rOcKS @ 'Hair'

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 9:18pm

It's intermission. I'll obviously post a full review when I get home but THIS is the revival I've been waiting for. Absolutely incredible.

[sgv123]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 9:22pm

I cannot wait for your review. I have been anxious for reviews all day. Seeing this next week, so I am excited to read about it!

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 9:28pm

Better than in the Park?

[lakezurich]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 9:28pm

I can't wait to see this on May 24th!! So excited!!

[dramamama611]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 9:34pm

Can't wait to hear more!!! How is Gavin? Love him, but I need/want convincing he's right for the part!

[mywonderwa11]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 9:48pm

I can't wait to see this show either! I'm so anxious to hear about Gavin.

[purpleprince101]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 10:37pm

I wonder how Caissie Levy is. I cannot wait to see this!

[CSonBroadway]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 10:51pm

Can't wait for the review! :)

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 10:53pm

If you could do us a favor rOcKS, when you write your review, could you tell us the understudies and swings? I always love hearing about them.

[CSonBroadway]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 10:59pm

And also talk about the set please..? :)

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 11:04pm

Alright I'm on the train home but ... wow.

It's just as good (if not better than) it was in the park. The cast is simply mind-blowing. Creel is much better than Groff was (he should pose a huge Tony threat to the Billys). Levy belted the hell out of "Easy To Be Hard." Swenson has gotten better and is just wonderful. Sasha Allen was fantastic.

This is the revival of the year. If it doesn't win the Tony, it's a travesty. Get your tickets now. More to come...

[AntonEgo]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 11:21pm

Someone asked about understudies/swings. I'm also curious if any of the tribe are covering larger roles. Thanks!

[ralan]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 11:25pm

....so glad you agree with my post last night. I loved this show. Will was a hippie and Gavin was his best friend. They were both wonderful. The ending is even more powerful than in the park...and I don't want to give away the set....but there is a 12 piece orchestra. What a great evening on Broadway. I definitely agree, one of these 2 men are hands down my Tony nominees, not the boys in Billy.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 11:33pm

Watch out for the gangs of WSS to attack you for those thoughts.
I saw HAIR in the Park and WSS in DC so I am only speculating, but HAIR should win revival hands down.

[WishingOnlyWounds2]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 11:41pm

I think I know what I'm going to do for my birthday this year...

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 11:51pm

Get naked and dance on the stage at the Hirsh?

[jaystarr]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 11:51pm

Aww! I have been waiting for this. You guys know were all TEAM HAIR for Best Revival!
what are the changes? set? costumes?

J*

[sgv123]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 11:55pm

A new blog has been added to the site:

http://www.hairbroadway.com/cast_blog

She is AMAZING!!

[WishingOnlyWounds2]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 11:57pm

'9 to 5' has sets in the bag.

[ralan]

Posted: 3/6/09 at 11:58pm

Better than the park. You don't miss it.
Gavin is a great Claude.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 3/7/09 at 12:07am

Count me in for team WEST SIDE STORY!!

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 3/7/09 at 12:13am

Last year was undoubtedly the year of the musical revival. Brilliant, innovative, and fantastically definitive productions of SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, GYPSY, and SOUTH PACIFIC were all the talk of the town and swept the Tonys/Tony nominations.

This year is a different story. PAL JOEY was stale and flat. GUYS AND DOLLS was terribly dull for such a lively show. WEST SIDE STORY was good but a bit of a dissapointment. The answer to the dull and generally dissatisfying crop of revivals is playing at the Al Hirschfeld Theater. HAIR is the revival of the year and, quite simply, a triumph.

I said a while ago that I was waiting for something to blow me away because I wasn't sure if I had seen that production this season yet. HAIR is that production. Now, look, I like the show itself. It's definitely got some problems (I was never a fan of the second act) but this production does what every great revival should do; it highlights the great things about the show and kinda sweeps the not-so-great parts of it under the rug.

Here are some general technicalities:

WHAT THE STAGE LOOKS LIKE: The theater is covered in light projections of handprints all over the walls and the stage is set with a group of oriental rugs laid out and a clear, almost transparent curtain with a projection of a rotating moon on it. The lights dimmed, the audience went wild, and I was (for the first time in a while) completely transported.

