It's Official: Hair to Transfer- Page 3

[AntonEgo]

Posted: 9/11/08 at 4:32pm

I don't think Groff is good looking at all, but he is a good actor.

I'm glad I'm not the only one hoping that Theo Stockman will cover Claude when this transfers.

[evadiva]

Posted: 9/11/08 at 5:16pm

I wonder if Kacie Sheik feels the same way about Broadway now as she did right after Spring Awakening opened....

I remember reading her myspace blog and getting so pissed. She mentioned theatre snobs and how the genre needed to be reformed. And how her brother was so wonderful since his show was so inventive - and used REAL TEENS instead of 30 year olds playing teens.

And now look at her. Doing a (albeit rock) musical centered around teens - that's Broadway bound.

Interesting.

Not sure if your blog is still there Kacie (probably isn't), but now I'd think twice before you criticize an artform - it may be the one that ends up feeding you later....

Updated On: 9/11/08 at 05:16 PM

[ToplessCocoWantsFame]

Posted: 9/11/08 at 5:32pm

(evadiva, you also need to think twice before you bash someone personally. kasey is def not even close to 30... more like mid-20's.
I'd think twice before you criticize an actress - they may be the one that ends up feeding you later)

since when does this show have to be a teen cast???

who was at a real be-in cirra 1968 and saw hippies only in their teens and early 20's?

there's plenty of 60's draft card burning/ protesting on youtube... check that out.

[ToplessCocoWantsFame]

Posted: 9/11/08 at 5:32pm

(evadiva, you also need to think twice before you bash someone personally. kasey is def not even close to 30... more like mid-20's.
I'd think twice before you criticize an actress - they may be the one that ends up feeding you later)

since when does this show have to be a teen cast???

who was at a real be-in cirra 1968 and saw hippies only in their teens and early 20's?

there's plenty of 60's draft card burning/ protesting on youtube... check that out.

[snl89]

Posted: 9/11/08 at 5:34pm

Jeez, Groff's cherubic good looks are still convincing people that he's a capable actor? I thought we'd settled this debate months ago...

He IS a good actor, imo :) And it was made all the more clear to me when I saw SA with Kyle Riabko and went "jeez... I hadn't even really realized how many little intricacies and nuances he'd put into his performance so that the charater was actually LIKEABLE. Because, without those, he's NOT very likeable"

Granted I havn't seen Groff in anything other than SA so I'm probably not the greatest judge, but just assuming that DOES do the same thing for other roles that he did for Melchior, he's a very good actor.


and yes, he's beautiful, but that's just a bonus :P

Updated On: 9/11/08 at 05:34 PM

[SNAFU]

Posted: 9/11/08 at 5:36pm

It will take more then a better wig to make Groff a better Claude. He is not a good actor. I saw the same performance at the Delacorte that I saw in Spring Wakening. Both performances were identical. both had great singing and lousy acting.

[winter_sky]

Posted: 9/11/08 at 5:39pm

I love Groff and think he's a lovely person and not completely without talent but I don't think he has proven himself yet.

Also I had no idea Kacie was Duncan's brother. I love her voice but honestly, I'd rather have Will Swenson be in his mid-thirties and be amazing than cast an 18 year old who doesn't have nearly the charisma/vocal talent/ and stage presence that Will does.

[evadiva]

Posted: 9/11/08 at 5:46pm

Point taken Coco. I always thought Hair had to be a young cast. That's always how I've seen it done. But I guess I should have known the script better before I opened my mouth.


Guess I was harsh. This is part of the blog that pissed me off BTW. And Coco your username is freakin GREAT.



