HAIR Update
HAIR Update
#1HAIR Update
Posted: 2/4/09 at 3:46am
I've heard a bit about the upcoming Broadway production of Hair. There will be no astroturf as part of the set. I believe the conception is that they moved from the park and took over a theatre (which is quite literally what this production is doing). Also, I heard that they may be streaming the finale live online daily. Their plan is to do some heavy blogging and get people interested in the show that way. I'm sure this will be the first show to ever do something like that.
No, there's no written source that I can link to, but this is what I've heard from people connected to the production.
~Steven
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#2re: HAIR Update
Posted: 2/4/09 at 6:21amso they are squatters now?
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
Smaxie
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/26/05
#2re: HAIR Update
Posted: 2/4/09 at 6:40am
>Their plan is to do some heavy blogging and get people interested in the show that way. I'm sure this will be the first show to ever do something like that.<
Not really. There was that online journal from the girl who was on the Thoroughly Modern Millie tour. The Pirate Queen had their daily video CastCom broadcasts. Even Jane Fonda is blogging from 33 Variations.
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
#4re: HAIR Update
Posted: 2/4/09 at 12:29pmAnd there is the guy who blogs for the Legally Blonde Tour... lol
Sondheim_Geek
Broadway Star Joined: 2/20/07
#5re: HAIR Update
Posted: 2/4/09 at 12:35pm
"Also, I heard that they may be streaming the finale live online daily."
That would be INSANE.
viola13
Broadway Star Joined: 1/17/07
#6re: HAIR Update
Posted: 2/14/09 at 3:19am
Does anyone know where the audio tracks on Hair's website are from, or who are singing them? It sounds so much like the production from the park, ensemble and orchestration-wise but I'm not recognizing the main singers...
http://hairbroadway.com/media
#7re: HAIR Update
Posted: 2/14/09 at 7:14amThere is a video of them in a recording studio on the Hair website. They recorded it in late January.
#8re: HAIR Update
Posted: 2/14/09 at 8:13amThat is without a doubt the most boring, lifeless recording of "Good Morning Starshine" that I have ever heard. If this is how it sounds live, then I've just lost interest.
"Y'all have a GRAND day now"
metropolis10111
Broadway Star Joined: 7/28/06
#9re: HAIR Update
Posted: 2/14/09 at 9:12amThose were painful. As one that has over 40 different recordings of this show and loves it to pieces this has to be one of the most sterile recordings I've heard. Maybe it's just me because I've always hated the horns. It was one of those additions for that god awful movie. I still hold out hope that this show can have some emotion in the show and not just be a happy hippie happening
Chip12
Stand-by Joined: 2/13/09
#11re: HAIR Update
Posted: 2/14/09 at 9:30am
"This show looks so weird!!LOL"
Have you never heard of Hair? Maybe you should stop listening to whoever is on your icon and listen to Hair. It's amazing.
Chip12
Stand-by Joined: 2/13/09
#12re: HAIR Update
Posted: 2/14/09 at 9:48am
That's Nick Jonas.
And I've never listened to this show. Is it good?
#13re: HAIR Update
Posted: 2/14/09 at 10:35amYes, it's AMAZING! Probably one of the best American musicals ever!
wonkit
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/30/08
#14re: HAIR Update
Posted: 2/14/09 at 1:02pmI missed this production last summer, and I was looking forward to getting to see this but those clips are awful. It sounds like a middle school production. Guys, this isn't PIPPIN, it's HAIR! You are supposed to be unwashed, drugged out, oversexed, dropped out twenty-somethings. No edge, and not really interesting to listen to. Discount vouchers here I come.
#15re: HAIR Update
Posted: 2/14/09 at 5:04pmI have finally heard a version of The Flesh Failures I hate! OH what happened to the wonderful vocals of the Park this summer?
Those Blocked: SueStorm. N2N Nate. Good riddence to stupid! Rad-Z, shill begone!
