BWW Recap: The Patchogue Theatre's HAIR In Concert
It was indeed a weekend of love at the Patchogue Theatre honoring the fiftieth anniversary of the iconic musical, Hair. To commemorate, the gorgeous Long Island venue put together a thrilling - and abbreviated - concert version of the Tony winner featuring top talent from Broadway and beyond for a stellar celebration brilliantly directed and conducted by Emmy, Grammy, and Tony winner John McDaniel. Set in the late 1960s/early 19070's, the story follows a "tribe" of politically active hippies promoting community and love during the Vietnam Era - one of the many themes in this story.
Superbly leading the gorgeous cast - and reprising their roles from the 2009 Broadway revival - were Diana DeGarmo and Ace Young as Sheila and Berger. Indeed an audience favorite was Ms. DeGarmo's outstanding, show-stopping renditions of "Easy To Be Hard" and "Good Morning, Starshine". And Mr. Young received roaring applause from the nearly sold out audience especially for his performance of the show's title song with Dan DeLuca who excellently portrayed Claude. Additionally, Danyel Fulton offered an exquisite rendition of the classic "Aquarius". The multi-faceted entertainer Lauren Molina was also a welcome addition to the cast taking on several roles including Mother. In truth, I could go on and on about the entire company as everyone was absolutely extraordinary.
Kudos to everyone in the crew and cast as they convened last Monday to put the shows on Friday and Saturday. The top-notch band - like the Broadway revival - was on the stage. Even though this was a concert version, it was interesting to see them do the show straight through instead of the two acts it is typically shown (excluding some numbers familiar to a full production of this show). Still joyous it was, nevertheless.
These one-off occasions are always great fun and I was elated to see that the turnout for this was absolutely fantastic. Everyone was so excited to be there and you can see why Hair is still an essential part of entertainment after two generations. I'm sure this was a stressful time to pull this off, but everything aligned beautifully for this event.
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