[Mb-hair] HAIR at UVM - An Overview

[Michael Butler]

Thanks, Leo
Michael

> Just as a warning, this'll be long so if ya don't wanna read it move onward.
> Saturday night Judy, my son Matt, & I went to see the production of HAIR
> being offered at the University of Vermont. I suppose I should pre-empt this
> by stating that there was a full military funeral held Saturday morning for
> a 2004 graduate of UVM who was killed in Iraq. Also, we were seeing the
> second of 2 shows on this day. Apparently there was an afternoon matinee
> AFTER the military funeral.
> I took my camera with me as I was hoping to take some shots of the stage and
> the Tribe after the show; so, when I arrived at the box office, I asked who
> I needed to speak to in order to make this happen. I was directed to Molly
> who was the public relations head for the theater department. She told me in
> no uncertain terms that it was a violation of the copyrights for me to take
> pictures. I explained I didn't want to take photos during the show but would
> love to take some shots afterwards. Molly persisted with no, no, no and went
> on to say that the ushers were under strict orders to take cameras away from
> anyone trying to enter the theater with one! Finally, I said I was hoping to
> get some pictures so I could send them to the HAIR archives. Molly again
> said no but relented on taking my camera away from me; she gave the ushers
> the thumbs up to at least allow me to take the camera into the theater. I
> sat down and about 5 minutes later Molly came over and said I could take
> pictures during curtain call but NOT before. She also said that they would
> be taking production photos after the final show and would send me a dvd
> copy of them for the archives. Talk about a turn around. Now on with the
> overview.
> The stage was completely sheilded by sheets so I had no idea what the set
> looked like but when the strains of AQUARIUS began to play there were these
> beautiful silhouetted images of the Tribe on the sheet panels. I did miss
> the "ritual" (cutting a snipet of Claude's hair) at the beginning
> but............. Then suddenly all the sheets were torn down and we see the
> Tribe and set for the first time. The "set" was actually just a bare stage
> with a few tires, trash cans, and milk crates around the perimeter. There
> was scaffolding set up upstage and the pit was actually on the upper level
> of it. Costumes were fine. Most of the Tribe wore Converse sneakers (looking
> fresh out of the box). No one was barefoot or wore sandals. I saw very few
> beads and no feathers. There were dashikis, torn, patched pants, bell
> bottoms, tie dye shirts, etc. About half the females wore bras and I saw
> thongs a few times throughout the night. Sheila was garbed in a brightly
> colored midriff top with puffy sleeves and a brightly colored gauzy long,
> flowing skirt which reminded me of a gypsy. Hair (or wigs) were very
> believable and looked far out!
> There was only one black Tribe member, a male, who had on heavy blue eye
> shadow.
> The pit consisted of lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass, drums, 2 trumpets,
> trombone, baritone sax, and keyboard. They played well but I thought they
> were very muted, quiet.
> The choreography was rock solid and very inspired! This Tribe moved together
> man! But this was sort of a paradox in that the director rarely had them
> "hooked up" other than in the dance numbers. The choreography on AIN'T GOT
> NO was wonderful and energetic and ditto that with GOING DOWN. At the
> beginning of THE BED the Tribe draped the stage with this huge piece of
> plastic (like you'd see in construction sites or over windows in the
> winter). There was a lot of humping and grinding during the number and at
> one point they were completely engulfed in the plastic. Very cool!
> Vocally they were strong as a group. Sheila had a great belt voice but held
> back at times and even spoke some lyrics during EASY TO BE HARD. Berger was
> ok vocally and Claude was pretty good. Jeannie had a great voice. Woof did a
> nice job vocally too and was my favorite character. Lots of energy and great
> stage presence. There was also a male Tribe member who was right on
> throughout with his energy, enthusiasm, and character. Not to say that
> others weren't but he really stood out to me.
> Highlights of act 1 were AIN'T GOT NO and the BE-IN where they looped these
> long, wispy fabric thingies over the stage and kept them in motion. DON'T
> PUT IT DOWN was sung standing in a trapdoor under the stage (where Jeannie
> makes her appearance with AIR) but we never see a flag. Margaret Meade was
> funny but didn't really have a great falsetto so when it comes to the drawn
> out "actuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally", Hubert sings it in this high
> tenor voice. It caught me off guard but was actually very funny. Act 1 ended
> with the BE-IN instead of WHERE DO I GO. I sat there momentarily stupefied.
> Claude approaches the draft card barbecue with his card, hesitates, then
> runs away as act 1 ends.
> Act 2 really got the Tribe cranking with energy & passion! It was definitely
> the better of the 2 acts. It opens with Claude running back onto stage and
> singing a somewhat uninspired WHERE DO I GO. BLACK BOYS/WHITE BOYS rocked
> and the "trip sequence" was outasite! I have never seen a production where
> every piece of incidental music was used until I saw this one. During the
> Clark Gable, Scarlett O'Hara, John Wilkes Booth, etc. scene the Tribe
> members had masks of these people on the tops of their head so their heads
> were bent when they delivered the lines but the audience saw the masks. Very
> cool. When 3-5-0-0 started everyone except Sheila, Berger, and Jeannie (who
> were garbed as US soldiers) had on Viet straw hats (I can't think of the
> word for them right now) with their hands bound behind their backs and their
> heads bowed as they were marched out onto stage in low lighting. On the
> lyric, "Prisoners in Niggertown it's a dirt, little war" they lifted their
> heads and to reveal that they all had on these gold colored half masks.
> Extremely eerie and disconcerting. They were then marched down the trapdoor
> under the stage and fired upon while the 3 US soldiers laughed. WHAT A PIECE
> OF WORK IS MAN was sung by 2 male members of the pit! During GOOD MORNING
> STARSHINE the dialogue of "fuckety fuck" etc. was overlapped over the top of
> it. FLESH FAILURES/LET THE SUN SHINE IN was powerful and kicked ass. Oh,
> almost forgot to mention, during the "role call" (Epstein, Bukowski) scene
> they had a uniform on a coat stand at center stage and when the "moms and
> dads" delivered their lines like "Be a man" or "Son, you don't know how
> proud I am of you today" they gave those lines to the uniform. Powerful
> stuff. Curtain call was to HIPPIE LIFE and I was taking pictures like mad
> but the Tribe was moving so fast that most of the pics didn't come out that
> well. Boo hoo!!
> No Nudity but no songs were cut.
> All in all a very wonderful performance. I believe they had a Tribe of 24
> not including the pit.
> That's it for now. Told ya it was gonna be long. My apologies.
> 
> PEACE,
> Leo 
> 
> 
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