Hair National Tour Review- Tampa, May 24th

I saw the tour's last performance in Atlanta on Sunday, and I think your review is spot on. My favorite by far was Paris Remillard, who was clearly the emotional center of the whole performance. The only cast member I didn't love was Caren Tackett (Sheila). Her voice, at least at the performance I saw, wasn't up to the rest of the cast. The dance party at the end was great fun, and had me coming out of the theater on a high note. A really wonderful production.

Saw the show in Schenectady NY a few weeks back and felt the exact same way about Caren...by far the weakest link...apparently she's not improving as the tour progresses. Brace yourself for the NYC critics is they re-review the show, my dear.

I thought Josh Lamon was hysterical in his character bits (Andrew Kober's on Broadway) but supremely annoying as a member of the tribe. But then again, I thought the same thing on Broadway. There's intensity and then there's simply looking crazed and attention-hoggy.

I completely agree with everyone on Caren. I saw the tour when it was in Tempe and I loved everything about it except for Caren. Her rendition of "Easy to be Hard" was awful and when I went on stage for the dance party I saw her and she looked much older than Sheila is supposed to be.

In fairness to Caren, I saw the touring cast twice in Chicago 2 months ago, and they were all incredible, so it might just be wear-and-tear from the tour. Cut the girl some slack, she might need a few nights off.

(Where was Steel on the tour in Tampa, as his understudy was noted in the original post? Taking a night off, obviously. Is he sick? He's fantastic. I never saw the revival, but I've seen clips of Will. They're both hot, and talented, charismatic actors, sure. IMHO, Steel has a less musical-theatre-y, more manly, mischievous way about him, and voice and personality than Will, better befitting a "Berger.")

But I digress. Caren does have talent, but did look a little "off" compared to the rest of the leads, ever-so-slightly. But I also think it's because of what also was implied elsewhere in this thread: This cast is full of scene-stealers, and it works, most of the time. So maybe in comparison, that's why she's getting criticism. She was in fine voice, acting and energy on both nights I saw the show, here.

As for the "age" thing, I also read an interview with Steel, dated from about a year ago, in which he was asked about the issue. He said since the characters are obviously in their early to mid-20s, he at first wondered if it was passable that he was singing a song about being expelled from high school. Then he relayed a story about how he was on the subway and overheard some girls talking about a 25-year-old in their school who had been held back and back and back, and was finally kicked out, so he realized it could be played exactly that way. It happens. It's not the first time older actors have played young folks: think "Rent," "Grease," or even the old "Fame" TV series, "Glee," and countless others.

In any case, I can't wait to see it again in NY this summer!

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Updated On: 5/26/11 at 11:57 PM

True, Caren really was one of the only women allowed to really belt it out. When her instrument is good, she's very very good. I don't live in Tampa, but I'd guess she's tired. Kacie's "Air" intentionally sounds cartoonish to sound like helium, and she's in the "Buddha" number in a small group in the hallucination, and that's cartoon-voice as well. I've seen clips of her in fundraisers with the cast, doing modern numbers, and she has a beautiful voice she's not allowed to use in this show, except for ensemble numbers. Whoever is playing Chrissy lately was good in Chicago, too--beautiful "Frank Mills." Other than these and the wonderful Phyre Hawkins, the rest of the noteworthy numbers are sung by men (and Josh, solo-ing while playing a woman, that is. :) ).

She definitely sounds different than Caissie on the OBC recording, but...so what? Speaking of whom, what is Caissie Levy up to, these days?

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Updated On: 5/26/11 at 12:15 AM

lovepuppy- I saw her in early December so maybe she has gotten better since then.

Caissie Levy is in Ghost the Musical in London right now playing Demi Moore's character from the movie.

Updated On: 5/26/11 at 12:39 AM

Ghost has been trying out in Manchester and getting some really good reviews! Check out the London page on here and you can see some photos! The set looks stunning.

lovepuppy - That story about the subway was Will Swenson's, not Steel's. And I do think handwaving the age does work better with a mess like Berger than it does with someone who supposedly has their act together like Sheila.

I think the age complaints with Caren mostly still get a reaction from me cause the complaints have been happening since she played the role in the park WITH Swenson who, assuming my quick google search on Caren's age is correct, is several years older than her. (And okay, yeah, they did look a little like some creepy older couple out to seduce young Jonathan Groff at that point, but still.)

Updated On: 5/26/11 at 06:21 AM

Thanks for the "Ghost" info, um..."8!" I'll check it out.

Thanks also to whoever clarified that the interview was Will's. I knew it was one of them. :) And considering he's close to 40 and divorced with kids and dating also 40-something-divorced-with-kid Audra McDonald, Will is not nearly the age of a 20-something, the typical character in "Hair."

"Handwaving the age?" I don't know how to visualize that, but I get what you mean, comparing Berger to Sheila. That said, a) the "age" thing in theatre, tv or film is not unprecedented and b) there is no specific designation that I've found in terms of specific ages of the characters. Berger's in high school at 25 but there's no indication that the tribe came up through HS together, just that they're friends in their hippie community *now*. Sheila's "at NYU and she's a protester." Could she be at NYU as a grad student and therefore, closer to 30? Not specified. Who's to say there weren't 30-something protesters back then? I'm sure there were. Just because much of the '70s protesting happened on college campuses doesn't discount the rest of the population coming out and being activists, too (much like nowadays, for that matter. Look at today's news...the protesters are often middle-aged, not even young, like they used to be. But that's for another thread.).

But for the purposes of characters dating, yeah, that's a funny visual you painted, with Will-Caren-Groff, though. :) Still, stranger things have happened in both Art and in Life.

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