Toronto, January 12 - Who would have dreamed it up? Hair in Toronto! But Toronto is no longer the conservative city of good, gray, British imperialism it once was. It has a film, for example , Allan King's A Married Couple which is yet to be seen in New York, but is quite simply one of the greatest movies I have ever seen. And now, from last night on, at the charming Royal Alexandra Theater, it has Hair. And this Hair is one of the hairiest.
I find I have seen Hair in New York, London, Paris, and now Toronto. I almost feel a member (even if a highly critical member) of the tribe. The interesting thing about all these various productions, including those in Los Angeles, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Chicago, Zagreb, and Tokyo that I haven't seen, and productions planned, such as that in manchester, England, England, is that each and every one of them is individual. This is a new way of show production, and the point has perhaps not yet been noted.
In the process in marketing Broadway shows has been to produce a 'national company", a facsimile of the Broadway original that tried, so far as possible, to reproduce the new York production. It was at very best an imitation and at very worst a fake. Hair is different. Each Hair is new, different and original.
Toronto has one of the best hair productions I have seen. Interestingly, it is the very first to be staged by the authors gerome Ragni and James Rado, and they have given it with a certain new zest (sic). Obviously they have based the work on Tom O'Horgan's great New York original, but they have felt free to change here and there, to bring their own free-fall spontaneity to the piece, and to play around generally.
They have put in at least one new number, the beautiful "So Sing The Children", and many of the other introductions have been rewritten and freshly adapted. Some of the visual images in the new staging transcend, if only by development, O'Horgan's original, and while this new canadian hair is faithful to the original, it keeps it's faith by being very often different, and once in a while, outrageous. Every production of hair I have seen, so far, you find yourself waiting for the "original cast recording". What greater tribute can you pay?
The Toronto production has tremendous vitality. The kids are fun and they have a sharp-honed spontaneity and engaging honesty. Everything here is slightly different from all other productions - yet, and this is where it counts, essentially the same. The dances, staged by Julie Arenal, assisted here by Natalie Morosco (sic), resemble all the other hair tribal dances, yet still have their own individuality and passion. Miss Arenal creates for people but not according to pedestrian pattern.
The evolution of hair has been most interesting. It opened as a kind of tourist excursion to a hippie world. See this, see hair - that is where all out crazy, mixed-up kids are at.
Yet it's qualities transcended it's apparent function. The poetry of Ragni and Rado, the exquisitely effortless music of galt MacDermot, who throws music into the air as if it were a cluster of colored balloons, all made a show that young people could identify with. And even some middle-aged people. hair was mocked. But even the mockers could hum the music - even the jeerers got the message.
One of the nicest things about seeing Hair across the world is to see the goodwill it promotes and the talent it encourages. In this particular Toronto production, the ensemble, the tribe, was outstanding. I did not think Kid Carson's Berger was as good as some - it had an oddly bureaucratic air to it, and while Clint Ryan's Claude was more effective, it too had it's moments of untruth. Yet Gale Garnett - a warm earth-mother kind of girl - is the best Sheila I have ever seen, and I liked also paul Ryan's unaffected and witty Woof.
Yet individual performances matter surprisingly little
in Hair. The show has it's own momentum, it's own style, it's own
possibilities. This is where Mr. Ragni and Mr. Rado have been most
successful. They have given the Toronto Hair it's own head of steam,
it's own eloquence. If you have one thing to do in toronto, see hair.
Just consider the alternatives. Peace, Canada, I love you.
THE CAST
HAIR, the American Tribal-Love Rock Musical. Book by Gerome Ragni and James Rado; music by Galt MacDermot; original dance direction by Julie Aranel; musical director, George Taros; assistant director, Joe Donovan; dances restaged by Natalie Mosco; costumes by Nancy Potts; settings by Robin Wagner; lighting by Jules Fisher; sound system designed by Dan Duggan; Toronto production co-directed by Gerome Ragni and James Rado; New York production directed by Tom O'Horgan. Presented by Michael Butler, in association with Glen Warren Productions, executive producer Bertrand Castelli. At the Royal Alexandra Theater, Toronto.
Claude.............................................Clint
Ryan
Dionne.............................................Tobi
Lark
Berger............................................Kid
Carson
Woof...............................................Paul
Ryan
Hud.............................................Rudy
Brown
Sheila...........................................Gale
Garnett
Jeanie.........................................Harriet
Cohen
Crissy.....................................Rachel Jacobson
Mothers.................. ..Harriet Cohen, George W.
Lee 4th, Freddie Nicholaidis
Fathers.........................Brenda Gordon, Colleen
Peterson, Frank Moore
Principal...................Frank Moore, Robin White,
Laurel Ward
Tourist couple.............................Graham Teear
Frank Moore
Young Recruits..............................Doug Barnes
Terrence Black
General Grant.......................Freddie Nicholaidis
Abraham Lincoln................................Tobi Lark
Mother.....................................Colleen Peterson
Father...........................................Frank
Moore
Sergeant..............................................Joe
Clark
Arta..................................................Arta
Abele
Avril..............................................Avril
Chown
Brenda.......................................Brenda Gordon
Tabby........................................Tabby Johnson
Michael...................................Michael Kennedy
Carmen........................................Carmen
Litke
Susan..............................................Susan
Little
Betty.......................................Betty Richardson
Wayne......................................Wayne St.
John
Shelley....................................Shelley Sommers
Lynda.........................................Lynda Squires
Geoff.......................................Geoff Stevenson
Robin.............................................Robin
White
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