[Mb-hair] FW: Variety.com - Hair

Fri Mar 31 07:56:05 PST 2006

yes the wall was constantly redone in terms of conception and staging not the vehicle
but again i am not saying change the script
i am saying in the spaces where as rado says every group makes it their own
to let it be of today
when i do my next production of it
youre all invited
and i think you will see what i mean
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Sherwin Ross 
  To: mb-hair at islandlists.com 
  Sent: Friday, March 31, 2006 9:26 AM
  Subject: Re: [Mb-hair] FW: Variety.com - Hair

  Dear Tribe,

  I had the pleasure to see the last two shows at Glendale Community College.

  The very last show there was not a dry eye on stage or in the audience.

  It saw the Tribe transform and get it in the most beautiful way.

  HAiR is truly a gift and a Historic American Treasure.

  When I was studying the role of Berger with Peppy in 1989, he told me that all the actors developed the play. In the 60's we were all stoned and creative...do the Beatles, Rolling Stones, The WHO, Pink Floyd etc consistently control and rewrite their work?

  What a piece of work is manJ

  sherwin

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  From: mb-hair-bounces at islandlists.com [mailto:mb-hair-bounces at islandlists.com] On Behalf Of Jonathon Johnson
  Sent: Friday, March 31, 2006 6:15 AM
  To: mb-hair at islandlists.com
  Subject: Re: [Mb-hair] FW: Variety.com - Hair

  "If it ain't broken - don't fix it." 

  Sorry folks, but no one can convince me that "Hair" needs to be rewritten or updated.

  Not even Jim Rado who I love and admire deeply. Just go back to the Tom O'Horgan

  Broadway version (which WAS the HIT), and the people will get it. Do not stray too far 

  from the playing field or you'll get lost in the tall grass.

  Just an opinion of an old tribe member who is set in his ways ;)

  Peace, Love and Blessings ~ Jonathon

  Michael Butler <michael at michaelbutler.com> wrote:

    Posted: Thurs., Mar. 30, 2006, 8:00pm PT

    Hair

    (Bluma Appel Theater, Toronto; 876 Seats; C$89 $77 top)

    A CanStage and Dancap Private Equity presentation of a musical in two
    acts with music by Galt MacDermot, book by Gerome Ragni and James Rado.
    Directed by Robert A. Prior. Musical director, Steve Hunter.
    Choreographer, Stephen Hues.

    Grasshopper, Margaret Mead, Scarlett O'Hara - Matthew Boden
    Hud, Sergeant - Matthew Brown
    Berger, General Grant - Craig Burnatowski
    Sheila - Karen Burthwright
    Crissy, Monk - Kimmy Choi
    Stroodel, Dad, Hubert Mead - Kevin Dennis
    Brain, Rock Band Soloist - Gerrard Everard
    Justice - Ryan Field
    Dionne, Lincoln - Alana Hibbert
    Apache - Bryan Hindle
    Woof - Andrew Kushnir
    Claude - Jamie McKnight
    Pumpkin, Mom - Adrienne Merrell
    Thistle - David Mongar
    Karisma - Katrina Reynolds
    Karma, The God Aquarius, Monk - Julius Sermonia
    Lala - Valerie Stanois
    Hotdog, Principal, Clark Gable,
    Uncle Sam - Zachary Stevenson
    Moonchild, Aquarius Soloist - Sheena Turcotte
    Jeanie - Cleopatra Williams
    Angela - Naomi Zara

    _____ 

    By RICHARD OUZOUNIAN

    _____ 

    Quick, get the Rogaine. The new production of "Hair" now on view in
    Toronto supposedly boasts a series of enriching rewrites by author James
    Rado. But rather than help the material, they make the iconic
    flower-power, antiwar musical seem thinner than ever. A lot of the
    blame, however, must be laid at the feet of director Robert A. Prior,
    choreographer Stephen Hues and a decidedly inferior cast.

    Prior is the founder of L.A.'s Fabulous Monsters Performance Group, and
    Hues has collaborated with him on numerous occasions. They have a
    reputation for doing edgy, innovative productions, which is probably why
    Rado demanded that CanStage import the American duo for this production.

    But something has gone horribly wrong along the way: The brightly
    colored, insipidly staged mess being performed at the Bluma Appel
    Theater would be more at home in a theme park than at Canada's largest
    regional theater.

    It was their rough-hewn charm and political intensity that made the
    original productions of "Hair" work. The people who created, produced
    and performed the early versions of the show were united in their anger
    over the war in Vietnam. And so, despite an initially breezy air, some
    fetching tunes from Galt MacDermot and the inventive staging of Tom
    O'Horgan, the musical showed its rage in act two, which is largely a
    drug-fueled fantasy of U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

    This is territory artists can still revisit with sincerity and passion,
    as Twyla Tharp proved in "Movin' Out."

    But Prior and company have opted instead for Peter Max-colored designs
    and costumes that look like they stepped out of an episode of
    "Laugh-In." No one actually comes out and says, "Sock it to me!," but
    you wouldn't be surprised if they did.

    Yes, there's a nude scene at the end of act one, but where it used to be
    a personal statement for the cast, tied into their reaction to Claude's
    moving "Where Do I Go?," it now features the whole cast in what looks
    like a merely egregious way to bring down the curtain.

    When it was announced that Rado was working on rewrites of the script,
    some people assumed he might be honing the political message to make it
    more relevant to today. Nothing could be further from the truth.

    Instead, he has expanded the book scenes in which Claude, Berger and
    Sheila work out the details of their not-quite-menage a trois. Maybe the
    material has personal resonance for Rado (the show supposedly mirrors
    his offstage relationship with co-author and co-star Ragni), but the
    cliched dialogue further drains the show's political intensity.

    In a city known for a deep talent pool of young musical theater
    performers, Prior and Hues have largely contented themselves with
    fishing in the shallow end. Most of the company doesn't sing well, take
    the stage with confidence or seem to have any idea what they're doing.
    From the moment Sheena Turcotte feebly warbles opening song "Aquarius,"
    you know you're in trouble.

    There are a few exceptions. In the leading role of Claude, Jamie
    McKnight shows the energy, vocal power and charm that he developed in
    Toronto productions of "The Producers" and "Annie Get Your Gun." Andrew
    Kushnir, Matthew Boden and Adrienne Merrell find solid comedy in what
    they've been asked to do, but they stand alone.

    Craig Burnatowski is a single-expression Berger (sneering), and Karen
    Burthwright has one vocal note as Sheila (loud); the rest of the actors
    are inept or forgettable.

    This limp version of "Hair" is unlikely to attract a new generation of
    theatergoers to the work. Sadly, it may even dim the reputation this
    piece holds in musical theater history.

    Sets and costumes, Dany Lyne; lighting, John Munro; sound, John Lott;
    projections, Yo Suzuki, Lovemushroom Studio. Opened March 30, 2006.
    Reviewed March 29. Runs through June 17. Running time: 2 HOURS, 40 MIN.

    Read the full article at:
    http://www.variety.com/story.asp?l=story&r=VE1117930092&c=33

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  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Good HAIR Days: A Personal Journey with the American Tribal Love-Rock Musical HAIR, by Jonathon Johnson. For more information on the book and how to order it, visit www.goodhairdays.net. 

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