociological and social psychological term has been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. These rules may be explicit or implicit...
held by Western society in 1968. The name itself, inspired by the name of a Jim Dine
Jim Dine
Jim Dine is an American pop artist. He is sometimes considered to be a part of the Neo-Dada movement. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, attended Walnut Hills High School, the University of Cincinnati, and received a BFA from Ohio University in 1957. He first earned respect in the art world with...
painting depicting a comb and a few strands of hair, was a reaction to the restrictions of civilization and consumerism and a preference for naturalism. Rado remembers that long hair "was a visible form of awareness in the consciousness expansion. The longer the hair got, the more expansive the mind was. Long hair was shocking, and it was a revolutionary act to grow long hair. It was kind of a flag, really."
The musical caused controversy when it was first staged. The Act I finale was the first time a Broadway show had seen totally naked actors and actresses, and the show was charged with the desecration of the American flag and the use of obscene language
Obscenity
An obscenity is any statement or act which strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time, is a profanity, or is otherwise taboo, indecent, abhorrent, or disgusting, or is especially inauspicious...
. These controversies, in addition to the anti–Vietnam War theme, attracted occasional threats and acts of violence during the show's early years and became the basis for legal actions both when the show opened in other cities and on tour. Two cases eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
Legal challenges and violent reactions
The touring company of Hair met with resistance throughout the United States. In , the Morris Civic Auditorium refused booking, and in Evansville, IndianaEvansville, Indiana
Evansville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 117,429. It is the county seat of Vanderburgh County and the regional hub for both Southwestern Indiana and the...
, the production was picketed by several church groups. In Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
, the producers had difficulty securing a theater, and city authorities suggested that the cast wear body stockings as a compromise to the city's ordinance prohibiting publicly displayed nudity. Productions were frequently confronted with the closure of theaters by the fire marshal
Fire Marshal
A fire marshal, in the United States and Canada, is often a member of a fire department but may be part of a building department or a separate department altogether. Fire marshals' duties vary but usually include fire code enforcement and/or investigating fires for origin and cause...
, as in . Chattanooga's 1972 refusal to allow the play to be shown at the city-owned Memorial Auditorium
Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium
The Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium is an historic performance hall in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Built between 1922 and 1924 at a cost of $700,000 and designed by noted architect R. H. Hunt, the theater honors area veterans of World War I....
was later found by the U.S. Supreme Court to be an unlawful prior restraint
Prior restraint
Prior restraint or prior censorship is censorship in which certain material may not be published or communicated, rather than not prohibiting publication but making the publisher answerable for what is made known...
.
The legal challenges against the Boston production were appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Chief of the Licensing Bureau took exception to the portrayal of the American flag in the piece, saying, "anyone who desecrates the flag should be whipped on Boston Common
Boston Common
Boston Common is a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts. It is sometimes erroneously referred to as the "Boston Commons". Dating from 1634, it is the oldest city park in the United States. The Boston Common consists of of land bounded by Tremont Street, Park Street, Beacon Street,...
." Although the scene was removed before opening, the District Attorney
District attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
's office began plans to stop the show, claiming that "lewd and lascivious" actions were taking place onstage. The Hair legal team obtained an injunction
Injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that requires a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. A party that fails to comply with an injunction faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
against criminal prosecution from the Superior Court, and the D.A. appealed to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The SJC has the distinction of being the oldest continuously functioning appellate court in the Western Hemisphere.-History:...
. At the request of both parties, several of the justices viewed the production and handed down a ruling that "each member of the cast [must] be clothed to a reasonable extent." The cast defiantly played the scene nude later that night, stating that the ruling was vague as to when it would take effect. The next day, April 10, 1970, the production closed, and movie houses, fearing the ruling on nudity, began excising scenes from films in their exhibition. After the Federal appellate bench reversed the Massachusetts court's ruling, the D.A. appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a 4–4 decision, the Court upheld the lower court's decision, allowing Hair to re-open on May 22.
In April 1971, a bomb was thrown at the exterior of a theater in that had been housing a production, bouncing off the marquee and shattering windows in the building and in nearby storefronts. That same month, the families of cast member Jonathon Johnson and stage manager Rusty Carlson died in a fire in the Cleveland hotel where 33 members of the show's troupe had been staying. The Sydney, Australia production's opening night was interrupted by a bomb scare in June 1969.
Worldwide reactions
Local reactions to the controversial material varied greatly. San Francisco's large hippie population considered the show an extension of the street activities there, often blurring the barrier between art and life by meditating with the cast and frequently finding themselves onstage during the show. An 18-year-old Princess AnneAnne, Princess Royal
Princess Anne, Princess Royal , is the only daughter of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
was seen dancing onstage in London, and in Washington DC, Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger
Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
attended. In , a protesting clergyman released 18 white mice into the lobby hoping to frighten the audience. Capt. Jim Lovell
Jim Lovell
James "Jim" Arthur Lovell, Jr., is a former NASA astronaut and a retired captain in the United States Navy, most famous as the commander of the Apollo 13 mission, which suffered a critical failure en route to the Moon but was brought back safely to Earth by the efforts of the crew and mission...
and Jack Swigert
Jack Swigert
He later became staff director of the Committee on Science and Technology of the U.S. House of Representatives.Swigert was elected as a Republican to Colorado's newly created 6th congressional district in November 1982. He defeated Democrat Steve Hogan, 98,909 votes to 56,518...
, after dubbing Apollo 13
Apollo 13
Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the American Apollo space program and the third intended to land on the Moon. The craft was launched on April 11, 1970, at 13:13 CST. The landing was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded two days later, crippling the service module upon which the Command...
's lunar module
Apollo Lunar Module
The Apollo Lunar Module was the lander portion of the Apollo spacecraft built for the US Apollo program by Grumman to carry a crew of two from lunar orbit to the surface and back...
"Aquarius" after the song, walked out of the production at the Biltmore in protest of perceived anti-Americanism and disrespect of the flag.
An Acapulco
Acapulco
Acapulco is a city, municipality and major sea port in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, southwest from Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semi-circular bay and has been a port since the early colonial period of Mexico’s history...
