Forgive me if this seems slightly off topic, but I just saw Hair tonight, and while I definitely enjoyed the show, it made me appreciate Passing Strange even more.
It seems to me that a rock musical (and all musicals really) should be most focused on the music. Hair doesn't have much of a plot, not nearly as powerful and gripping as Passing Strange. But Hair does have great music, a rocking score that I've been listening to for 40 years now. They do a good job with it overall, but I kept thinking during the show "where's the rock and roll?". The band can play, but the lead guitar is no louder than the clarinet most of the time. This is rock?
Stew & Heidi showed us that a rock musical can also be a real rock show, with loud drums and screaming guitars, and the ringing in the ears to prove it afterwards. The variation in Keys, constantly changing in interesting ways. The "exuberant" drumming of Christian Casan, pushing the great songs along. Committed performances from the entire cast. Hair needed that. Instead they keep the music nice and polite, much more of a traditional Broadway pit orchestra sound than it should have, in my opinion. Only at the curtain call, when they invited the crowd to dance on stage and sing "Let the Sunshine In" did the energy level get anywhere near the range of Passing Strange, and the crowd ate it up. I love the score of Hair, and I wanted to hear it screaming at me like a good angry rock song, and instead got polite, safe versions. Still enjoyed the show, but it could have been so much more.
A couple of last points. Passing Strange would have been great in the Delacorte with an interested crowd. Didn't I read that they did some shows there while developing the show? Anyone see that and have comments on it?
Finally, tonight's show made me realize how much I miss Passing Strange. I wish I could go again, to see what they're doing with Keys, hear what jokes Stew's telling now, and feel the real once again.
Thanks for reading.
Updated On: 8/6/08 at 11:52 PM
