[Mb-hair] Good press

Fri Sep 23 22:17:50 PDT 2005

SoCal Fullerton produced HAIR. I took it to Chicago for the 1998 Demo
Convention. They had a video preamble of all major events starting with
JFK's assassination. It set everyone up to where we were. I think that did
it without ending the show with video in place of 'Let The Sunshine'.
Remember the Public HAIR had no hope at the end. Showing what is happening
today abolishes hope.

> And yet, I may be alone on this, but I enjoyed the updated version of
> Superstar, that is now available on DVD.  To be honest, it was the first time
> I fully understood the point of view of both Judas and Jesus and was torn
> between them.  It is also the first time I cried during Superstar, which like
> HAiR, I've known almost all my life.  I understood the fear and fanaticism.
> It was the first time Superstar touched me in that way.
> 
> I'm not sure I would endorse a full update of HAiR (such as the current
> production in London), but I think that something needs to be done to link it
> to our current climate.  Many young people do not understand the parallel.  I
> was trying to put a production together back in 2001, before 911.  My concept
> was to show news footage during the end of Flesh Failures, showing all of the
> atrocities still taking place in the world, and that the need to "let the
> sunshine in", and the need for the message of HAiR, still exists today.  HAiR
> is not a period piece.  It's message is alive and very much vital.
> 
> -Bil Gonzalez
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: James Pappaconstantine
> To: mb-hair at islandlists.com
> Sent: Friday, September 23, 2005 7:35 PM
> Subject: Re: [Mb-hair] Good press
> 
> 
> Personally... I have to side with the traditionalists.. Which is strange for
> me, as I am usually standing on the outside looking in. I've only seen Hair
> done the traditional way but I don't think I would like it reworked..  I do
> know that I Did Jesus Christ Superstar (Jesus) and we did it traditional way..
> It was great and got mass appeal and press, Maybe two years later a larger
> theatre did it, I went to audition and had doubts when I read that the
> director was going to change it up.. I auditioned anyway.. and would have been
> cast as Jesus again, had I agreed to cut my hair.. The directors vision was to
> have Jesus be basically a skinhead. (I would not cut my freak flag and I
> didn't get the part.) A friend of mine got the part of Jesus and I went to see
> it.. I have to say.. I hated it.. Judas died from shooting up Heroin, The
> gaurds had guns and camoflauge and when Jesus died, nobody cried. I was so
> glad I didn't get the part. Again.. I have not seen Hair done any o ther way..
> but from that experience with JCS I doubt I would dig it.  My opinion.. JIM
> 
> richard haase <hotprojects at nyc.rr.com> wrote:
>   I disagree
>   it is a question of the quality of the choice
>   if the updating is done sublimely
>   it will be sublime
>   if its badly done it will be bad
> 
> 
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: "Charles Preston"
>   To: 
>   Sent: Friday, September 23, 2005 5:04 PM
>   Subject: Re: [Mb-hair] Good press
> 
> 
>> I am right behind both of you.
>> Way to go Robin and Way to go Katie
>> HAiR is a piece of American Culture and should stay that way. HAiR really
>> tells things like they are so everyone can understand if they will open
>> there minds. It is also a lot of FUN and goodness. You know HAPPY along
>> with some sad. There is that Message that gets but across.
>> 
>> Peace, Love, & Blessings
>> ~~Charles ~~
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Robin McNamar a"
>> To: 
>> Sent: Friday, September 23, 2005 4:48 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Mb-hair] Good press
>> 
>> 
>>> Congratulations Katie, sounds like you did a wonderful job & yes a show
>>> should go on the road, that way through press & interviews we could
>>> articulate how relevant Hair is today in contemporary times instead of
>>> changing it like they did in London. In my opinion Hair is a powerful
>>> period piece in American Culture & should stay that way.
>>> 
>>> Love forever
>>> Robin
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Katie Kasben"
>>> To: 
>>> Sent: Friday, September 23, 2005 3:24 PM
>>> Subject: [Mb-hair] Good press
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> Hey Kids,
>>>> 
>>>> I wanted to share with you a great letter to the editor of the Raleigh
>>>> News and Observer (our state capitol's paper, and about 4 hours away
>   from
>>>> here):
>>>> 
>>>> *the last two paragraphs are my favourite...
>>>> 
>>>> Mark Schultz
>>>> Orange County editor
>>>> The News & Observer
>>>> Chapel Hill News editor
>>>> (919) 932-2003
>>>> 
>>>> Now is the time to act
>>>> Perry Young column for September 05
>>>> 
>>>> A few weeks ago, a very nice lady organized a genteel gathering at
>>>> the downtown post office in support of Cindy Sheehan's anti-war
>>>> protest outside the President's vacation ranch in Crawford, Texas.
>>>> I hung about the edges, expecting to be bored by the usual liberal
>>>> speec hes. But, no, this woman said there would be no speeches, just a
>>>> quiet show of support. And, so, for several long minutes, we just
>>>> stood there.
>>>> 
>>>> I finally wandered off, frustrated that nobody was saying anything,
