[Mb-hair] Visceral connections

[Michael Butler]

Martin & Richard,
Some comments: The Foreman film was troubled with a bad script which had a
lack of connection with Claude. We were lucky to have Milos do the film. He
was approved by all including the authors. The great trouble was the loss of
Hal Ashby as Director and the troubles at Paramount which did not allow us
to use Colin Higgins as the Director.

Tom's revival in late 70's was produced by me and I know well what its
problems were. The same mistakes will probably be made by the next
production. Michael


> Visceral connectionsalso martin where it might matter
> is that for example the reason the foreman film missed so badly was a lack of
> visceral connection with the various tumults of the 60s as it occurred here in
> america
> the picture was totally divorced from the reality of the piece
> in my opinion
> 
> so i wonder as a director of one of the companies
> ( eg off bdwy revival in 80 - 81 in nyc at harry streeps
> 400 seat brook theater )
> and as a packager who seeks at some pt in the near future
> to do more companies
> so the question of relevancy accessibility is very important for me
> 
> eg look what happened to toms revival in 77 which arrived DOA commercially
> speaking and yet wasnt a bad production;
> i thought the 77 revival was quite quite excellent
> although not quite as good as the original production
> which was the greatest evening i ever spent in the theater
> ever
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Martin Eayrs
> To: mb-hair at islandlists.com
> Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 6:58 AM
> Subject: [Mb-hair] Visceral connections
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Richard asks:
> 
> 
>   i got an interesting question
>   obviously many of these companies youre seeing are wonderful
>   and the show itself is so penultimately good
>   but im curious
>   when one sees a company now
>   the generation being so divorced from the actual physical
>   reality of the period
>   eg i was 10 - 11 at the time and ill be 47 this summer
> 
> 
>   the passion of the struggle etc
>   do the kids now know what " it " was about?
>   what is their visceral connection
>   i wonder
>   ?
> 
> 
> I suppose a deconstructionist approach to this would be that the AUDIENCE will
> get out of it according to it what they are able to bring to it - that is, it
> will be the interaction of the event with their own bundle of experiences and
> expectations. This could lead to some unexpected interpretations...
> 
> 
> The event itself will be the aggregated accumulation of what the ACTORS and
> DIRECTOR(S) themselves are able to bring to it. In the case of a 21st Century
> High School production this may not be comparable with early off Broadway
> productions whose cast   -it is often alleged - lived the parts they played
> and even lived partly in the playing area. Comments very welcome :-)
> 
> 
> And, big question, what was/is Hair about? Can the war in Iraq compare with
> the Vietnam War?  Obviously not - no conscription, no draft card to burn.
> Sexual liberation (through freely available contraception) is no longer a
> newly liberating thing. The mystery and romance had already gone out of drugs
> by the time I reached San Francisco in Autumn 1969, when Haight Ashbury was a
> disaster area of bombed out panhandlers and the Summer of Love a two year old
> memory. Or perhaps i just met the wrong people ;-)
> 
> 
> That said, i think Hair has a lot to offer present generations - and not just
> recidivist hippies in their fifties ad sixties. (Terrible thought, but if you
> lived the sixties you are - or soon will be - in the sixties). And if you dig
> it, does it matter why ? The point is that audiences do dig it - and I think
> they will, even if they react to it within terms of reference that have no
> relationship to the late 60s.
> 
> 
> End of long incoherent rave .. and back to work, or what passes for it
> 
> 
> Martin
> 
> 
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> 
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