London - - Hair which had its first anni Sept.27 at the Shaftsbury Theatre, will be in the West End for at least another 18 months, according to Robert Stigwood, one of the producers.

The London edition of the Broadway rock musical cost the chicken feed sum of $144,000 to produce, some 364,000 paying customers have already paid over $1,400,000 at the box-office of the 1,300 seat house.  Its claimed that the advance sale now totals 4480,000.

Hair, the opening of which was delayed last fall so it could be the first show to be staged after the abolition of the Lord Chamberlain's censor powers, paved the way to a number of "permissive" productions later.  "Boys In The Band" is just one successful show that might not have been seen in the West End for some time had not Hair cleared the air for franker stage presentations.

It was feared that Hair might open floodgates for a great number of inferior shows whose managements would be eager to take advantage of the liberalized policy.  There have been a few of varying quality, but Hair arrived with perfect timing.  It is essentially a product of the late '60s.

There are still successful conventional shows, however, like "Anne Of Green Gables," "Charlie's Girl," "40 Years On," "The Secretary Bird," and "The Mousetrap" to prove that it takes all sorts to make up a balanced legit program for a capital city.

Copyright Variety.