#16re: HAIR Update
Posted: 2/14/09 at 6:33pm
Let's not judge yet! These recordings are just demos, at least I believe so! I doubt they would do a cast recording in January.
wonkit
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/30/08
#17re: HAIR Update
Posted: 2/14/09 at 9:59pmsinger - I am usually fairly forgiving, but these are audio clips from the official website. The producers are putting these into the public arena, so it is fair to assume this is the best they have to show us. And it leaves a lot to be desired - at least in my opinion. Want to hear HAIR delivered as it is meant to be heard? Get the Actor's Fund benefit performance.
SDav 10495
Broadway Star Joined: 7/21/06
#18re: HAIR Update
Posted: 2/14/09 at 10:25pm
Want to hear HAIR delivered as it is meant to be heard? Get the Actor's Fund benefit performance.
Ehhh...I'd say Actor's Fund, not so much. Maybe if you want to hear HAIR delivered by a collection of theatre stars all trying to out-riff each other rather than think about the meaning of the show (although it is a pretty fun recording to listen to).
It's pretty hard to beat the Original Broadway Cast Recording. That album is a staple of both Broadway and rock history.
(Also, I agree that it is fair to take the producers to task for putting these clips up for public consumption, but after listening to them they do kind of sound like they're sung over backing tracks rather than live with the band, which I'm sure would give the music more life...so I'm going to reserve final judgment until they put out the full album, but in the mean time these clips aren't great.)
As for this production's concept, I'm glad they didn't try to replicate the park feeling and instead went with "hippies taking over a theater", which was more of less the concept of the original production. Someone on the design team "gets it". Hopefully this will quiet so many of the grumblings about a proscenium staging not working as well as the park's open-air staging.
"If there is going to be a restoration fee, there should also be a Renaissance fee, a Middle Ages fee and a Dark Ages fee. Someone must have men in the back room making up names, euphemisms for profit."
(Emanuel Azenberg)
#19re: HAIR Update
Posted: 2/14/09 at 10:31pmAlthough the clips on the website aren't great, we shouldn't judge the show before we actually see it. I'm seeing it March 13th. Can't wait!
I'm a professional. Whenever something goes wrong on stage, I know how to handle it so no one ever remembers. I flash my %#$&.
"Jayne just sat there while Gina flailed around the stage like an idiot."
#20re: HAIR Update
Posted: 2/15/09 at 1:06am
Aquarius wasn't bad, but what was up with Hair? How could that have been Will Swenson? It sounded NOTHING like the performance in the park. There was no magic, no spark. And where was the goofiness that he (if that was Swenson) portrayed this summer.
I have both the OBC and the OLC (original London Cast) and while the OBC is mostly superior, I enjoy Hare Krishna more in the OLC, with all the spoken interjections recorded.
Waiting for tickets to Hair August 2008
#21re: HAIR Update
Posted: 2/15/09 at 1:17amI have to say, the website makes it look very sanitized. Like, "OOO, looky here, kids, it's the show about those funny people in the park!" not a piece that was aiming to speak to the times.
Some people paint, some people sew, I meddle.
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#22re: HAIR Update
Posted: 2/15/09 at 5:47am
I saw the production in the park this summer and loved it. But I do admit: they were a bit too "clean" for my tastes. Not as gritty.
While I'm very much looking forward to seeing this again, I'm doubtful it will be as stunning as it was in the park....I think just BEING in the park was a huge addition...so organic.
But I agree: the vocals on the website are pretty generic. They could not have recorded for the cd as the whole cast was not assembled as of January. I'm sure it was just for the website, and I'm guessing not that much time went into it.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
#23re: HAIR Update
Posted: 2/15/09 at 10:09am
I much prefer the version of "Aquarius" on Jim Rado's website, with vocals by Darius de Haas, Eric Haroun and Jeni Fujita. It's a different arrangement, still very Sixties but closer to modern funk. If they re-arrange the rest of the score to be more like this, maybe it won't sound as trite and clean as it did in the park. Not that this is much better, but it's a change.
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