HAIR at the Circle in the Square? — Page 2

It is looking likely that Vanities would take the Lyceum after Title of Show. But, if they are smart they will try to take The Booth. Only because The Booth is in a better location.

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Hair could go into the Neil Simon
I think this Might work

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I personally would not love it if Hair went into the Neil Simon. I don't love the lotto seats and wish HAIR could go into the Belasco or the Booth. It's also not in a central location and could be forgotten up there.

And the location of the Belasco is any better? Something is much more likely to be "forgotten" there, I think. And what are lotto seats at a particular theater for one show may not be for another.

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There are no "title recognition" factors at work against Hair. It's been around for 40 years. Its songs are thoroughly a part of popular culture. It is beloved by baby boomers who grew up seeing it or listening to it, and who may have no objections to bringing their older children to it - especially as we find ourselves once again fighting an unpopular, unnecessary war overseas. And this production of Hair has already played a technically larger theatre than the Neil Simon ... the Delacorte has something like 1,800 or 1,900 seats. The Neil Simon has slightly over 1,400. Since the band was located upstage, this production could go into a traditional proscenium house, build out and over the orchestra pit, and try to recreate the intimacy it had at the Delacorte. All of the Delacorte musicals have lost a little something when moving indoors, but Pirates of Penzance, Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Mystery of Edwin Drood all managed to succeed - and all in much larger theatres than Hair is currently considering. (On the Town also moved - to the Gershwin, no less - but that was an ill-advised move).

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Updated On: 10/13/08 at 06:19 PM

Do you think the design and logo, and whatnot, are going to see a major overhaul for the transfer? I wish they would take a cue from Eugene Lee, and do a sort-of environmental staging with this. They could utilize the whole "sitting on stage" craze, and make it really cool. Although, I'm not sure how the staging is going to work for a proscenium house. It was kind of scattered, but still cool.

Do you think the design and logo, and whatnot, are going to see a major overhaul for the transfer?

God, I hope so. Although I like the simplicity of this summer's logo, and I know the original graphic design was itself pretty simple, I'd just really like to see them do something interesting with it...there are so many possibilities. And I'd really like to buy a Hair poster that looks cool.

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The logo for HAIR was a very simple design used later in the original production's run on flyers. It was perfect for the understated approach of the Public's advertising campaign. I'm sure the logo will be rehauled for the revival. If they were smart, they'd do some type of revamp to the original iconic poster design - particularly if the audience aim is nostalgic baby boomers remembering their LPs.

That's a fine idea, except for the part when everyone realizes that Godspell's poster was a tacky, lazy Photoshop-arama.

I'd like to see them get back to basics with the Hair poster. Revive some old trippy photography techniques a la the original, or at least do a proper digital imitation. Or do something hand-drawn, hand-painted, hand-collaged...whatever "look" could hearken back to the era of tribal, psychedelic art.

To go a step further, ditch the flower child look and emphasize the more gritty, militaristic aesthetic of the hippie era. This is something I think they should do with the production design as a whole--flowers and Indian fringe worked as dominant elements of an outdoor production, but the transfer to a dark, indoor proscenium should make more use of darker elements representative of the anti-war movement and of dirty New York, circa 1967.

For a Hair poster I designed as part of an art concentration, I did a "red, white, & blue" theme, riffing on traditional Americana the same way the show satirizes American history. They don't need to do that exactly, but I'd really like them to put some thought into rethinking the look of the show and the look of its ad campaign...too many people think Hair has to be advertised in cartoonish tie-dye colors, and that's not always the case. If this production is going to work indoors it needs to shed all associations with "nature hippies" and be strictly "city hippie".

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