Hair the Musical- Page 2

[SNAFU]

Posted: 8/24/14 at 11:12pm

This show is brilliant. Yes, it lacks a strong book.I will agree. Milos Foreman's movie was the first experience I had with it other them the OBC recording I grew up with. Never saw the play. I loved the movie! Then I saw the recent Paulus revival.
The show I realized is like a watercolor. Character songs being carefully laid over period related philosophical and sociological tribal songs, gives you a strong sense of a time and place. Foreman's forced book and reimagined relationships, now seemed forced and distracting.
I have been meaning to revisit the movie.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 8/25/14 at 9:47am

Ragni and Rado hated the film version of HAIR stating, "The film version of Hair has not been made yet"

I don't think a better film version of the musical could be made. Count me in as one who absolutely loves the film version. That ending always, always gets me. It wasn't a box office success when it was released in 1979, *but* it did receive great reviews and Forman's new arrangements were top-of-the-line, so much so that they've been incorporated into stage productions over the years including Paulus' revival and the recent Hollywood Bowl concert.

The film's reputation has grown positively over the years. It's a classic.
Updated On: 8/25/14 at 09:47 AM

[Musical Master]

Posted: 8/25/14 at 9:56am

It was indeed a critic darling when it was released and I love the film myself. If only NINE came as close to be really good.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 8/25/14 at 10:20am

Ewww...don't get me started on NINE. One of the most beautiful pieces of music from that show and it's murdered by one Nicole Kidman. UNFORGIVABLE!!!

[Musical Master]

Posted: 8/25/14 at 11:17am

I agree, Nicole was all sorts of wrong for Claudia, heck Anne Hathaway audition to play the role. Can you imagine "Unusual Way" being much better with Anne's singing?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/25/14 at 11:49am

"It was indeed a critic darling when it was released…"

HAIR? The HAIR movie? Not it wasn't. The critics who liked it took great pains to express their decidedly mixed feelings about it. Where did you get the idea it was otherwise? I know you're far far far too young to even have been alive when the movie was released.

[Musical Master]

Posted: 8/25/14 at 12:40pm

Namo, did you read Carlos' post that I replied to?

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 8/25/14 at 1:23pm

"I know this is heresy, but I prefer Forman's film. I think it makes the same points through characters one can actually care about. "

I would argue that that is no longer true. Countless times now I have read people who say they prefer the movie... (I do too.)

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 8/25/14 at 3:06pm

The HAIR movie did in fact receive favorable reviews from the critics.

Roger Ebert gave it his thumbs up in 1979:
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/hair-1979

New York Times Review by Vincent Canby is positive as well:
http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=EE05E7DF173BBE2CA7494CC3B679958C6896

Time Magazine's Frank Rich also gave it a positive review: (you have to subscribe to read the full review but the first paragraph says it all:
http://content.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,947038,00.html

From what I've researched the majority walked in thinking it would come off a relic and not work on the screen at all and were pleasantly surprised at what was achieved.









Updated On: 8/25/14 at 03:06 PM

[Musical Master]

Posted: 8/25/14 at 4:20pm

As I have said, loved by critics and a good amount of audiences who did see it. But disliked by the original creators.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 8/25/14 at 6:22pm

The "Star Wars" of Movie Musicals was the head pull-quote???? I get the point they're trying to make but it seems so random.

Updated On: 8/25/14 at 06:22 PM

[Musical Master]

Posted: 8/25/14 at 8:11pm

It does seem to be a strange critic's quote, but I've seen more weirder quotes than that.

[darquegk]

Posted: 8/25/14 at 8:20pm

I'll say this- the Diane Paulus version of the Hair script is much more streamlined and character focused than the versions before it. I'm not sure why it's not the current licensed script. More character development and less bizarre sketch-comedy-like digressions (the "Claude makes a movie with his friends" scene has always stuck out a bit).

[Musical Master]

Posted: 8/25/14 at 8:36pm

Didn't the Paulus revival restored the "We're fighting a war" scene?

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 8/26/14 at 7:11am

"...use atomic weapons and win it for Crissake"? Yeah. But basically that line was restored to a scene that already existed.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 8/26/14 at 12:33pm

I'll say this- the Diane Paulus version of the Hair script is much more streamlined and character focused than the versions before it. I'm not sure why it's not the current licensed script.

Maybe because it's since seen additional work. "Dead End" and "Exanaplanetooch" have been restored as of the recent actor/musician tour that kind of happened on the D.L. and then disappeared, and the American Theater Company run in Chicago saw even more restorative work done. I feel the ATC version may be the best of this new trend of revision.

