The year was 1968.

16,592 American soldiers lost their lives in Vietnam, the greatest number of
casualties for any year of the war.  At home, assassins’ bullets killed Bobby
Kennedy and Martin Luther King.  10,000 or more enraged Americans
protested the Vietnam War outside the Democratic convention in Chicago,
leading to hundreds of arrests and police-inflicted injuries.

On Broadway, the Tony winning musicals were the bubbly Promises, Promises,
the nostalgic George M, the charming Dear World, the historical 1776, and the
bawdy Canterbury Tales.

Clearly there was a disconnect in 1968 between the real world and the
Broadway musical.  With one exception—Hair, nominated for two Tonys and
losing both. Only Hair, with its young cast of war-protesting, love-making, pot-
smoking real-life-living Americans depicted on stage what was happening off.
And it revolutionized Broadway.

Now, nearly 40 years later, Hair is back, in an exciting new staging at the Met
Theater, with a cast of 28 young performers who weren’t even born until
fifteen to twenty year after Hair debuted. The show might seem a quaint
nostalgic period piece, if not for the real world of 2007, where once again
America is involved in an unpopular war abroad, where once again young
Americans are losing their lives.

There is one big difference, however.  In 1968 there was the draft.  In 1968
every young man was in danger of being sent off to kill and be killed, and that
is the reality which Hair reflected.

Thanks to the original Broadway producer, Michael Butler, Angelinos can now
either revisit that tumultuous time in American history, or discover it for the first
time, in Butler’s excellent revival directed with verve and imagination by Bo
Crowell, who also choreographed its period perfect, arms swaying in the air
dance numbers, which transform the stage into a 1960s love-in.

What little book Hair possesses revolves around Claude, who faces a life-
altering decision. To burn (his draft card), or not to burn.  The rest of the show is
a non-stop succession of now famous songs (by Galt MacDermot, Gerome
Ragni, and James Rado) which include Aquarius, Donna, I Got Life, Easy to be
Hard, Where do I Go?, Good Morning Starshine, Let the Sunshine In, and of
course, Hair.  These are performed by an energetic and talented (and mostly
bare-footed) young cast, headed by James Barry as Claude, Lee Ferris as
Berger, and Johanna Unger as Sheila.

Some of the highlights of Crowell’s imaginative staging include a prayerful
Sodomy, a gas-masked character suddenly emerging from an onstage
manhole, a choir director leading a hymn to LSD, a US soldier getting high after
a bunch of Hari Krishnas offer him pot, a succession of male characters burning
their draft cards in a large metal trash can, a musical number lit only by black
light and flashlights, and Claude’s bizarre LSD trip, which takes up most of Act
2. The latter features Indians vs. white men, a black female Abe Lincoln, Clark
Gable and Scarlet O’Hara, a slim blonde Aretha Franklin, General Custer,
Vietnamese monks, Catholic nuns, Ku Klux Klanners, and a drunken Calvin
Coolidge.  That’s some acid trip!  Oh, and there’s also the infamous Act 1 finale
with nearly the entire cast stripping down to their birthday suits.

I have to admit to Hair being one of my least favorite musicals. I much prefer
shows with a stronger book/dialog/story line to follow, I’m not a huge fan of
MacDermot’s music, and the 2nd act drug trip goes on way too long for me.

That being said, this 40th anniversary production is about as good as it gets,
from its dynamic leads Barry and Ferris to its huge and hugely talented
ensemble.  Barry especially, with his wide-eyed boyish good looks and strong
voice, captures the audience’s sympathies immediately. Among the
supporting cast, standouts include Jordan Segal, who delights as a middle-
aged female tourist (named Margaret Mead); long-haired Benjamin Ricci as
Woof (the one with a crush on Mick Jagger) who leads the ode to Sodomy;
Trance Thompson as a soulful Woof; Joanna Anderson, who lends her wispy
voice to the amusing Frank Mills; and big voiced Zoe Hall and Clifford Banagale
(a petite charmer with a gorgeous high tenor) singing What a Piece of Work is
Man.

The band, led by musical director Christian Nesmith, is sensational. Lena
Garcia has designed a multilevel Central Park set, including bridge and tunnel,
and manhole. Dawn Worrall and Rachel Krishna Anderson’s costumes (oh
those granny dresses!) are straight out of the sixties.  S&W’s lighting adds
greatly to the mood, especially in the drug trip and black light sequences.

Whether Hair is a nostalgic visit to your youth (as was the case for most of the
opening night gala audience) or a visit to your parent’s or grandparent’s
younger days, this production captures the energy and passion and
excitement of the late 1960s, and despite my caveats about the work itself, it
is well worth seeing.

The Cast of Hair:  Amber Allen, Joanna Anderson, Rachel Anderson, Clifford
Banagle, James Barry, Tim Brown, Bianca Caruso, Lee Ferris, Zoe Hall, Noah
Jordan, Rebekah Kujawsky, Circe Link, Ian Madeira, Sara Mann, Annette
Moore, Gaby Moreno, Suzanne Nichols, Stephen Nolly, Kevin Pierce, Erin
Rettino, Benjamin Ricci, Sarah Schweppe, Jordan Segal, Trance Thompson,
Johanna Unger, Felicia Walker, Dawn Worrall and Nataly Wright.

The MET Theatre, 1089 N. Oxford Av., Hollywood, CA 90029.
. Regular showtimes: Thurs.- Sat. at 8, Sun. at 3.

Now through December 30, Regular showtimes: Thurs.- Sat. at 8, Sun. at 3.
Sold out on October 26. No performances on Thanksgiving weekend,
November 22-25.
RESERVATIONS: (323) 960-4442.
ONLINE TICKETING: www.Plays411.com/hair

--Steven Stanley