, Mexico production of Hair, directed by Castelli, played in 1969 for one night. After the performance, the theater, located across the street from a popular local bordello, was padlocked by the government, which said the production was "detrimental to the morals of youth." The cast was arrested soon after the performance and taken to Immigration, where they agreed to leave the country, but because of legal complications they were forced to go into hiding. They were expelled from Mexico days later.
Hair effectively marked the end of stage censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
in the United Kingdom. London's stage censor, the Lord Chamberlain
Lord Chamberlain
The Lord Chamberlain or Lord Chamberlain of the Household is one of the chief officers of the Royal Household in the United Kingdom and is to be distinguished from the Lord Great Chamberlain, one of the Great Officers of State....
, originally refused to license the musical, and the opening was delayed until Parliament passed a bill stripping him of his licensing power. In Munich, authorities threatened to close the production if the nude scene remained; however, after a local Hair spokesman declared that his relatives had been marched nude into Auschwitz, the authorities relented. In Bergen
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
, Norway, local citizens formed a human barricade to try to prevent the performance.
The Parisian production encountered little controversy, and the cast disrobed for the nude scene "almost religiously" according to Castelli, nudity being common on stage in Paris. Even in Paris there was nevertheless occasional opposition, however, such as when a member of the local Salvation Army
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
used a portable loud speaker to exhort the audience to halt the presentation.
1970s
A Broadway revival of Hair opened in 1977 for a run of 43 performances. It was produced by Butler, directed by O'Horgan and performed in the Biltmore Theater, where the original Broadway production had played. The cast included Ellen FoleyEllen Foley
Ellen Foley is an American singer and actress, who has appeared on Broadway and television, where she co-starred in the sitcom Night Court. In music, she has released three solo albums but is best known for her collaborations with the singer Meat Loaf.- Early life and career :Foley was born in St....
and Annie Golden
Annie Golden
-Career:Born in Brooklyn, New York, Golden began her career as the lead singer of The Shirts . During the early 1990s she performed as part of the duo Golden Carillo with Frank Carillo. They released three albums,Fire in Newtown, Toxic Emotion, and Back for More. She then returned to The Shirts...
. Newcomer Peter Gallagher
Peter Gallagher
Peter Killian Gallagher is an American actor, musician and writer. Since 1980, Gallagher has played many roles in numerous Hollywood films. He starred as Sandy Cohen in the television drama series The O.C. from 2003 to 2007...
left the ensemble during previews to take the role of Danny Zuko in a tour of Grease
Grease (musical)
Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,...
. Reviews were generally negative, and critics accused the production of "showing its gray". Few major revivals of Hair followed until the early 1990s.
A movie version of Hair, with a screenplay by Michael Weller
Michael Weller
Michael Weller is a Brooklyn-based playwright who is best known for his plays Moonchildren and Loose Ends. Weller is one of the founders of the Cherry Lane Theatre's acclaimed Mentor Project, which pairs pre-eminent playwrights with emerging playwrights for a season-long mentorship...
, was directed by Miloš Forman
Miloš Forman
Jan Tomáš Forman , better known as Miloš Forman , is a Czech-American director, screenwriter, professor, and an emigrant from Czechoslovakia. Two of his films, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus, are among the most celebrated in the history of film, both gaining him the Academy Award for...
and released in 1979. Filmed primarily in New York City's Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
and Washington Square Park
Washington Square Park
Washington Square Park is one of the best-known of New York City's 1,900 public parks. At 9.75 acres , it is a landmark in the Manhattan neighborhood of Greenwich Village, as well as a meeting place and center for cultural activity...
, the cast includes Treat Williams
Treat Williams
Richard Treat Williams is a Screen Actors Guild Award–nominated American actor and children's book author who has appeared on film, stage and television...
, Beverly D'Angelo
Beverly D'Angelo
Beverly Heather D'Angelo is an American actress and singer.-Early life:D'Angelo was born in Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of Priscilla , a violinist, and Gene D'Angelo, a bass player and television station manager. She is of part Italian ancestry...
, John Savage
John Savage (actor)
John Savage is an American film actor, producer, production manager, and composer.- Acting career :...
, Foley and Golden. Several of the songs were deleted, and the film's storyline departs significantly from the musical. The character of Claude is rewritten as an innocent draftee from Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, newly arrived in New York to join the military, and Sheila is a high-society debutante
Debutante
A débutante is a young lady from an aristocratic or upper class family who has reached the age of maturity, and as a new adult, is introduced to society at a formal "début" presentation. It should not be confused with a Debs...
who catches his eye. In perhaps the greatest diversion from the stage version, a mistake leads Berger to go to Vietnam in Claude's place, where he is killed.
Rado and Ragni were unhappy with the film, feeling that Forman portrayed the hippies as "oddballs" and "some sort of aberration" without any connection to the peace movement, failing to capture the essence of the original stage production. They stated: "Any resemblance between the 1979 film and the original Biltmore version, other than some of the songs, the names of the characters, and a common title, eludes us." In their view, the screen version of Hair has not yet been produced.
However, the film received generally favorable reviews. Writing in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
called it "a rollicking musical memoir.... Weller's inventions make this Hair seem much funnier than I remember the show's having been. They also provide time and space for the development of characters who, on the stage, had to express themselves almost entirely in song.... [T]he entire cast is superb.... Mostly... the film is a delight."
1980s and 1990s
A 20th anniversary concert event was held in May 1988 at the United Nations General AssemblyUnited Nations General Assembly
For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
to benefit children with AIDS. The event was sponsored by First Lady
First Lady of the United States
First Lady of the United States is the title of the hostess of the White House. Because this position is traditionally filled by the wife of the president of the United States, the title is most often applied to the wife of a sitting president. The current first lady is Michelle Obama.-Current:The...
Nancy Reagan
Nancy Reagan
Nancy Davis Reagan is the widow of former United States President Ronald Reagan and was First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989....
with Barbara Walters
Barbara Walters
Barbara Jill Walters is an American broadcast journalist, author, and television personality. She has hosted morning television shows , the television newsmagazine , former co-anchor of the ABC Evening News, and current contributor to ABC News.Walters was first known as a popular TV morning news...
giving the night's opening introduction. Rado, Ragni and MacDermot reunited to write nine new songs for the concert. The cast of 163 actors included former stars from various productions around the globe: Melba Moore, Ben Vereen, Treat Williams and Donna Summer, as well as guest performers Bea Arthur, Frank Stallone
Frank Stallone
Frank P. Stallone, Jr. is an American actor, singer/guitarist and Golden Globe and Grammy Award-nominated songwriter. He has appeared in many Hollywood films and television. He is the younger brother of Sylvester Stallone.-Early life:...
and Dr. Ruth Westheimer. Ticket prices ranged from $250 to $5,000 and the proceeds went to the United States Committee for UNICEF and the Creo Society's Fund for Children with AIDS.