The stage is covered in a bunch of oriental rugs, as I mentioned, that seemed to (I was in the mezzanine) go down the steps at the front of the stage and make their way into the first few rows of the audience. The back wall is painted brick (a sunrise is painted on it) and the orchestra is settled at the back wall on different levels of scaffolding and even on top of an old truck. In front of either box seats are two scaffolds that different cast members stand on at various points.

AUDIENCE INTERACTIONS:
They are still there (with cast members dancing in the aisles and talking to different people in the audience) and it works very well. Yes, the audience is still allowed to dance on the stage for the finale.

THE BOX SEATS:
I know they are lottery seats so to answer everyone's questions about how good they are, they seemed pretty good. You definitely get a unique experience from there (lots of cast interactions, especially in the stage left box).

WHERE TO SIT:
I recommend orchestra. I want to see it again for sure and would love to get a seat in the orchestra. Probably a totally different experience than the mezzanine. Although I hate that overhang in the Hirschfeld.

TIME:
Show started at 8:08, intermission started at about 9:16, out on the street at 10:30.

I did not STAGE DOOR but I'm sure everyone came out. I don't see why they wouldn't.

---------------

Now, onto the show itself.

It's no secret how much I loved it in the Park and while it's a different experience than being outside in the warm summer air watching the production, it still works very, very well in the theater. Paulus' direction has improved and she really did a good job of knowing what to keep and what to change from the Park to now.

Gavin Creel is sensational as Claude. Finally this incredibly talented guy gets to show off his skills in a leading role! And boy, does he ever. His voice sounds gorgeous (although he ran out of breath at times during I GOT LIFE, which brought down the house). He fits Claude a lot better than Groff did (who I liked very much) and deserves to pose a huge threat to the Billys. A fantastic, fantastic performance.

Cassie Levy is just as good as Caren Lyn Manuel. Her EASY TO BE HARD was really moving and her voice has never sounded better. Will Swenson seems to have made the right choice with deciding to go with HAIR rather than ROCK OF AGES because he is even better than he was in the Park. Sasha Allen has an amazing voice and, actually, seems better suited for Dionne than Panita was. This is the first revival this year that seems to have a perfectly-casted production. The entire cast is electrifyingly good. Props to Bryce Ryness for dealing with this mic malfunction like a pro.

Scott Pask's set is great, Michael McDonald's costumes are very well-designed, Kevin Adam's lights are first-rate, and the orchestrations make the score sound better than it ever has before.

Like I said, the second act of HAIR is very flawed. So it will never be a flawless experience as a show but this is the closest it will ever come. It's so much fun, so joyful, so exuberant and yet so thought-provoking and almost scarily relevant so many years later.

Fans of the film and the original production will surely be pleased and people being exposed to the material for the first time will definitely love it. This show deserves to be a big fat hit. I can't wait to go back and see it again. As I said before, if it doesn't win the Best Musical Revival Tony, it is a true travesty. There is simply no competition. HAIR is quite possibly my favorite theatrical experience of the season thus far.

**** out of ****


Updated On: 3/7/09 at 12:13 AM

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 3/7/09 at 12:20am

I also loved the biographies in the Playbill. Literally none of the cast bios list any previous shows. They are all about what they love, who they love, what they believe in, and are in turn funny and touching. And they all list their star signs.

Here you go, PiraguaGuy! :) :

The understudies:
CLAUDE: Jay Armstrong Johnson, Paris Remillard
BERGER: Ryan Link, Steel Burkhardt
WOOF: Paris Remillard, Ryan Link
SHEILA: Jackie Burns
HUD: Tommar Wilson, Michael James Scott
DIONNE: Saycon Sengbloh, Chasten Harmon
JEANIE: Jackie Burns, Mean Reinking
CRISSY: Kaitlin Kiyan
MOTHER: Lauren Elder
DAD: Josh Lamon, Theo Stockman
MARGARET MEAD: Josh Lamon, Michael James Scott
BUDDAHDALIRAMA: Allison Guinn

Swings:
Briana Carlson-Goodman, Chasten Harmon, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Josh Lamon, Ryan Link, Michael James Scott
Updated On: 3/7/09 at 12:20 AM

[WishingOnlyWounds2]

Posted: 3/7/09 at 12:23am

Where do you have to be sitting to go on stage at the end?

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 3/7/09 at 12:25am

In the orchestra, as close to the stage as possible, is probably the easiest. Although a bunch of people in the mezzanine (who obviously knew it was coming) ran down to the orchestra the second the lights went out and got on stage.

They also put cast members in the mezzanine during the finale to dance with audience members.