Hair Makes Hippies Irresistible

The Onion recently ran an article entitled “Oh No, Performers Coming Into Audience”. The piece was a frighteningly detailed account of a theater performance in which the cast descended “previously unseen stairs” in a “horrifying breach of the fourth wall,” bringing their singing, dancing, and cavorting right into the laps of their (captive) audience. My mind touched on this article at a recent performance of Hair, as Will Swenson’s heinie shimmied mere inches away from my mortified face. Three songs in, I was flat-out terrified he was going to drag me up onstage. But he didn't - thank god! - and once I came around to the flower children who aren't afraid to hug a stranger, the show was a total delight. Bottom line: Hair is a lot of fun, but don’t sit on the fourth row aisle unless you’re looking for a lap dance.

Conceived by two hippie actors in 1964, Hair was created as an autobiographical piece that took almost every political and social issue of the moment and fused them into a wild tribal rock musical, played fast and loose in a way that was unprecedented in the world of traditional musical theater. Concept musicals like Company, Follies, and even A Chorus Line were all borne, in a sense, of the creative freedom that Hair established when it burst onto the scene almost 50 years ago.

The big selling point of this new production of Hair is that it manages to manifest the untamed spirit of that era without appearing outdated or silly. The theater has been stripped down and decked out as a rainbow-infused hippie hideout, and the staging creates an intimate connection between the cast and audience from the get-go. Most importantly, the spirited cast shines as if ideas like peace and free love are things that they are creating right here and now. The urgency and innocence of their performances works in perfect harmony with the rich history of the piece to make Hair enchanting and irresistible.

HAIR The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is playing at the Al Hirschfeld Theater. Book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado; music by Galt MacDermot; directed by Diane Paulus; choreography by Karole Armitage. WITH: Sasha Allen (Dionne), Allison Case (Crissy), Gavin Creel (Claude), Andrew Kober (Dad/Margaret Mead), Megan Lawrence (Mother/Buddahdalirama), Caissie Levy (Sheila), Darius Nichols (Hud), Bryce Ryness (Woof), Saycon Sengbloh (Abraham Lincoln), Kacie Sheik (Jeanie), Theo Stockman (Hubert) and Will Swenson (Berger).