A 1985 production of Hair mounted in Montreal was reportedly the 70th professional production of the musical. In November 1988, Michael Butler produced Hair at Chicago's Vic Theater to celebrate the shows' 20th anniversary. The production was well-received and ran until February 1989. From 1990 to 1991, Pink Lace Productions ran a U.S. national tour of Hair that included stops in South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
and Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
. After Ragni died in 1991, MacDermot and Rado continued to write new songs for revivals through the 1990s. Hair Sarajevo, AD 1992 was staged during the Siege of Sarajevo
Siege of Sarajevo
The Siege of Sarajevo is the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. Serb forces of the Republika Srpska and the Yugoslav People's Army besieged Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 during the Bosnian War.After Bosnia...
as an appeal for peace. Rado directed a $1 million, 11 city national tour in 1994 that featured actors Luther Creek
Luther Creek
Luther Creek is an American actor best known for his roles in Broadway and West End musicals.-Biography:Born in Stamford, Connecticut, Creek is the son of J. Fred Creek, a realtor from New Mexico, and his wife Patricia, originally of Indianapolis. Luther grew up in towns throughout the Midwest...
, Kent Dalian, Sean Jenness and Catrice Joseph. With MacDermot returning to oversee the music, Rado's tour celebrated the show's 25th anniversary. A small 1990 "bus and truck" production of Hair toured Europe for over 3 years, and Rado directed various European productions from 1995 to 1999.
A production opened in Australia in 1992 and a short-lived London revival starring John Barrowman
John Barrowman
John Scot Barrowman is a Scottish-American singer, actor, dancer, musical theatre performer and media personality. Born in Glasgow yet growing up in Illinois after his family emigrated to the United States when he was eight years old, Barrowman was encouraged to further his love for music and...
and Paul Hipp opened at the Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
in London in 1993, directed by Michael Bogdanov
Michael Bogdanov
Michael Bogdanov , is a British theatre director known for his work with new plays, modern reinterpretations of Shakespeare, musicals and work for Young People.-Early years:...
. While the London production was faithful to the original, a member of the production staff said the reason it "flopped" was because the tribe consisted of "Thatcher's
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
children who didn't really get it". Other productions were mounted around the world, including South Africa, where the show had been banned until the eradication of Apartheid. In 1996, Butler brought a month-long production to Chicago, employing the Pacific Musical Theater, a professional troupe in residence at California State University, Fullerton
California State University, Fullerton
California State University, Fullerton is a public university located in Fullerton, California. It is the largest institution in the CSU System by enrollment, it offers long-distance education and adult-degree programs...
. Butler ran the show concurrently with the 1996 Democratic National Convention
1996 Democratic National Convention
The 1996 Democratic National Convention of the was held at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois from August 26 to August 29, 1996. Incumbent Democrat Bill Clinton was renominated for President of United States.-Site selection:...
, echoing the last time the DNC was in Chicago: 1968
1968 Democratic National Convention
The 1968 Democratic National Convention of the U.S. Democratic Party was held at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois, from August 26 to August 29, 1968. Because Democratic President Lyndon Johnson had announced he would not seek a second term, the purpose of the convention was to...
. A 30th Anniversary Off-Off Broadway production was staged at Third Eye Repertory. It was directed by Shawn Rozsa.
2000s
In 2001, the Reprise! theatre company in Los Angeles performed Hair at the Wadsworth Theatre, starring Steven WeberSteven Weber (actor)
Steven Robert Weber is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the television show Wings which aired throughout the 1990s on NBC.-Early life:...
as Berger, Sam Harris
Sam Harris (singer)
Sam Harris is an American pop and musical theatre recording artist as well as a television, stage and film actor.-Singing:...
as Claude and Jennifer Leigh Warren as Sheila. That same year, Encores!
Encores!
Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert is a program that has been presented by New York City Center since 1994. Encores! is dedicated to performing the full score of musicals that rarely are heard in New York City...
Great American Musicals in Concert ended its 2001 City Center season with a production of Hair starring Luther Creek, Idina Menzel
Idina Menzel
Idina Kim Menzel is an American actress, singer and songwriter. She is widely known for originating the roles of Maureen in Rent and Elphaba in Wicked.-Early life:...
, Jessica-Snow Wilson and Tom Plotkin
Tom Plotkin
Tom Plotkin is an American actor. He is primarily a Broadway performer and is most famous for originating the role of Willard Hewitt in Footloose.-External links:...
, and featuring Hair composer Galt MacDermot on stage playing the keyboards. An Actors' Fund benefit of the show was performed for one night at the New Amsterdam Theater in New York City in 2004. The Tribe included Shoshana Bean
Shoshana Bean
Shoshana Elise Bean is an American stage actress and singer known for her roles in Broadway musicals. She is best known for playing Elphaba on Broadway in the musical Wicked.-Early life and education:...
, Raul Esparza
Raúl Esparza
Raúl Eduardo Esparza is an American stage actor, singer, and voice artist noted for his award winning performances in Broadway shows...
, Jim J. Bullock, Liz Callaway
Liz Callaway
Liz Callaway is an American actress and singer, famous for providing the singing voices of many female characters in films, such as Anya in Anastasia, Odette in The Swan Princess, and Kiara in The Lion King II:Simba's Pride....
, Gavin Creel
Gavin Creel
Gavin James Creel is an American actor, singer and song writer.Born in Findlay, Ohio, Creel received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in musical theatre at the University of Michigan in 1998. Creel, who is openly gay, is a regular on the LGBT RFamilyVacations cruise with Rosie O'Donnell...
, Eden Espinosa
Eden Espinosa
Eden Erica Espinosa is an American singer and stage actress, who is best known for her performances as Elphaba for the Broadway, Los Angeles and San Francisco productions of the musical Wicked....
