This show is brilliant. Yes, it lacks a strong book.I will agree. Milos Foreman's movie was the first experience I had with it other them the OBC recording I grew up with. Never saw the play. I loved the movie! Then I saw the recent Paulus revival. The show I realized is like a watercolor. Character songs being carefully laid over period related philosophical and sociological tribal songs, gives you a strong sense of a time and place. Foreman's forced book and reimagined relationships, now seemed forced and distracting. I have been meaning to revisit the movie.
Those Blocked: SueStorm. N2N Nate. Good riddence to stupid! Rad-Z, shill begone!
Ragni and Rado hated the film version of HAIR stating, "The film version of Hair has not been made yet"
I don't think a better film version of the musical could be made. Count me in as one who absolutely loves the film version. That ending always, always gets me. It wasn't a box office success when it was released in 1979, *but* it did receive great reviews and Forman's new arrangements were top-of-the-line, so much so that they've been incorporated into stage productions over the years including Paulus' revival and the recent Hollywood Bowl concert.
The film's reputation has grown positively over the years. It's a classic. Updated On: 8/25/14 at 09:47 AM
I agree, Nicole was all sorts of wrong for Claudia, heck Anne Hathaway audition to play the role. Can you imagine "Unusual Way" being much better with Anne's singing?
"It was indeed a critic darling when it was released…"
HAIR? The HAIR movie? Not it wasn't. The critics who liked it took great pains to express their decidedly mixed feelings about it. Where did you get the idea it was otherwise? I know you're far far far too young to even have been alive when the movie was released.
From what I've researched the majority walked in thinking it would come off a relic and not work on the screen at all and were pleasantly surprised at what was achieved.
I'll say this- the Diane Paulus version of the Hair script is much more streamlined and character focused than the versions before it. I'm not sure why it's not the current licensed script. More character development and less bizarre sketch-comedy-like digressions (the "Claude makes a movie with his friends" scene has always stuck out a bit).
I'll say this- the Diane Paulus version of the Hair script is much more streamlined and character focused than the versions before it. I'm not sure why it's not the current licensed script.
Maybe because it's since seen additional work. "Dead End" and "Exanaplanetooch" have been restored as of the recent actor/musician tour that kind of happened on the D.L. and then disappeared, and the American Theater Company run in Chicago saw even more restorative work done. I feel the ATC version may be the best of this new trend of revision.
I’ll have my first exposure to Hair next Friday. I just happen to be working in Lincoln, Nebraska all next week and grabbed a $39.50 general admission ticket to see this performed by a local repertory company on 3/29. Given the advisory warnings and promo clip, I don’t think they’re pulling any punches. Last year I saw Avenue Q at the same theater and loved it even more than when I saw it the first time on tour. It’s a small theater so it feels very intimate. Looking forward to it!
The network news broadcasts each night showed a more chilling look at the war than the musical. I was impressed by the quality of the score, the number of pop hits it produced, and the failure of those two to collaborate on anything else, at least that I ever heard of.
"Aquarius"/"Let the Sunshine In"
"Easy to be Hard"
"Hair"
"Good Morning, Starshine"
Impressive: "What a Piece of Work is Man" plucked from Hamlet
The alternating "Black Boys" "White Boys"
The dramatic introduction, called "the Flesh Failures" of the finale, "Let the Sunshine In."
Yet I can't remember how many years, no decades, it has been since I listened to the album. I'm going to ask Alexa to play it right now.
The film soundtrack is still in constant rotation on my i-phone playlist for my daily jogs around the Silverlake reservoir. Wacky to see the give and take of this thread from 5 years ago. Happily, I still stand by my points from 2014. And why the film soundtrack over the Bway Revival? I just love hearing the voices of Nell Carter, Charlayne Woodward, Treat Williams, Melba Moore et al sing those songs.
Someone in a Tree2 said: "The film soundtrack is still in constant rotation on my i-phone playlist for my daily jogs around the Silverlake reservoir. Wacky to see the give and take of this thread from 5 years ago. Happily, I still stand by my points from 2014. And why the film soundtrack over the Bway Revival? I just love hearing the voices of Nell Carter, Charlayne Woodward, Treat Williams,Melba Moore et al sing those songs."
The soundtrack has some great performances but those 70's esque orchestrations bring me out of the time period.
I still enjoy the revival recording but find myself listening to the OBCR and, despite it not being a complete recording of the score, the original Australian cast album.
Miles2Go2 said: "I’ll have my first exposure to Hair next Friday. I just happen to be working in Lincoln, Nebraska all next week and grabbed a $39.50 general admission ticket to see this performed by a local repertory company on 3/29. Given the advisory warnings and promo clip, I don’t think they’re pulling any punches. Last year I saw Avenue Q at the same theater and loved it even more than when I saw it the first time on tour. It’s a small theater so it feels very intimate. Looking forward to it! "
So saw this tonight. It’s def a weird show or at least it appears so on first exposure. I guess I’ll find out if it seems less weird on second exposure as I already had a ticket to see it Friday night. For $39.50 it’s hard to beat for a night’s entertainment especially when one is traveling for work. I had a good time although I’m not sure I’d need to see it again if I didn’t already have a ticket for Friday. I will say I liked this repertory company’s production of Avenue Q better last year but I think that’s just because they had better material to work from. I wondered what the last Broadway revival must have been like. Anyway, tonight’s cast was talented. It is a small theater and cast were interactive. As I sat front row, one male cast member humped my leg at one point. Somehow I was under the impression that the infamous nude scene occurred at end of Act 2. Either I was mistaken or they changed it because it occurred at the end of Act 1 right before intermission. Some mic’ing issue mainly in Act 1 so I imagine that will be fixed prior to Friday night.
You were mistaken. It occurs exactly where you saw it, generally, though some productions do move it on very rare occasion (the short-lived Mexico City run in 1969 set the nude scene during "Walking in Space," for example).
Saw it again Friday night and I actually enjoyed it more than I did in Wednesday night. It was actually the official opening night. I felt myself getting more emotional toward the end as I knew how it ends. I thought of all those young men who went to fight and died in a war that the government knew was impossible. There was a cast party that the audience was invited to at a near by (Cabaret) club. So that was fun.
Next up: a local Oklahoma City production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time on Friday night.