[Mb-hair] London Gate Theatre adaptation of Hair (SPOILERS!)

[richard haase]

the trick in adapting
is when you have something like hair of the finest quality
the adaptation must be of the finest quality too
if not the disparity sinks the attempt

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sean Courtney" <dauber at banana-and-louie.org>
To: <mb-hair at islandlists.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2005 1:15 PM
Subject: Re: [Mb-hair] London Gate Theatre adaptation of Hair (SPOILERS!)


> First of all, welcome to the list, Toby!
>
> Quoting Toby:
>
> >> Hud is now a woman - with a spectacular voice and buckets of
personality.
>
> I think the only requisite for Hud is that Hud be black -- I know that
> UNC-Chapel Hill had a female Hud in 1996, mainly I think due to a shortage
of
> male black actors.
>
> >> Some of the most heavy-handed stuff comes during several music-less
spoken
> >> comedy sequences featuring caricatures of George Bush and Condoleeza
Rice in
> >> a gameshow environment. These are the worst scenes and, though a few
cheap
> >> laughs are raised, they seemed to drag by comparison to the song and
dance
> >> sections.
>
> Hmmm...sounds like something stolen from Jay Leno!
>
> >> In retrospect, I'm fighting to some degree against my love of the show
as a
> >> whole and the movie in particular. But I think that classics like Hair
(yes,
> >> Hair has acquired that status, and the sold-out nature of the Gate run
> >> confirms that) should be open to re-interpretation and I applaud the
Gate
> >> for giving it a go. My reservations are due to the fact that I don't
think
> >> some of the interpretations make a lot of sense; some are inconsistent,
some
> >> are irrelevant, some are just too obvious for their own good.
>
> You know...I cringed when I read other reviews of that production, but the
way
> you describe it, it sounds like the rewrites and updates were EXTREMELY
> well-done with lots of thought, kind of like what it might be had Jim
> and Gerry
> written it today. However, if I go to a Hair production, I expect it to be
the
> one we all know and love. I'd be disappointed if I were surprised with an
> updated version. BUT -- if I knew in advance it were updated, I'd be
> interested.
>
> -- 
> dauber at banana-and-louie.org
> AIM: ddaauubbeerr
> blog: http://scattered-frog.blogspot.com
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