, Harvey Fierstein
Harvey Fierstein
Harvey Forbes Fierstein is a U.S. actor and playwright, noted for the early distinction of winning Tony Awards for both writing and originating the lead role in his long-running play Torch Song Trilogy, about a gay drag-performer and his quest for true love and family, as well as writing the...
, Ana Gasteyer
Ana Gasteyer
Ana Kristina Gasteyer is an American actress of stage, film, and television. She is best known for her comedic roles when she was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1996 to 2002.-Early life:...
, Annie Golden, Jennifer Hudson
Jennifer Hudson
Jennifer Kate Hudson is an American recording artist, actress and spokesperson. She came to prominence in 2004 as one of the finalists on the third season of American Idol coming in seventh place...
, Julia Murney
Julia Murney
Julia Kathleen Murney is an American actress, singer and theatre performer, primarily featured in theatre and television commercial voice-overs. Until 2005, she was commonly known as the Broadway actress who had technically never appeared on Broadway...
, Jai Rodriguez
Jai Rodriguez
Jai Rodriguez is an actor and musician best known as the culture guide on the Bravo network's Emmy-winning American reality television program Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. He has also co-authored a book with the other Queer Eye hosts.-Biography:Rodriguez is of Puerto Rican and Italian descent,...
, RuPaul
RuPaul
RuPaul Andre Charles , best known as simply RuPaul, is an American actor, drag queen, model, author, and singer-songwriter, who first became widely known in the 1990s when he appeared in a wide variety of television programs, films, and musical albums. Previously, he was a fixture on the Atlanta...
, Michael McKean
Michael McKean
Michael John McKean is an American actor, comedian, writer, composer and musician, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Squiggy's friend, Leonard 'Lenny' Kosnowski, on the sitcom Laverne and Shirley; and for his work in the Christopher Guest ensemble films, particularly as David St...
, Laura Benanti
Laura Benanti
Laura Benanti is an American actress of television, film and Broadway theatre noted for her award winning performance as Louise in the 2008 production of Gypsy.-Early years:...
and Adam Pascal
Adam Pascal
Adam Pascal is an American actor and singer known for his performance as Roger Davis in the original cast of Jonathan Larson's musical Rent on Broadway 1996, the 2005 movie version of the musical, and the Broadway Tour of Rent in 2009...
.
In 2005, a London production opened at the Gate Theatre, directed by Daniel Kramer. James Rado approved an updating of the musical's script to place it in the context of the Iraq War instead of the Vietnam War. Kramer's modernized interpretation included "Aquarius" sung over a megaphone in Times Square, and nudity that called to mind images from Abu Ghraib
Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse
Beginning in 2004, human rights violations in the form of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse, including torture, rape, sodomy, and homicide of prisoners held in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq came to public attention...
. In March 2006, Rado collaborated with director Robert Prior for a CanStage production of Hair in Toronto, and a revival produced by Pieter Toerien
Pieter Toerien
Pieter Toerien for 40 years, South Africa's foremost theatre impresario.Toerien began his theatre career while still at school presenting puppet shows to schools in his home town, Cape Town....
toured South Africa in 2007. Directed by Paul Warwick Griffin, with choreography by Timothy Le Roux, the show ran at the Montecasino Theatre in Johannesburg and at Theatre on the Bay in Cape Town. A two-week run played at the Teatro Tapia
Teatro Tapia
The Teatro Tapia, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is presumed to be the oldest free-standing drama stage building still in use in the United States. It is named after the poet and dramatist Alejandro Tapia y Rivera .-Location:...
in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, in March 2010, directed by Yinoelle Colón.
Michael Butler produced Hair at the MET Theatre in Los Angeles from September 14 through December 30, 2007. The show was directed and choreographed by Bo Crowell, with musical direction from Christian Nesmith (son of Michael Nesmith
Michael Nesmith
Robert Michael Nesmith is an American musician, songwriter, actor, producer, novelist, businessman, and philanthropist, best known as a member of the musical group The Monkees and star of the TV series of the same name...
). The Tribe featured James Barry, Lee Ferris, Johanna Unger, Dawn Worrall and Trance Thompson. Butler's production of Hair won the LA Weekly Theater Award
LA Weekly Theater Award
LA Weekly Theater Award is an annual critics' award established in 1979, given by the LA Weekly for outstanding achievements in small theatre productions in Southern California...
for Musical of the Year.
For three nights in September 2007, Joe's Pub
Joe's Pub
Joe's Pub at Public Theater is a nightclub that hosts live performances regularly. The venue, which is a non-profit operation, is located at 425 Lafayette Street near Astor Place in Manhattan, New York City...
and the Public Theatre presented a 40th anniversary production of Hair at the Delacorte Theater
Delacorte Theater
The Delacorte Theater, established in 1962, is an open-air theater located in Manhattan's Central Park and has a seating capacity of 1,800. The Delacorte is owned by the City of New York and operated by The Public Theater. It is an open-air amphitheater, with the Turtle Pond and Belvedere Castle...
in Central Park. This concert version, directed by Diane Paulus
Diane Paulus
Diane Paulus is an American director of theater and opera who became Artistic Director of the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University in 2009. Paulus was nominated for the Best Director Tony Award for her revival of Hair...
, featured Jonathan Groff
Jonathan Groff
Jonathan Drew Groff is an American singer-songwriter, stage, television and film actor. He originated the role of Melchior Gabor in the stage musical Spring Awakening and appeared as Jesse St...
as Claude and Galt MacDermot on stage on the keyboards. The cast also included Karen Olivo
Karen Olivo
Karen Olivo is a stage and television actress, who is known for originating the role of Vanessa in the Tony Award–winning musical In the Heights both on and off Broadway. She won her Tony Award for her performance as Anita in the revival of West Side Story...
as Sheila, Will Swenson
Will Swenson
William Swenson is an American actor, writer and film director best known for his work in musical theatre. He also has developed a film career, primarily in Mormon cinema...
as Berger and Darius Nichols as Hud. Actors from the original Broadway production joined the cast on stage during the encore of "Let the Sun Shine In." Demand for the show was overwhelming, as long lines and overnight waits for tickets far exceeded that for other Delacorte productions such as Mother Courage and Her Children
Mother Courage and Her Children
Mother Courage and Her Children is a play written in 1939 by the German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht with significant contributions from Margarete Steffin...
starring Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
and Kevin Kline
Kevin Kline
Kevin Delaney Kline is an American theatre, voice, film actor and comedian. He has won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards, and has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards and an Emmy Award.- Early life :...