How often is a sibling an integral part, maybe the most integral part, of making history. Words are being used in reviews along the lines of "saving musical theatre" with comments alluding to it being above the staple pieces such as Sweeney Todd and Rent when considering their scores. The references to it being more precise, and moving, and timely than such musings as Hair - and Duncan being named the Man of the Hour in all of it.
For almost the exact amount of time that the production team of SA talk about their life with the piece, I have been living my life surrounded by Musical Theatre, and the bubble of a world that that life entails. Here it has been broken. They are not breaking ground, they are breaking into the bubble and making it accessible, instead of a clique that you must be accepted into. The album is a rock album, not an Original Cast Recording. The actors are really in their teens and barely early twenties, instead of accredited Broadway actresses of 35 years old wearing wigs to young them down. The adaptation, the direction, the set, the mood, the environment that each person has contributed to creating is "bubble breaking"....and now since it has burst - the theatre world that we have all been making do with, trying to be accepted into, has to learn how to accept us - the new voices. We were out in Las Vegas trying to be true to a rock genre in a tug of war with a theatrical concept. The jukeboxes are trying - our friends are in companies of the Jukeboxes that are constantly being shut down - a few thriving in their own right, in the small towns, in the far off place from Manhattan. And here lands SA - fearless. Other vehicles have turned around from even an attempt at throwing their guts into Broadway, fear of the critics, fear of the subscription blue hairs....all the while itching to break the bubble.
He has scored a piece of history - he will accept a Tony for it. He will accept that he has won a Tony, completely humbled by the idea that a rock star can change a medium that was asking to be changed. Will classical musical theatre be affected - it surely holds its own...Fiddler and Grease revivals and updated Mary Poppins will still thrive. Absolutely...but In the Heights is just around the corner, and so are countless, hungry, songwriters who are now walking through an open door. With a high standard to follow, a bar has been set - try to conquer it - you won't...but make your own. Creation is open again ---
You have these young actors and actresses - follow these kids to their next projects, see how their lives will be changed because of these songs and these words that they are singing. All involved are better for it...all that go to see it...are better after it.
Take a minute to ingest what is truly happening in the Eugene O'Neil - insert your own adjective - magic, beauty, wonder, excitement... emotional outbursts of young kids getting their chance to get through. You will sit with a jaw drop through Touch Me - without even knowing half the string section is off stage left. You will think "this is huge" and be amazed at the pure volume (not sound levels) but thickness of what is being accomplished by an ensemble of a dozen or so 18 year olds with hand held mics standing on wooden chairs and singing about Purple Summers and Words of Their Bodies -- and the beauty of it all is - that they understand it...and it makes sense. They speak about reaching the younger audience, pulling it in. Saving the day, really. That's what they are doing. Saving musical theatre is a grand way of looking at it...but isn't it nice to save something at all?
My brother is going to win a Tony Award. I am superstitious. I hate jinxing my own life, let alone others...but I don't have a doubt in my mind. It has been a transcendent feat accomplished - It will be properly acknowledged. Or there will be repercussions*....

Updated On: 9/11/08 at 05:46 PM

[SNAFU]

Posted: 9/11/08 at 6:06pm

HAHAHAHA I sat in the O'Neil with my jaw dropping from how I was being under whelmed and lamenting the fact that my friend from Spain didn't want to leave with me after intermission. Ah well to each their own.

[jake6970]

Posted: 9/11/08 at 6:18pm

Well she is his sister, clearly she would post a blog like that.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 9/11/08 at 9:26pm

Groff is also slated to do A Prayer for My Enemy at Playwrights Horizon; opening Mid November, I think.

I like Groff and really enjoyed his Claude. Did some "Melchior-isms" slide in? Sure...but some of Claude's lines ARE very Melchi-esque. One of the things I like most about Groff's performamces is watching him when he has no dialogue. He is so "in the moment" at all times.

As for his chemistry with Swenson...I thought it was FABULOUS. I think that's another of Groff's strengths....people are just drawn to him and it shows on stage.

Additionally: the critics love him, producers love him, and an awful lot of the theater going public loves him. They'd be foolish to not keep him....assuming he wants to stay.

