With a score including such enduring musical numbers as "Let the Sunshine In," "Aquarius," "Hair" and "Good Morning Starshine," Hair depicts the the birth of a cultural movement in the 60's and 70's that changed America forever: the musical follows a group of hopeful, free-spirited young people who advocate a lifestyle of pacifism and free-love in a society riddled with intolerance and brutality during the Vietnam War. As they explore sexual identity, challenge racism, experiment with drugs and burn draft cards, the "tribe" in Hair creates an irresistable message of 'hope' that continues to resonate with audiences 40 years later.
This acclaimed production played Central Park last summer.
Will someone who’s associated with “Hair” (in revival at the Al Hirschfeld, under the direction of Diane Paulus) do the production a favor and turn the shit down? Let’s start with the sound design. As conceived by Acme Sound Partners, the show’s big crossover hits—“Aquarius,” “I Got Life,” “Good Morning Starshine,” and so on—still sound like themselves, melodically speaking, but the lyrics, not to mention the actors’ intonations as they sing sweetly of new beginnings, eternal hope, and the earth’s bounty, are overwhelmed by an ear-piercing treble, which not only raises the majority of the vocals to a pitch that bats might recognize but lifts the brass section of the onstage band into a series of sensation-numbing crescendos.
Yes, the exuberant revival oversells itself in the first act and, more often than we'd like to admit, looks a bit like a flower-power commercial for air freshener. But the Public Theater's production of its '60s 'American Tribal Love-Rock Musical' grows again into an important, lovable, achingly timely piece about the horrors and the marvels, the burdens and the wild fun of young social change. Despite all that is different since 1967 - not to mention all that's different from pre-election August - the show finds a modern pulse of fury and hope without betraying the specifics of a period piece about Vietnam and all flavors of liberation.
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