.
Nine months later, The Public Theater presented a fully staged production of Hair at the Delacorte in a limited run from July 22, 2008 to September 14, 2008. Paulus again directed, with choreography by Karole Armitage
Karole Armitage
Karole Armitage is an American dancer and choreographer currently based in New York City. She is Artistic Director of Armitage Gone! Dance, a contemporary ballet company that performs several times annually in New York City as well as touring internationally...
. Groff and Swenson returned as Claude and Berger, together with others from the concert cast. Caren Lyn Manuel
Caren Manuel
Caren Lyn Manuel , also credited as Caren Tackett, Caren Lyn Manuel, and Kathleen Delaney, is an American voice actress, singer & writer who works on Broadway and in the properties of 4Kids Entertainment....
played Sheila, and Christopher J. Hanke
Christopher Hanke
Christopher Jason Hanke , often credited as Christopher J. Hanke, is an American actor known for his roles on Broadway and television.- Early life :...
replaced Groff as Claude on August 17. Reviews were generally positive, with Ben Brantley
Ben Brantley
Benjamin D. "Ben" Brantley is an American journalist and the chief theater critic of The New York Times.-Life and career:...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
writing that "this production establishes the show as more than a vivacious period piece. Hair, it seems, has deeper roots than anyone remembered". Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine wrote: "Hair... has been reinvigorated and reclaimed as one of the great milestones in musical-theatre history. ... Today Hair seems, if anything, more daring than ever."
2009 Broadway revival and 2010 U.S. National Tour
The Public Theater production transferred to Broadway at the Al Hirschfeld TheatreAl Hirschfeld Theatre
The Al Hirschfeld Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 302 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan.Designed by architect G. Albert Lansburgh for vaudeville promoter Martin Beck, the theatre opened as the Martin Beck Theatre with a production of Madame Pompadour on November 11, 1924. It...
, beginning previews on March 6, 2009, with an official opening on March 31, 2009. Paulus and Armitage again directed and choreographed, and most of the cast returned from the production in the park. A pre-performance ticket lottery was held nightly for $25 box-seat tickets. The opening cast included Gavin Creel
Gavin Creel
Gavin James Creel is an American actor, singer and song writer.Born in Findlay, Ohio, Creel received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in musical theatre at the University of Michigan in 1998. Creel, who is openly gay, is a regular on the LGBT RFamilyVacations cruise with Rosie O'Donnell...
as Claude, Will Swenson as Berger, Caissie Levy
Caissie Levy
Caissie Shira Reiser , known professionally as Caissie Levy, is a Canadian stage actress and singer.-Early Life:...
as Sheila, Allison Case as Crissy, Darius Nichols as Hud, Bryce Ryness as Woof, Kacie Sheik as Jeanie, Megan Lawrence as Mom, Andrew Kober as Dad and Margaret Mead, and Sasha Allen
Sasha Allen
Sasha Allen is an American singer and actress with a career in the entertainment industry that spans over 10 years...
as Dionne. Designers included Scott Pask
Scott Pask
Scott Pask is an American scenic designer. He has worked primarily on stage productions in the United States, on Broadway and Off-Broadway, and in regional theatre, as well as in the United Kingdom...
(sets), Michael McDonald (costumes) and Kevin Adams
Kevin Adams
For the NHL player, see Kevyn Adams.Kevin Adams is an American theatrical lighting designer. He has earned three Tony Awards for lighting design.-Biography:...
(lighting).
Critical response was almost uniformly positive. The New York Daily News headline proclaimed "Hair Revival's High Fun". The review praised the daring direction, "colorfully kinetic" choreography and technical accomplishments of the show, especially the lighting, commening that "as a smile-inducing celebration of life and freedom, [Hair is] highly communicable"; but warning: "If you're seated on the aisle, count on [the cast] to be in your face or your lap or ... braiding your tresses." The New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
wrote that the production "has emerged triumphant.... These days, the nation is fixated less on war and more on the economy. As a result, the scenes that resonate most are the ones in which the kids exultantly reject the rat race." Variety enthused, "Director Diane Paulus and her prodigiously talented cast connect with the material in ways that cut right to the 1967 rock musical's heart, generating tremendous energy that radiates to the rafters. ... What could have been mere nostalgia instead becomes a full-immersion happening. ... If this explosive production doesn't stir something in you, it may be time to check your pulse." The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
dissented, saying that the production "felt canned" and "overblown" and that the revival "feels unbearably naive and unforgivably glib". Ben Brantley, writing for The New York Times, reflected the majority, however, delivering a glowing review:
The Public Theatre struggled to raise the $5.5 million budgeted for the Broadway transfer, because of the severity of the economic recession in late 2008, but it reached its goal by adding new producing partners. Director Diane Paulus helped keep costs low by using an inexpensive set. The show grossed a healthy $822,889 in its second week. On April 30, 2009 on the Late Show with David Letterman
Late Show with David Letterman
Late Show with David Letterman is a U.S. late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and is produced by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated. The show's music director and band-leader of the house band, the CBS Orchestra, is...
, the cast recreated a performance on the same stage at the Ed Sullivan Theater
Ed Sullivan Theater
The Ed Sullivan Theater, located at 1697-1699 Broadway between West 53rd and West 54th, in Manhattan, is a venerable radio and television studio in New York City...
by the original tribe. The production won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical
Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical
The Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical has been awarded since 1994. Before that time, both plays and musicals were considered together for the Tony Award for Best Revival....
, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Musical
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival
The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival is presented by the Drama Desk, a committee of New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors. It honors the Broadway, off-Broadway, off-off-Broadway, or legitimate not-for-profit theater revival of a production previously staged in New York City.It...
and the Drama League Award
Drama League Award
The Drama League Awards, created in 1935, honor distinguished productions and performances both on Broadway and Off-Broadway, in addition to recognizing exemplary career achievements in theatre, musical theatre, and directing...
for Distinguished Revival of a Musical. Its cast album won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album. By August 2009, the revival had recouped its entire $5,760,000 investment, becoming one of the fastest-recouping musicals in Broadway history.
