Synopsis The year is 1967, and the Vietnam War is at its height. In New York City, a tribe of hippies rails against the establishment, protesting intolerance, brutality, and the dehumanization of society. When Claude, one of their own, gets drafted, he must make a decision about what values are worth fighting for. Songs include ‘Aquarius’, ‘Good Morning Starshine’, ‘Let the Sunshine In’
The Age of Aquarius returned to the West End last night (14 April 2010), with the transfer of the Public Theater’s Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of Hairto the Gielgud Theatre.
The production marks the first time that an entire Broadway cast - which includes Gavin Creel (previously seen in the West End as Bert in Mary Poppins) as Claude, Caissie Levy as Sheila and Will Swenson as Berger - has opened a musical in the West End (See News, 16 Nov 2009).
In late 1960s New York City, Claude falls in with a group of hippies called the Tribe, led by Berger. But their free love and drug-enhanced happiness is disrupted by Claude’s Vietnam draft orders. Hair has book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado and music by Galt MacDermot. The score includes “Aquarius”, “Ain’t Got No”, “I Got Life”, “Good Morning Starshine”, "Let the Sun Shine In" and the title song.
This production, directed by Diane Paulus, was first seen in September 2007 at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, where its run was extended three times before it transferred to Broadway’s Al Hirschfield Theatre, where it won a Tony Award for Best Musical Revival. Hair has scenic design by Scott Pask, costume design by Michael McDonald, lighting design by Michael Chybowski, sound design by Acme Sound Partners and choreography by Karole Armitage.
Michael Coveney on Whatsonstage.com (four stars) – “A wonderfully witty match of production and venue … It’s a great virtue of Diane Paulus’ totally engaging Public Theater production that the innocence and unbridled high spirits of the tribe are not tainted with cynicism or even silliness. The show is for real, but also locked in its period and aware of its own theatrical playfulness … Galt MacDermot’s score is both sensationally well sung and brilliantly played by the onstage band under Richard Beadle’s musical direction … The first great rock musical turns out to be a one-off masterpiece in its deployment of blues, jazz, bass rhythms, brass riffs and flat out melodic anthems, paving the way, no doubt, for Tommy and Jesus Christ Superstar but absolutely on its own as a lexicon of the jargon, taboos and post-war high school rebellion that shaped and stamped a whole generation … Gavin Creel is a charming and sympathetic Claude … His artfulness with the number is matched by Allison Case’s beautiful delivery.”
Charles Spencer in the Daily Telegraph(five stars) –“More than 40 years since its premiere, this greatest of all rock musicals can still inspire violent antipathy among the straitlaced. That strikes me as being one of its strengths … For old hippies like me, the show offers two and a half hours of theatrical bliss … The verve and energy of the company, who frequently make forays into the audience, ruffling the spectators’ hair and kissing them on the cheek, is irresistible, the vitality of Karole Armitage’s turbo-charged and often highly erotic choreography genuinely thrilling. Diane Paulus’ production brilliantly succeeds in letting the audience imagine it is present at a Sixties happening where sex and drugs and rock and roll (not to mention full-frontal nudity) combine to create a world of bleary bonhomie, naive idealism and political radicalism … Caissie Levy is tender and touching as the girlfriend he treats so cruelly, Gavin Creel deeply moving as the confused Claude. But this is essentially an ensemble show in which the whole company shines, while also suggesting the dark shadows of the hippie dream.”
Michael Billington in the Guardian (four stars) – “Hairis more than just a musical: it is a social and cultural phenomenon ... The great thing about Diane Paulus' revival, which imports an entire Broadway company to London, is that it sees the show in two ways. It recognises that Hairwas a product of its time, yet it also presents it as a vibrant, joyous piece of living theatre … It recaptures the carnivalesque optimism of the 60s, and it does this in several ways. Partly by breaking down the barrier between stage and auditorium: never before have I had my hair mussed, in one evening, by so many touchy-feely actors. Without attempting to emulate the pyrotechnic, strobe-lit dazzle of Tom O'Horgan's original production, Paulus also makes this a genuinely tribal show in which the spirit of the ensemble is greater than any individual … Hair is part of all our yesterdays. But it is here given exultant new life by Paulus' production. I can only salute the cascading energy of her cast led by Gavin Creel as Claude, Caissie Levy as the demonstrating Sheila, Will Swenson as the shaggily stoned, self-consciously hammy Berger and Sasha Allen as the brass-lunged Dionne. Karole Armitage's choreography also keeps the joint jumping and Scott Pask's design ironically enthrones the excellent band in a vast military truck.”
Benedict Nightingale in The Times(four stars) – “It’s exhilarating, as well as oddly poignant … this is a production whose unstoppable energy and ebullient choreography more than compensate for what could, I suppose, still be considered flaws. Hair takes glee in rambling dialogue, formlessness, intellectual sloppiness and an absence of rhyme … Up to the interval and the famous nude scene, it’s touchingly optimistic. Then it darkens … Gerome Ragni and James Rado’s book might often have been improvised by stoned beatniks, but Galt MacDermot’s songs, with their tributes to sodomy, onanism and (weirdly) 'Manchester, England', still zing. And, boy, can these performers sing. It doesn’t wholly matter that the show needs a less traditional playhouse than the Gielgud when they celebrate freedom by sprawling into the aisles and the stalls. They do something better. They raise the old theatre’s roof.”
Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail - “The first 40 minutes are almost entirely unexplained - it's just one high-pulse introductory solo after another - and the second half suffers a long, heinously dull hallucination scene … The American performers are good-looking and plainly love every moment of the show. Only the most reactionary grump could fail to applaud their professionalism … And yet by the end the fraudulence of the gaiety becomes sickening. There is a lack of truthfulness in Hair which may not have been apparent when it was first performed in New York city in 1967 but which, today, is unavoidable … When you consider that the draft-dodgers included later warmongers such as Bill Clinton and George W Bush, it doesn't do much for the brand … And yet here, albeit with great gusto, albeit to shrieking acclaim, such creeps are being romanticised as enlightened and somehow brave … Despite the admirable production values, that stinks.”
Claire Allfree in Metro (four stars) - "You can knock holes in Hair from 50 paces. It has almost no plot, there are more forgettable songs ... than standouts and its hippy dippy, anti-Vietnam vibe belongs to a long-vanished era of dropout radicalism and youthful idealism. Yet it's also hard to imagine how Diane Paulus' psychedelic Broadway revival could be better ... Paulus' emotionally literate, loose-limbed production soars on the back of several exceptional talents - from "Age of Aquarius" singer Sasha Allen to Darius Nichols' slick soul boy Hud ... Paulus captures the generous spirit of the play without either turning it into a period piece or ridiculing its free love sentiments. It's indulgent and blurry at times but it also feels like one big, joyful embrace."
Hair at the Gielgud is a wonderfully witty match of production and venue, with the portrait of the great actor, bald as a coot, beaming benevolently over the punters in search of the summer of love and long locks in Greenwich Village in 1967.
The “older generation” is on stage, too, in the shape of Claude’s parents, the army officer and Abraham Lincoln, who, needless to say, gets shot.
So it’s no surprise that the Broadway cast - the first time an entire musical theatre personnel has been transported, unaltered, over the Atlantic - is doubly keen to grab the young spliff-friendly vote: “I’d like to sit up there with you guys,” shouts Will Swenson’s charismatic Berger, “you’re higher than anyone down here!”
It’s a great virtue of Diane Paulus’ totally engaging Public Theater production that the innocence and unbridled high spirits of the tribe – sharing their love, peace and happiness around like a box of chocolates – are not tainted with cynicism or even silliness. The show is for real, but also locked in its period and aware of its own theatrical playfulness.
The main guys are the wild man Berger and the more reflective Claude, spending a last few hours in the Village before signing up for military duty in Vietnam. Unlike the recent Gate Theatre revival in London, there is no attempt to “Afghanistan” the action, and no need.
Hair, for all its faults in book and lyrics, is genuine social history in an Age of Aquarius that pre-dates all the modern war films, Aids, the horrors of drug abuse (turning on is like taking a warm bath, a miasma-like experience beautifully rendered in the music), even the green movement, though there is a prophetic blast of eco-friendly special pleading.
This revival also makes positive all the clichés and sloganeering by giving them a sort of Brechtian incantatory power, again much aided by Galt MacDermot’s score, which is both sensationally well sung and brilliantly played by the onstage band under Richard Beadle’s musical direction.
The first great rock musical turns out to be a one-off masterpiece in its deployment of blues, jazz, bass rhythms, brass riffs and flat out melodic anthems, paving the way, no doubt, for Tommy and Jesus Christ Superstar but absolutely on its own as a lexicon of the jargon, taboos and post-war high school rebellion that shaped and stamped a whole generation. And who says making love, not war, is a bad idea anyway?
Gavin Creel is a charming and sympathetic Claude, fully earning his right to sing my favourite of all Shakespearean settings, “What a piece of work is man”. His artfulness with the number is matched by Allison Case’s beautiful delivery of “Frank Mills” and the whole cast’s irresistible surge through the great opening and closing chorales, the last staged with a particular and characteristic understated clarity.
Joy is all the more unconfined for being so carefully contained. And, yes, you can get up on the stage and join in the dancing. I’ve been there, done that, got the T-shirt, but I enjoyed watching others give Sir John another friendly shove in his grave.
The negative comments on here almost put me off going and im so glad i still went because it is without a doubt the most uplifting peice of theatre and art (yes it is art despite what others may think) i have seen in years. the peice really moved me much more than i expected it is a simple show with simple yet strong meaning. the cast were fantastic and i really felt for the characters. the show does not require scene changes or a fancy set etc.. it is a peice which works well on its own. i will certainly be going back before the show ends its run and reccomend it to anyone absolutely fantastic and i thoroughly enjoyed the ending with everyone being involved i loved it. absolutely amazing. - Joshua Luke
30 Jul 10
Not very good as it suffers terribly from the X FACTOR style of murdering every number with tuneless over exaggeration. All the subtleties of the original have been lost. Yes there were plenty, just listen to the old recordings.