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 3/22/19 at 2:00am

I’ll have my first exposure to Hair next Friday. I just happen to be working in Lincoln, Nebraska all next week and grabbed a $39.50 general admission ticket to see this performed by a local repertory company on 3/29. Given the advisory warnings and promo clip, I don’t think they’re pulling any punches. Last year I saw Avenue Q at the same theater and loved it even more than when I saw it the first time on tour. It’s a small theater so it feels very intimate. Looking forward to it!

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 3/22/19 at 3:07am

The network news broadcasts each night showed a more chilling look at the war than the musical. I was impressed by the quality of the score, the number of pop hits it produced, and the failure of those two to collaborate on anything else, at least that I ever heard of.

"Aquarius"/"Let the Sunshine In"

"Easy to be Hard"

"Hair"

"Good Morning, Starshine"

Impressive: "What a Piece of Work is Man" plucked from Hamlet

The alternating "Black Boys" "White Boys"

The dramatic introduction, called "the Flesh Failures" of the finale, "Let the Sunshine In."

Yet I can't remember how many years, no decades, it has been since I listened to the album. I'm going to ask Alexa to play it right now.

 

 

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 3/22/19 at 11:59am

The film soundtrack is still in constant rotation on my i-phone playlist for my daily jogs around the Silverlake reservoir. Wacky to see the give and take of this thread from 5 years ago. Happily, I still stand by my points from 2014. And why the film soundtrack over the Bway Revival? I just love hearing the voices of Nell Carter, Charlayne Woodward, Treat Williams, Melba Moore et al sing those songs.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 3/23/19 at 2:06am

Wow to revisit this thread, and see how I came with receipts to silence the naysayers who swore that HAIR did not get good reviews when released.

Updated On: 3/23/19 at 02:06 AM

[alex814]

Posted: 3/24/19 at 1:41pm

Someone in a Tree2 said: "The film soundtrack is still in constant rotation on my i-phone playlist for my daily jogs around the Silverlake reservoir. Wacky to see the give and take of this thread from 5 years ago. Happily, I still stand by my points from 2014. And why the film soundtrack over the Bway Revival? I just love hearing the voices of Nell Carter, Charlayne Woodward, Treat Williams,Melba Moore et al sing those songs."

The soundtrack has some great performances but those 70's esque orchestrations bring me out of the time period.

I still enjoy the revival recording but find myself listening to the OBCR and, despite it not being a complete recording of the score, the original Australian cast album. 

[SNAFU]

Posted: 3/24/19 at 3:28pm

The Flesh Failures/ Let the Sun Shine In, never ceases to bring a tear to my eye.

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 3/27/19 at 11:53pm

Miles2Go2 said: "I’ll have my first exposure to Hair next Friday. I just happen to be working in Lincoln, Nebraska all next week and grabbed a $39.50 general admission ticket to see this performed by a local repertory company on 3/29. Given the advisory warnings and promo clip, I don’t think they’re pulling any punches. Last year I saw Avenue Q at the same theater and loved it even more than when I saw it the first time on tour. It’s a small theater so it feels very intimate. Looking forward to it! "

So saw this tonight. It’s def a weird show or at least it appears so on first exposure. I guess I’ll find out if it seems less weird on second exposure as I already had a ticket to see it Friday night. For $39.50 it’s hard to beat for a night’s entertainment especially when one is traveling for work. I had a good time although I’m not sure I’d need to see it again if I didn’t already have a ticket for Friday. I will say I liked this repertory company’s production of Avenue Q better last year but I think that’s just because they had better material to work from. I wondered what the last Broadway revival must have been like. Anyway, tonight’s cast was talented. It is a small theater and cast were interactive. As I sat front row, one male cast member humped my leg at one point. Somehow I was under the impression that the infamous nude scene occurred at end of Act 2. Either I was mistaken or they changed it because it occurred at the end of Act 1 right before intermission. Some mic’ing issue mainly in Act 1 so I imagine that will be fixed prior to Friday night. 

 

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 3/28/19 at 3:34am

You were mistaken. It occurs exactly where you saw it, generally, though some productions do move it on very rare occasion (the short-lived Mexico City run in 1969 set the nude scene during "Walking in Space," for example).

Updated On: 3/28/19 at 03:34 AM

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 3/31/19 at 11:09am

Saw it again Friday night and I actually enjoyed it more than I did in Wednesday night. It was actually the official opening night. I felt myself getting more emotional toward the end as I knew how it ends. I thought of all those young men who went to fight and died in a war that the government knew was impossible. There was a cast party that the audience was invited to at a near by (Cabaret) club. So that was fun.

Next up: a local Oklahoma City production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time on Friday night.