When the Broadway cast transferred to London for the 2010 West-End revival, a mostly new tribe took over on Broadway on March 9, 2010, including former American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
finalists Ace Young
Ace Young
Brett Asa "Ace" Young is an American singer, songwriter and actor. He came to national recognition upon appearing on the fifth season of the reality television talent show, American Idol, although he was eliminated from the competition on April 19, 2006, finishing in seventh place.-Early...
as Berger and Diana DeGarmo
Diana DeGarmo
Diana Nicole DeGarmo is an American singer and Broadway actress. She finished as the runner-up on the third season of the reality/talent-search television series American Idol, narrowly missing the win by about 2% out of over 65 million votes...
as Sheila. Kyle Riabko
Kyle Riabko
Kyle Riabko is a Canadian pop singer, guitarist, and actor who was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He resides in New York City....
assumed the role of Claude, and Annaleigh Ashford
Annaleigh Ashford
Annaleigh Ashford is an American actress known for her Broadway credits in Wicked, Legally Blonde, and Hair.-Early life:Annaleigh Ashford was born Annaleigh Swanson in Denver, Colorado to Holli Swanson, a gym teacher...
played Jeanie. Sales decreased after the original cast transferred to London, and the revival closed on June 27, 2010 after 29 previews and 519 regular performances.
A U.S. National Tour of the production began in October 2010. Kacie Sheik and Darius Nichols returned as Jeannie and Hud. Other principals are Steel Burkhardt as Berger, Paris Remillard as Claude, Caren Lyn Tackett as Sheila, Matt DeAngelis as Woof and Kaitlin Kiyan as Crissy. The tour has received mostly positive reviews. The tour had an engagement on Broadway at the St. James Theatre
St. James Theatre
The St. James Theatre is located at 246 W. 44th St. Broadway, New York City, New York. It was built by Abraham L. Erlanger, theatrical producer and a founding member of the Theatrical Syndicate, on the site of the original Sardi's restaurant. It opened in 1927 as The Erlanger...
from July 5 through September 10, 2011. After that, the tour resumed.
2010 West End revival
The 2009 Broadway production was duplicated at the Gielgud TheatreGielgud Theatre
The Gielgud Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, London, at the corner of Rupert Street. The house currently has 889 seats on three levels.-History:...
in London's West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
. Previews began on April 1, 2010 with an official opening on April 14. The producers were the Public Theatre, together with Cameron Mackintosh
Cameron Mackintosh
Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh is a British theatrical producer notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world" by the New York...
and Broadway Across America
Broadway Across America
Broadway Across America is a presenter and producer of live theatrical events in the United States and Canada since 1984. It is currently owned by Key Brand Entertainment , who purchased it from Live Nation in 2008...
. Nearly all of the New York cast relocated to London. A new addition to the London cast was Luther Creek
Luther Creek
Luther Creek is an American actor best known for his roles in Broadway and West End musicals.-Biography:Born in Stamford, Connecticut, Creek is the son of J. Fred Creek, a realtor from New Mexico, and his wife Patricia, originally of Indianapolis. Luther grew up in towns throughout the Midwest...
as Woof. The London revival closed on September 4, 2010.
The production received mostly enthusiastic reviews. Michael Billington
Michael Billington (critic)
Michael Keith Billington is a British author and arts critic. Drama critic of The Guardian since October 1971, he is "Britain's longest-serving theatre critic" and the author of biographical and critical studies relating to British theatre and the arts; most notably, he is the authorised...
of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
described it as "a vibrant, joyous piece of living theatre", writing, "it celebrates a period when the joy of life was pitted against the forces of intolerance and the death-dealing might of the military-industrial complex. As Shakespeare once said: 'There's sap in't yet.'" Charles Spencer in The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
agreed: "This is a timely and irresistibly vital revival of the greatest of all rock musicals. ... The verve and energy of the company ... is irresistible." Michael Coveney
Michael Coveney
Michael Coveney is a British theatre critic. He was educated at St Ignatius' College, Stamford Hill and Worcester College, Oxford....
of The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
wrote that Hair is "one of the great musicals of all time, and a phenomenon that, I'm relieved to discover, stands up as a period piece". In The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, Benedict Nightingale
Benedict Nightingale
Benedict Nightingale is a British journalist and a regular theatre critic for The Times newspaper. He was born in 1939 and educated at Charterhouse and Magdalene College, Cambridge...
commented that "it's exhilarating, as well as oddly poignant, when a multihued cast dressed in everything from billowing kaftans to Ruritania
Ruritania
Ruritania is a fictional country in central Europe which forms the setting for three books by Anthony Hope: The Prisoner of Zenda , The Heart of Princess Osra , and Rupert of Hentzau...
n army jackets race downstage while delivering that tuneful salute to an age of Aquarius that still refuses to dawn." Quentin Letts
Quentin Letts
Quentin Richard Stephen Letts is a British journalist and theatre critic, writing for The Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Oldie and New Statesman, and previously for The Times.- Early life :...
was a dissenting voice in the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
. Though praising the performances and the production, he wrote: "by the end the fraudulence of the gaiety becomes sickening. There is a lack of truthfulness in Hair which may not have been apparent when it was first performed in New York City in 1967 but which, today, is unavoidable."
International success
Hair has been performed in most of the countries of the world. After the Berlin WallBerlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
fell, the show traveled for the first time to Poland, Lebanon, the Czech Republic and Sarajevo (featured on ABC's Nightline with Ted Koppel
Ted Koppel
Edward James "Ted" Koppel is an English-born American broadcast journalist, best known as the anchor for Nightline from the program's inception in 1980 until his retirement in late 2005. After leaving Nightline, Koppel worked as managing editor for the Discovery Channel before resigning in 2008...
, when Phil Alden Robinson
Phil Alden Robinson
Phil Alden Robinson is an American film director and screenwriter whose films include Field of Dreams, Sneakers and The Sum of All Fears.-Life and career:...
visited that city in 1996 and discovered a production of Hair there in the midst of the war). In 1999, Michael Butler and director Bo Crowell helped produce Hair in Russia at the Stas Namin
Stas Namin
Stas Namin is a Russian-Armenian musician, composer, and record producer; artist and photographer; theatre and film director and producer; entrepreneur, promoter, and businessman...
Theatre located in Moscow's Gorky Park
Gorky Park (Moscow)
Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure is an amusement park in Moscow, named after Maxim Gorky.-History:...
