'Hair' lets the sunshine in
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_15123319
By KATIE HUGHES MCKEE
Posted: 05/20/2010
When one attends an opening night at the theater of a Friday night,
one plans to arrive shortly before 8 p.m., yes?
Surprise! Not in Santa Cruz. I arrived at UCSC's Mainstage Theater
Friday night just before 8 p.m. to find that the opening performance
of "Hair" was an hour into its performance. At intermission, I
ashamedly told the person who invited me that I would be back on
Sunday to see the first act.
This actually turned out to be a good thing, as I was able to discern
what issues were only "opening night" issues muddy sound that was
cleared up by Sunday and what weren't. Actually, I had no other issues.
"Hair" arrived on Broadway in 1969, the love child of composer Galt
MacDermot and librettists Gerome Ragni and James Rado. When he
encountered a long-haired hippie protestor on a college campus, one
time lyricist-librettist P. G. Wodehouse asked "Why don't you get a
haircut? You look like a chrysanthemum."
Other old school Broadway types had a different attitude toward
flower power. New York Times critic Clive Barnes gushed that "Hair"
was "the first Broadway musical in some time to have the authentic
voice of today rather than the day before yesterday." Charles
Marcowitz wrote, "Without Vietnam and the American repugnance to that
war, the show would never have come into being. It is almost entirely
nourished by the current generation's hatred of what its "senior
citizens" have allowed America to become."
It is now more than 40 years later, and I and a whole generation of
Boomers are the "senior citizens." Director Danny Scheie could have
taken this play into any number of directions. He has chosen not to
beat us over the head and set the play around Afghanistan or Iraq. He
lets us draw our own similes regarding those issues. Instead, he
focuses on the joy and freedom of young people who won't keep off the
grass, who have hope for the Age of Aquarius despite the body bags
coming home daily.
If you are familiar with Danny Scheie, you know what to expect from
this production: humor, cross-dressing and cross-gendering, and camp.
"Hair" is the perfect vehicle for this man. He uses the ceiling grid
stunningly in one scene. The choreography, by a five-member team,
ranges from exuberant to gripping. Scheie's "Hair" lets the sunshine
in, but also the darkness. The vibrant children in this play are well
aware that the party could be over any minute. Sixty-one actors are
in this ensemble. In the program, they are simply listed
alphabetically, even the ones who have character names. I left the
theater both days uplifted. Please go. But check the time.
--
if you go
'hair'
presented by: The UC Santa Cruz Theater Arts Department
When: Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 7 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m., through May 30
where: Mainstage Theater on the campus of UC Santa Cruz
Cost: $11.50 general; $9.50 seniors and students
details: 420-5260 or 459-2159
.
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