[Mb-hair] HAIR at The Gallery Players

[Jeffrey Lunger]

I saw the Gallery Players production on the same night as Nina, Michael,
Robert, Bill and Annie.  I was on the waiting list and got the absolute very
last available ticket (from about 60 people waiting!) -- how lucky was
that??!! The gods of HAiR were smiling upon me that night  :)

As for the original staging, others know more than I, but the nude scene was
done full on (not done so much these days), and the acid trip, where the
nuns kill the Vietnamese , who are then killed by the indians, and etc etc
under a black light and then the whole scene is done in reverse and again
three times is part of the original staging, no? They did it FLAWLESSY.
Also, Electric Blues, where Chrissy comes out with a Victrola  playing
"White Cliffs of Dover" before the song starts, with the tribe holding
flashlights, was from the old days, no?  (My least favorite staging
personally but archivally correct I think...)

Nina, I didn't even notice that they didn't do Going Down or The Bed, as I
was so goddamn happy to be seeing such a great production of HAiR!! But they
DID do Dead End which is not usually part of he lineup, since this cast had
a decent racial mix, and some songs (like Dead End) are best sung by black
voices.  The woman in the seat next to me told me she had been in three
productions of HAiR, evidenced by the fact that she, singing along (as was
I), knew the whole complicated list of Ain't Got No's.  And My personal high
point was dancing in the aisles with the Japanese chick from the tribe for
Good Morning Starshine. Finally after 35 years I am part of a performance of
HAiR !  Whooooeeeee!!

I can only hope that Steven Smeltzer gets to direct HAiR again some day in a
bigger venue.  He made it fresh and new and very moving.  And he was a
FAAAABulous Margaret Mead to boot!!!  Everyone did such a WONDERFUL job!!!!
It was a sort of three-ring circus atmosphere at the beginning of the show,
and then as it got more heavy in Act 2 the actors were tuned in to the
complexity of the situation and the emotions involved.  Starshine as I
mentione=d had us dancing in the aisles but was somewhat somber at first
(appropriately so).  And by the end I had cried about five times (always the
litmus test for my enjoyment -- go figure!)

On another note I just went to the party for the Jobriath cd release.  Mark
Petrocca, who is making a documentary about Jobriath, had a preview trailer
of the film, which looks great!  Looking forward to seeing a finished film!
The cds were not available to buy there but are in stores now as I
understand.  Michael B made an appearance, also Jayne County and other
luminaries.  It was fun...

And on another side note, those of you in the NYC area (RJ are you
listening?) MUST go see "Aint Supposed to Die A Natural Death", the
Classical Theatre of Harlem revival of Melvin Van Peebles 1971 musical of
ghetto life.  Less than six degrees of separation:  Harold Wheeler who did
the original music for the 1971 production, and a master funkster himself,
played on several of Galt MacDermot's albums.  The show is extended to Nov
21 I think.

love you all (though I keep on the down low)

Jeff