. The Moscow production caused a similar reaction as the original did 30 years earlier because Russian soldiers were fighting in Chechnya at the time.
Rado wrote in 2003 that the only places where the show had not been performed were "China, India, Vietnam, the Arctic and Antarctic continents as well as most African countries." Since then, an Indian production has been mounted.
Popular culture
The New York Times noted, in 2007, that "Hair was one of the last Broadway musicals to saturate the culture as shows from the golden age once regularly did." Songs from the show continue to be recorded by major artists. In the 1990s, Evan DandoEvan Dando
Evan Griffith Dando is an American musician, most famous for fronting the alternative rock band The Lemonheads. He is the only original member left in the current Lemonheads line-up, having served as lead singer since the band's original formation in 1986...
's group The Lemonheads
The Lemonheads
The Lemonheads are an American alternative rock band first formed in 1986 by Evan Dando, Ben Deily and Jesse Peretz. Dando has remained the band's only constant member....
recorded "Frank Mills" for their 1992 record It's A Shame About Ray
It's a Shame about Ray
It's a Shame about Ray is the fifth album by The Lemonheads. It was released on June 2, 1992 . Tom Morgan of Australian band Smudge helped author the album, while Juliana Hatfield played bass and sang backing vocals on some songs....
, and Run DMC sampled "Where Do I Go" for their 1993 single "Down With the King" which went to #1 on the Billboard rap charts and reached the top 25 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In 2004, "Aquarius" was honored at number 33 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs
Part of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's 100 Years…100 Songs is a list of the top 100 songs in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute June 22, 2004 in a CBS special hosted by John Travolta, who appeared in two films honored by the list, Saturday Night Fever and...
.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a 1964 children's book by British author Roald Dahl. The story features the adventures of young Charlie Bucket inside the chocolate factory of the eccentric chocolatier, Willy Wonka....
, the character Willy Wonka
Willy Wonka
This article is about the fictional character. For the candy company, see, The Willy Wonka Candy Company.Willy Wonka is a fictional character in the 1964 Roald Dahl novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the film adaptations that followed. The book and the 1971 film adaption both vividly...
welcomed the children with lyrics from "Good Morning Starshine". "Aquarius" was performed in the final episode of Laverne and Shirley in 1983, where the character Carmine moves to New York City to become an actor, and auditions for Hair. "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" was also performed in the final scene in the film The 40-Year-Old Virgin
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
The 40-Year-Old Virgin is a 2005 American buddy comedy film about a middle-aged man's journey to finally have sex. The film was written and directed by Judd Apatow and co-written by its lead star, Steve Carell, though the film itself features a great deal of improvised dialogue...
, and Three Dog Night's recording of "Easy to be Hard" was featured in the first part of David Fincher's film Zodiac
Zodiac (film)
Zodiac is a 2007 American mystery-thriller film directed by David Fincher and based on Robert Graysmith's non-fiction book of the same name. The Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros...
. On the Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episode "The Springfield Files
The Springfield Files
"The Springfield Files" is the tenth episode of The Simpsons eighth season, which originally aired January 12, 1997. The episode sees Homer believe he has discovered an alien in Springfield. It was written by Reid Harrison and directed by Steven Dean Moore...
", the townspeople, Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Simon Nimoy is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. Nimoy's most famous role is that of Spock in the original Star Trek series , multiple films, television and video game sequels....
, Chewbacca
Chewbacca
Chewbacca, also known as Chewie, is a character in the Star Wars franchise, portrayed by Peter Mayhew. In the series' narrative chronology, he appears in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Episode IV: A New Hope, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi...
, Dana Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
and Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
all sing "Good Morning Starshine." In addition, Head of the Class
Head of the Class
Head of the Class is an American sitcom that ran from 1986 to 1991 on the ABC television network. The series follows a group of gifted students in the Individualized Honors Program at the fictional Monroe High School in Manhattan, and their history teacher Charlie Moore...
featured a two-part episode in 1990 where the head of the English department is determined to disrupt the school's performance of Hair. The continued popularity of Hair is seen in its number ten ranking in a 2006 BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
listener poll of the "[United Kingdom]'s Number One Essential Musicals."
Because of the universality of its pacifist theme, Hair continues to be a popular choice for high-school and university productions. Amateur productions of Hair are also popular worldwide. In 2002, Peter Jennings
Peter Jennings
Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings, CM was a Canadian American journalist and news anchor. He was the sole anchor of ABC's World News Tonight from 1983 until his death in 2005 of complications from lung cancer...
featured a Boulder, Colorado, high school production of Hair for his ABC documentary series "In Search of America". A September 2006 community theater production at the 2,000-seat Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey
Red Bank, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 11,844 people, 5,201 households, and 2,501 families residing in the borough. The population density was 6,639.1 people per square mile . There were 5,450 housing units at an average density of 3,055.0 per square mile...
, was praised by original producer Michael Butler, who said it was "one of the best Hairs I have seen in a long time." Another example of a recent large-scale amateur production is the Mountain Play production at the 4,000-seat Cushing Memorial Amphitheatre in Mount Tamalpais
Mount Tamalpais
Mount Tamalpais is a peak in Marin County, California, United States, often considered symbolic of Marin County. Much of Mount Tamalpais is protected within public lands such as Mount Tamalpais State Park and the Mount Tamalpais Watershed.-Geography:...
State Park in Mill Valley
Mill Valley, California
Mill Valley is a city in Marin County, California, United States located about north of San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge. The population was 13,903 at the 2010 census.Mill Valley is located on the western and northern shores of Richardson Bay...
, California in the spring of 2007.
Legacy
Hair was Broadway's first concept musicalConcept musical
A concept musical is a musical where the show's metaphor or statement is more important than the actual narrative. Concept musicals have their roots in the plays with music Bertolt Brecht wrote with Kurt Weill and other composers...
, a form that dominated the musical theatre of the seventies, including shows like Company
Company (musical)
Company is a musical with a book by George Furth and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The original production was nominated for a record-setting fourteen Tony Awards and won six....
, Follies
Follies
Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. The story concerns a reunion in a crumbling Broadway theatre, scheduled for demolition, of the past performers of the "Weismann's Follies," a musical revue , that played in that theatre between the World Wars...
