Hair
Hair
golfer727272
Understudy Joined: 11/9/06
Yankeefan007
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/20/04
SDav 10495
Broadway Star Joined: 7/21/06
#2re: Hair
Posted: 11/18/08 at 4:54pm
Somebody please please please please please please please tell me this graphic is just a temporary placeholder.
Because...oh my God.
Yankeefan007
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/20/04
SDav 10495
Broadway Star Joined: 7/21/06
#4re: Hair
Posted: 11/18/08 at 5:01pm
Ya know, I'm not sure it is. While I would be terribly bored if they kept the summer 2008 design, I at least appreciated that it had a little imagination. And that it used a typeface that looked a little like the old Helvetica, if they were to resurrect the whole big-stark-all-caps-title look of the 1968 poster. What is this orange, digital age mess?? (Yes, the "I" and "R" are very modern and they bother me...I'm picky.)
This new thing is eye-catching but devoid of any creative thought. What a missed opportunity if the real thing ends up looking like that. (Somehow I believe it won't.)
ChecksintheMayo
Stand-by Joined: 10/26/06
SDav 10495
Broadway Star Joined: 7/21/06
#7re: Hair
Posted: 11/18/08 at 7:41pm
ChecksintheMayo--that is an excellent icon.
"Salutha: you've kept it tight. Heidi: we no longer want to hit that. Get off MILF Island."
FindingNamo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
rentheadca
Stand-by Joined: 10/20/08
Smaxie
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/26/05
#13re: Hair
Posted: 11/20/08 at 8:27am
I guess people don't understand that the summer mohawk logo for Hair went together as a tandem image with the skull for Hamlet. The mohawk squiggle made less sense by itself, but this is what it looked like as designed to advertise the two productions. I thought it was a rather whimsical campaign, to be honest.
SDav 10495
Broadway Star Joined: 7/21/06
#14re: Hair
Posted: 11/20/08 at 1:18pmIt was very clever and very clean, yes...made me chuckle when I first saw it.
Smaxie
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/26/05
#15re: Hair
Posted: 11/20/08 at 1:36pm
Incidentally, the logo that was posted earlier in this thread (and which now seems to be gone) is indeed the title treatment for the Broadway version of Hair. But it's not the complete logo. The ad that runs this Sunday in the NY Times has a female cast member, looking up with a grin, surrounded by upraised hands, and there is a sort of woven orange sunburst in back of her, and copy that says "Let the Sunshine In." It's attributed to Amy Guip, the art designer who did those treated photos for the initial Broadway Rent campaign.
Or see it here...
SDav 10495
Broadway Star Joined: 7/21/06
#16re: Hair
Posted: 11/20/08 at 2:04pm
Hmm...well I will say I think Amy Guip's style is appropriate for this production. I would have liked a "darker" angle, but the bright colors are rather attractive in hard times. (I hate how people analyze everything through the lens of the economic crisis these days, but that was the first thought that struck me.)
Still though, that typeface...having studied a lot of typefaces as kind of a nerdy pastime, it bothers me that this one doesn't look like anything from 1968. Too angular, as I said before. The concept is appropriate--big bold capital letters aligned in blocks--but the typeface itself looks all wrong. Like if they had to advertise using only that title, which they will have to on some materials, it would give you the wrong idea about the show.
But I'm glad they have a design, and I can't wait to see the show. (Cast member is the awesome Allison Case, by the way.)
SDav 10495
Broadway Star Joined: 7/21/06
#17re: Hair
Posted: 11/20/08 at 2:10pm
Also, I thought this excerpt from the "About the Show" section on the website was interesting:
"Overflowing with the spirit of progress and hope for a better world, "HAIR seems MORE DARING THAN EVER" (Time). Ben Brantley of The New York Times calls this interpretation "A SERIOUS CONTACT HIGH. Revelatory and exuberant!"
Embrace CHANGE... spread LOVE… and come experience the resonant magic of HAIR from its mystical opening to its triumphant finale, when the cast invites the audience to literally join in the celebration and "LET THE SUN SHINE IN!" It’s about time."
One of the things I wondered after seeing the summer production was--what happens if the show transfers to Broadway and Obama has been elected? It seemed so much more dark and urgent with Bush in the White House and the election still uncertain. Clearly the creative team has had the same thought and is trying to recast the show as a celebration of this new era of "change". Interesting.
Smaxie
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/26/05
#18re: Hair
Posted: 11/20/08 at 2:13pm
>Still though, that typeface...having studied a lot of typefaces as kind of a nerdy pastime, it bothers me that this one doesn't look like anything from 1968. Too angular, as I said before. The concept is appropriate--big bold capital letters aligned in blocks--but the typeface itself looks all wrong.<
You think the typeface is that different from this one? They look so similar to me - just with the letters in the new one overlapping a bit more.
SDav 10495
Broadway Star Joined: 7/21/06
#19re: Hair
Posted: 11/20/08 at 2:29pm
Yeah, the original Broadway poster used Helvetica--a classic, and very 60s. The new typeface, as I said, is more pointy and angular (the "H" and "A" are pretty much the same, of course, but the "I" and "R" are very different). It's similar enough that the designers' hearts were in the right place--you can tell they were trying to emulate the old title in some way, while keeping it fresh. But something about that font still rings untrue to me. Ah well. This is all unbelievably trivial, in the end. 
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