MB Hair

I posted this in my hairsanjose blog but I wanted to post it here, too, because I am sure many of Michael’s HAiR blog readers haven’t found our blog yet. My wife and producer Barbara and I were in New York this past week (in fact, we are still here!) for both a visit to the city and a visit to the HAiR archives at Nina Dayton’s in Massachusetts. We also had the unique opportunity to join a number of HAiR alumnus (including Natalie Mosco, Debbie Andrews, Dale Soules, Bill Swiggart and others) for dinner in Manhattan and on our way over there, the following event occured that seems to prove that there is some destiny in all of our lives…

We had just finished seeing The Drowsy Chaperone (a terrifically funny musical, nothing at all like HAiR of course, but wonderful just the same) and we were heading uptown to kill some time before making our way to the restaurant for dinner.Â

As we walked up Broadway and were about to cross 51st Street, we heard the sound.  It was unmistakable. “Da-dum-dum-dah-da-da-dum-dum (pause) da-dum-dum-dah-da-da-dum-dum” of the bass guitar. We both looked at each other for a stunned second, turned and saw the sign over the door. Ellen’s Stardust Diner (Singing Waitstaff). We stood there in shock, and listened as a voice came over the loudspeaker at the front door of the restaurant. “We starve, look, at one another…”

We were dumbfounded. It certainly didn’t sound like the OBC recording of James Rado as Claude. We rushed in the door, and I was scrambling for my video camera. Sure enough, there was a young man, about 25 maybe, in a red apron with the Ellen’s logo, and a wireless handheld mic, singing the opening lines for Flesh Failures/Let The Sun Shine In. They were using the SAME “Hairaoke” music we have on our practice CD. And the young guy did a terrific version of the song, wandering around the restaurant singing to the patrons.

Unfortunately, the video camera battery was dead. ARRGGHH! I so wanted to capture forever even a few fleeting seconds of that moment! But it wasn’t to be. We stumbled back out of the restaurant, both disappointed but also exhilirated. We were heading to have dinner with members of the worldwide HAiR tribe, just a few months before our own production will hit the boards in San Jose, and we happen by pure chance to pass by this restaurant in Manhattan when the waiter is just starting to sing the signature song of the show! We both looked at each other and there simply weren’t any words.

The only thing you can come up with at a moment like that is destiny.