, Pacific Overtures
Pacific Overtures
Pacific Overtures is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, a libretto by John Weidman, and additional material by Hugh Wheeler. The musical is set in 1853 Japan and follows the difficult Westernization of Japan, through the lives of two friends caught in the change...
and A Chorus Line
A Chorus Line
A Chorus Line is a 1975 musical about Broadway dancers auditioning for spots on a chorus line. The book was authored by James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nicholas Dante, lyrics were written by Edward Kleban, and music was composed by Marvin Hamlisch....
. While the development of the concept musical was an unexpected consequence of Hairs tenure on Broadway, the expected rock music revolution on Broadway turned out to be less than complete.
MacDermot followed Hair with three successive rock scores: Two Gentlemen of Verona (1971); Dude
Dude (musical)
Dude is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. It is an allegory about good and evil, the conflict between mankind's creative and destructive urges, the power of love, and the joy to be found in simple pleasures...
(1972), a second collaboration with Ragni; and Via Galactica
Via Galactica
Via Galactica is a rock musical with a book by Christopher Gore and Judith Ross, lyrics by Gore, and music by Galt MacDermot. It marked the Broadway debut of actor Mark Baker....
(1972). While Two Gentlemen of Verona found receptive audiences and a Tony for Best Musical, Dude failed after just sixteen performances, and Via Galactica flopped after a month. According to Horn, these and other such "failures may have been the result of producers simply relying on the label 'rock musical' to attract audiences without regard to the quality of the material presented." Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...
(1970) and Godspell
Godspell
Godspell is a musical by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak. It opened off Broadway on May 17, 1971, and has played in various touring companies and revivals many times since, including a 2011 revival now playing on Broadway...
(1971) were two religiously themed successes of the genre. Grease
Grease (musical)
Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,...
(1975) reverted to the rock sounds of the 1950s, and black-themed musicals like The Wiz
The Wiz
The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the context of African American culture. It opened on October 21, 1974 at the Morris A...
(1975) were heavily influenced by gospel, R&B and soul music
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
. By the late 1970s, the genre had played itself out. Except for a few outposts of rock, like Dreamgirls (1981) and Little Shop of Horrors
Little Shop of Horrors (musical)
Little Shop of Horrors is a rock musical, by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood. The musical is based on the low-budget 1960 black comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Roger Corman...
(1982), audience tastes in the 1980s turned to megamusicals with pop scores, like Les Misérables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
(1985) and The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)
The Phantom of the Opera is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux.The music was composed by Lloyd Webber, and most lyrics were written by Charles Hart, with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. Alan Jay Lerner was an early collaborator,...
(1986). Some later rock musicals, such as Rent
Rent (musical)
Rent is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème...
(1996) and Spring Awakening
Spring Awakening
Spring Awakening is a rock musical adaptation of the controversial 1892 German play of the same title by Frank Wedekind. It features music by Duncan Sheik and a book and lyrics by Steven Sater. Set in late-19th century Germany, it concerns teenagers who are discovering the inner and outer tumult of...
(2006), as well as jukebox musicals featuring rock music, like We Will Rock You
We Will Rock You (musical)
We Will Rock You is a jukebox musical, based on the songs of Queen and named after their hit single of the same name. The musical was written by British comedian and author Ben Elton in collaboration with Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor...
(2002) and Rock of Ages
Rock of Ages (musical)
Rock of Ages is a rock/jukebox musical, with a book by Chris D'Arienzo, built around classic rock hits from the 1980s, especially from the famous glam metal bands of the decade. The musical features songs from Styx, Journey, Bon Jovi, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister, Steve Perry, Poison and Asia, among...
(2009), have found success. But the rock musical did not quickly come to dominate the musical theatre stage after Hair. Critic Clive Barnes
Clive Barnes (critic)
Clive Alexander Barnes, CBE was a British-born American writer and critic. From 1965 to 1977 he was the dance and theater critic for the New York Times, the most powerful position he had held, since its theater critics' reviews historically have had great influence on the success or failure of...
commented, "There really weren't any rock musicals. No major rock musician ever did a rock score for Broadway. ... You might think of the musical Tommy
Tommy (rock opera)
Tommy is the fourth album by English rock band The Who, released by Track Records and Polydor Records in the United Kingdom and Decca Records/MCA in the United States. A double album telling a loose story about a "deaf, dumb and blind boy" who becomes the leader of a messianic movement, Tommy was...
, but it was never conceived as a Broadway show. ... And one can see why. There's so much more money in records and rock concerts. I mean, why bother going through the pain of a musical which may close in Philadelphia?"
On the other hand, Hair had a profound effect not only on what was acceptable on Broadway, but as part of the very social movements that it celebrated. For example, in 1970, Butler, Castelli and the various Hair casts contributed to fundraising for the World Youth Assembly, a United Nations-sponsored organization formed in connection with the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the United Nations. The Assembly enabled 750 young representatives from around the world to meet in New York in July 1970 to discuss social issues. For about a week, cast members worldwide collected donations at every show for the fund. Hair raised around $250,000 and ended up being the principal financier of the Assembly. Tribe members and Hair crews also contributed a days' pay, and Butler contributed a days' profits from these productions. Moreover, as Ellen Stewart
Ellen Stewart
Ellen Stewart was an American theater director and producer and the founder of La MaMa, E.T.C. . In the 1950s she worked as a fashion designer for Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Lord & Taylor, and Henri Bendel.-Biography:Ellen Stewart was either born in Alexandria, Louisiana or Chicago,...
, La MaMa's founder, noted:
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. ... You can go anywhere you want, and what Hair did, it is still doing twenty years later.... A kind of emancipation, a spiritual emancipation that came from [O'Horgan's] staging. ... Hair until this date has influenced every single thing that you see on Broadway, off-Broadway, off-off-Broadway, anywhere in the world, you will see elements of the experimental techniques that Hair brought not just to Broadway, but to the entire world.
External links
- The HAIR Archives at Michael Butler.com, curator Nina Machlin Dayton, containing numerous historical documents about the musical
- Official HAIR blog from Michael Butler, the musical's original producer
- Links to discographies and listings of original cast albums and recordings of songs in Hair compiled by John Holleman
- Official 2009 Broadway production site
- Official 2010 London production site
- Official Galt MacDermot website, Hair composer
- Reocities' "Hair pages", curator Tracy Harris