I had just come
back from a business appointment. The clock was heading to curtain time and
there wasn't enough time for me to go home and
change into clothes more appropriate for the occasion. So, here I sat - me with my
pen and notebook; me with my
powder blue shirt with the button down collar and red tie; and me sporting a fresh new very short
hair cut. I felt very much out of place and incredibly conspicuous in the midst
of the very casually dressed crowd. But then, someone had to represent the
establishment and status quo that Hair was to mock. I just never thought this
un-lamentable ex-hippie would be the one.
The year is 1968, the place -- a park
in Greenwich Village in New York City where 14 friends hang out. President Johnson
continues to escalade the conflict in Vietnam and we are about to follow this
"tribe" of friends as they are forced to make decisions about life
that will seal their own fate.
I have seen
Hair on several occasions, including on Broadway, yet each time it seems
new and exciting. There are always small changes in the production and how the
play is presented and interpreted by the cast. Portsmouth, NH's Seacoast
Repertory Company's recent production was no exception.
But, the
presentation never distracts from the message. or the feeling you get when you
see it.
"Watching HAIR is akin to embarking on a roller coaster ride, just
when you think the intensity has peaked, another level is reached. This high
velocity energy is part of the HAIR experience which grabs the audience and
takes them along for the ride". The Portsmouth, NH performance was no
exception.
Most of the cast
weren't even born for that summer of love 25 years ago, and they were but
babes-in-arm when Hair made it's debut more than 20 years ago. It was
funny to see a group of performers who don't have any first hand experience with
the Age of Aquarius. That didn't prevent them, though, from showing the
feeling and movement the play always has.
Search and Destroy
missions to parents attics, and raids to the boutiques along Bow and Market
Streets contributed to the mostly home made costumes. Along with their youthful
enthusiasm and mock conversations with the audience, it made for a wonderful
show.
There wasn't any
attempt to update the play or to make it more poignant than it was when it first
appeared on stage. It happened anyway as the news stories on this Wednesday
evening made the protest scenes all to real and very much in vogue with the
today's times and
nightly news headlines.
The scenes of Claude
fighting within himself over whether or not he should burn his draft card
(that's his library card Berger thinks is a draft card) put
into perspective the letter in which Bill Clinton tries to explain his actions
concerning the draft.
As haunting slides
and disturbing pictures of the Vietnam War are projected on the back wall of the
stage and the war in Vietnam
is protested, the pictures of the recent Gulf War come to mind. The cast dances around
the stage in protest with signs that say, "Make Love Not
War", and I can't help but
think of the news out of the White House today that bombing of Iraq may start
again.
War was protested and detested a generation ago.
Today it is cheered and cherished. Times do change. One thing that doesn't
change, though, is the ultimate message of Hair--- it is time for all tribes
to come together as
a society and as a people.
It is time to really see each other and for respect. (Easy to be Hard)
Claude doesn't burn his draft card. Loyalty to
himself is a greater pull than loyalty to the tribe. He goes of to war as the
tribe gathers around him to morn his leaving. They soon disperse from around his
flag draped body to now morn is death. But, there is hope and his death is not
in vain. He is awaken from death and sent forth by Burger, the leader of the
tribe, into the audience as the tribe's symbolic
sacrifice.
The tribe breaks into the chorus, "Let The Sun
Shine In" but they are no longer willing to stand alone. They come into the
audience to gather the silent majority who have been sitting and watching this
world pass by. They invite them on stage to become members of their tribe and
take up places in the audience as two tribes become
one.
My tie has now become a headband. I stand on stage
clapping and signing along with this new extended family remembering what I felt
when I first saw Hair. There were troubled times then. A group of young
performers got together, though, to tell us they didn't like what they saw, and that it
was time to come
together.
There are troubled times today a generation
latter. Once again a group of young performers has gotten together to remind us
that it is still time to come
together.
Let The Sun Shine In!
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