>>>> nobody was doing anything. More to the point, why wasn't I doing
>>>> more?
>>>> 
>>>> After witnessing the obscenity of the senseless slaughter in Vietnam
>>>> as a correspondent, I came back and joined in every major peace march
>>>> on Washington. Then, as now, our President showed a profound
>>>> indifference to poor people in this country and the devastation we
>>>> were causing half way around the world. As we sang, "All we are
>>>> saying is give peace a chance," armed troops surrounded the White
>>>> House and turned the tear gas on us.
>>>> 
>>>> Now i t seems one pathetic Gold Star mother has finally aroused our
>>>> outrage about the lies that led to the current quagmire in Iraq. Ms.
>>>> Sheehan's courageous and timely stand was pushed to the back pages by
>>>> hurricane Katrina and the unbelievable pictures of the needless
>>>> suffering and dying of people not in Somalia or Iraq, but in our own
>>>> backyard.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> We looked in the mirror and were appalled by our own self-image. The
>>>> richest country the world has ever known was simply incapable of
>>>> taking care of its own people in a time of crisis. The Bush
>>>> administration was suddenly exposed for what it has been all along:
>>>> an incompetent bunch of ideologues who are simply not worthy of the
>>>> high offices they've been pushed into.
>>>> 
>>>> It is one thing to giggle and grin about the sport of hardball
>>>> politics; it is quite another when these kinds of self-serving
>>>> decisions result in the loss of lives and livelihoods of hundreds of
>>>> thousands of people. The President is guilty of criminal neglect on a
>>>> scale never before seen in America. We are left with the indelible
>>>> images of the poor people in Louisiana and Mississippi crying out for
>>>> help while Condi Rice gads about New York and Bush blithely flies off
>>>> to San Diego for another multi- million dollar fund raiser.
>>>> 
>>>> It is eerie to watch; as Bush actually seems to look more and more
>>>> like Nixon with his weirdly inappropriate facial gestures and that
>>>> loony giggle that often follows even the most solemn words written for
>>>> him to mispronounce.
>>>> 
>>>> But in this moment of our co untry's dire need, some rays of hope
>>>> shine through. The glamorous stars of television came alive as never
>>>> before and proved themselves worthy of the profession of Edward R.
>>>> Murrow. For once, the administration could not put a happy face on
>>>> yet another catastrophe. This time, their lies could be proven by the
>>>> pictures, live and in color from the battlefront.
>>>> 
>>>> And in spite of our leaders indifference, the American people have
>>>> responded with an outpouring of love and generosity unparalleled in
>>>> our history. People aren't just giving money, they're offering up
>>>> their times, their homes, their very lives to help. Maybe we are
>>>> finally overcoming the greed and selfishness of the 1980s and 1990s.
>>>> As if in answer to my personal yearning for the 1960s, I was recently
>>>> invited bac k to Asheville for a new production of the rock musical,
>>>> Hair.
>>>> 
>>>> Now, if you think nothing could be more dated than this show which I
>>>> first saw as a cabaret skit at Cheetah discotheque in New York in
>>>> 1967, you are dead wrong. As I sat listening to the joyful music of
>>>> protest to war, to racism, to the destruction of the environment, I
>>>> realized that every word was just as relevant today as it was 40 years
>>>> ago. Tears flooded down my face as an Asheville delegation of
>>>> Veterans for Peace staged the last scene in this version of Hair,
>>>> bringing in the flag-draped casket of the young hippie who got drafted
>>>> and killed in Vietnam. I urged the incredibly talented young
>>>> director, Katie Kasben, to take the show on the road. All America is
>>>> ready to renew those anthems of peace a nd "let the sunshine in"!
>>>> 
>>>> Just as I remembered from the 1967 show, there were "peace and love"
>>>> people outside the theater getting signatures on petitions and signing
>>>> people up for the bus ride to the next big peace march on Washingtron.
>>>> It'll be on Saturday, September 24. I plan to be there; I love the
>>>> smell of tear gas in the morning.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Mb-hair mailing list
>>>> Mb-hair at islandlists.com
>>>> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-hair
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Mb-hair mailing list
>>> Mb-hair at islandlists.com
>>> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-hair
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Mb-hair mailing list
>> Mb-hair at islandlists.com
>> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-hair
> 
>   _______________________________________________
>   Mb-hair mailing list
>   Mb-hair at islandlists.com
>   http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-hair
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Yahoo! for Good
> Click here to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-hair mailing list
> Mb-hair at islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-hair
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-hair mailing list
> Mb-hair at islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-hair
> 