My friend, Ronn Gosswick was the GM for Reprise when they did Hair with Sam Harris and Steven Weber. He used to tell me the funniest stories about this one ensemble member who always "played with it" right before he went out on stage to make it look bigger. Talent wise, I don't recall any chorus boys upstaging Weber. Then again, it wasn't a contest. It really was a nice production with amazing vocalists.
I agree, Jerry Mitchell should put his "stamp" on the west coast.