[crushgroove]

Posted: 9/11/08 at 9:50pm

"- Re-cast the majority who were sleep-walking through the show. They've all got to look like they're living it, like they're in the moment, not phoning it in with whatever they saw the last time they watched Woodstock.
" - gvendo2005

Are you kidding me with this? I love picking out tribe members and watching them because they are so there and in the moment. Particularly Theo Stockman and John Moauro...they are possessed by these characters...it's amazing to watch. NONE of these actors sleepwalks through their roles.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 9/11/08 at 9:55pm

As far as the costuming goes, having lived through that period and worn the fashions of the day, they are pretty spot on. I will admit they are a bit more suburban Hippy garb in some cases. Over all though the look is pretty accurate.

[hellostar]

Posted: 9/11/08 at 11:11pm

To those who have seen HAIR:

At any point, does Sheila appear nude?

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 9/11/08 at 11:12pm

Everyone appears nude except Claude and his mother and father (obviously).

Claude and all of the other "kids" are on the stage during the Act I closer and everyone gets undressed while Claude sings...it's really beautifully done and really tasteful. Not like OH MY GOD THEYRE NAKED kind of a moment but really poignant and well staged.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 9/11/08 at 11:21pm

Not everyone is completely nude. Some of the guys are some wear flesh colored g-strings thong type things pretty much held up by either thin elastic or cord. The same type they use on television and movies with nude scenes so they don't catch a glimpse of the twigs and berries on camera.
It doesn't really matter the illusion is everyone is nude. Your focus is directed at Claude who is going through his crisis of conscience and soul searching. By the time you actually realize they are naked they scatter.

[Ole Chum]

Posted: 9/12/08 at 12:06am

i wonder if theyll keep Caren Lyn Manuel on (she got pretty mediocre reviews) or if they'll offer it back to Karen Olivo (whose one year contract with ITH expires in Feb, no?)

[winter_sky]

Posted: 9/12/08 at 12:11am

I thought most people were nude...the flesh colored things were for their mic packs. You definitely see some junk in there and I don't really see where the "illusion" is. They're pretty clearly nude.

I think there are a few girls that don't. Kaitlyn Kiyan (as she is barely 17) doesn't and I think there are a few others.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 9/12/08 at 12:35am

Most are nude, not all. Yes you do see some junk.

[Li'l_Devil]

Posted: 9/12/08 at 5:37am

I think Jonathan Groff and Christopher Hanke are both extremely gifted actors. I saw both as "Claude" and both brought something different to the role. Groff's "Claude" was a little more innocent than other "Claude"'s I have seen but he did a great job with his songs.

Groff is obviously on a roll after his breakthrough role in "Spring Awakening", he impressed Ang Lee enough for him to cast him in the film "Taking Woodstock".

I'm glad this show is transferring. It's incredible that after 40 years this show still has something to say. It did go through a period where people dismissed it as a relic and "of it's time", but this revival has proven that people were ready for "Hair" again, especially those of us who grew up on the 1979 Milos Forman film.

I wish them all continued success with the show. They truly deserve it.

[Mealz1042]

Posted: 9/12/08 at 12:11pm

yes the nederlander would be SO fitting for this show. I would take Hair over Guys and Dolls at the Neder ANY day.

i'm very excited for this though especially since i didnt get to see it this summer. I can't wait for the cast to be announced.

[AntonEgo]

Posted: 9/12/08 at 12:31pm

"The references to it being more precise, and moving, and timely than such musings as Hair."

Did Kaycie Sheik dis Hair? That's pretty funny. In any case, she was well-cast as Jeannie.

[musicalmaster703]

Posted: 9/12/08 at 5:27pm

Please bring back Karen!! (Or Put her in WSS as Anita)

[broadwaygirl99]

Posted: 9/12/08 at 6:52pm

So Christopher J Hanke is never naked at all?

[winter_sky]

Posted: 9/12/08 at 7:10pm

No. He sings "Where Do I Go?" while everyone is getting nekid.