Other comments miss the point. This show NEVER had a set but set the standard for all the shows that have copied it, RENT, CHICAGO, SPRING AWAKENING, AMERICAN IDIOT etc.
I sorely missed some of the old jokes like the giant (Supremes) expanding dress for the three girls in the white boys number.
The Americans in the cast were pretty good.
- Joesmith
29 May 10
Completey agree with Dave Woolrich. We must have been a row in front of you him at the same performance.What was the story?What was that about?The cast worked very hard and were all excellent but I just do not get it.I also agree with Gareth James' comment, this is nostalgia and belongs in a museum not top West End prices.Something like the Edinborough Fringe would do for this.Usually one is willing to accept the somewhat dubious content and material for the sake of "art", but there is no art in this, just blatant rebeliousness which never did anyone any good.If you wish to pay top whack for a performance about middle class drop-outs, who choose not to work as they are funded by their well-meaning parents, basically layabouts who, in our day and age would be claiming benefit, then go and see this, otherwise, avoid like the plague.This musical depicts a lifestyle that other who WORK have to fund.Like I said, I was fully willing to accept the content, IF it had been a proper piece of musical theatre. Hats off to Lord Webber for LOVE NEVER DIES, now that is what I'm talking about-the REAL deal. - steve beckford
28 May 10
Hated, hated, hated it, every minute!
Fears grew when the curtain went up and the band was on stage. Another Chicago I thought.
In stalls row O.
No scenery changes. Might as well as put the CD on at home.
Amazing cast with such talent but wasted on this trash.
Audience participation..... pathetic, if I'd have wanted a pantomine for my £67.00 I would have gone to one.
A standing ovation??? Judging by the age of the audience they were a load of burnt out old hippes. I see the effects of drug use daily in my work and to glamorise it is disgusting. Saw the film so knew what to expect but NOT a floor show.
Complete waste of my hard earned cash. - Dave Woolrich
27 May 10
Dated and not a patch on the original. Only go if you get a free ticket like we did. - Ils
21 May 10
Awesome show! Try to go when Sasha Allen is performing. Phyre Hawkins cannot even begin to compare to Sasha. Her voice isn't nearly as strong. - Steve
11 May 10
This is like time travelling back 43 years. The first ever alternative rock musical has become a £65-a-go ride in the new hippie theme park! At least Daniel Kramer’s revival at the tiny Gate Theatre a few years back retained some sense of ‘alternative’ (though it has to be said this lot are easier on the eye – that’s the fringe for you!). The anti-war message could and should mean something in these war-torn times, but is about as sincere as businesses going green because its cheaper. This virtually plotless show has four songs which have now become standards (boy, doesn’t Good Morning Starshine sound twee?!) and another 2 hours of unmemorable undistinguished blandness. It only came alive briefly in the second act during the extended anti-war sequence, but the only purpose this show serves in 2010 is its part in the history of musical theatre. Having said that, the staging is good (though I could have done with less ventures into the audience, which I’m sure went down a storm on Broadway but work less well with a more inhibited West End audience) and the musical standards are outstanding. I can’t comment on Will Swenson’s Berger because I got his rather weak understudy, but the rest of the leads were very good, particularly Gavin Creel’s Claude. Go if you’re ‘collecting’ musicals or fancy an evening in one room of the museum of musical theatre, but please don’t expect anything ground-breaking, challenging, relevant or for that matter particularly entertaining. Like all museum exhibits, you look at them and learn but that’s about it. - Gareth James
07 May 10
A dazzlingly good night out. Such energy and passion from an extraordinary cast. I defy anyone not to be moved by the end of the show. - Mark
04 May 10
Interesting to revisit the 1967 world of the Vietnam war, LBJ, pot smoking and sexual liberation. The famous tunes are great, and even the not so well known ones are pretty good, partly due to the talented and harmonious cast, but also the atmospheric band. The sheer energy sweeps you up in its enthusiasm. - kilburncat
29 Apr 10
Saw the original 40 years ago! But this is as good. I might be a tad more cynical now but this production still has the power to evoke 1960's dreams. - kevin
Originally opened 27Dec 1906 as The Hicks Theatre. Formerly The Globe, renamed in 1994 in part in tribute to Sam Wanamaker, so that his dream of a new Shakespeare Globe would be the only Globe in London. 983 seats. Society of London Theatre member. In 1999 Delfont Mackintosh Theatres Limited acquired the freehold of the Queen s and the Gielgud Theatres from Christ s Hospital, Horsham. The lease of the Gielgud Theatre will revert back from Really Useful Theatres to Delfont Mackintosh Theatres in March 2006 after which there are plans to refurbish both venues and to build a 500-seat theatre, The Sondheim, above the Queen s. This will be the first new theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue since 1931.
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