[Mb-hair] Gate HAIR report

Sun Sep 25 14:31:52 PDT 2005

i think robin that given the orientation of the average american i think
vietnam is unfortunately becoming as distant to the average 25 - 30 year old
as ancient egypt

i want the piece to survive vigorously
i am coming from a really good place

there are also forces having nothing to do with any
qualitative merits
that seem to be bent on burrying anything to do with the 60s or counter
culture etc
( i think probably these were factions who were out to get the show from the
beginning etc )
but given the rise of the far right
i think the slandering of the 60s cause and the counter culture subtly
undermines the potential receptivity of the public etc

am very concerned as someone who loves HAIR very deeply
that if the next major production is a fiasco
it will hurt the shows place so to speak
and i personally believe it is the greatest musical ever written
certainly what convinced me to be in the theater
what dictated my directing style in part etc

so i am deeply concerned
and my concerns are not without merit

but personally
i hope you are all right
i love hair
and would love to the 60s come back
and i love it as it is
but also i would out again
we updated it carefully and with great artistic prowess
in my production
and it worked
and was very true to the original
but was contemporary
that is my experience

anyway i wish everyone the best
and hair the best

richard haase in the project pit
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robin McNamara" <olhippie at tampabay.rr.com>
To: <mb-hair at islandlists.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2005 3:53 PM
Subject: Re: [Mb-hair] Gate HAIR report


> Sherwin I tend to agree with you brother the message of the ignorance &
> maddness for war is always contemporary until it isn't anymore. There are
> some minute places where youi can take "liberty" i.e. "Initials" just for
> laughs, but  it is a period piece that that should not be tampered with
.If
> you think about it, it really doesn't matter war is savage & peace is good
,
> 'one' of the messages of Hair.
>
> Love forever
> Robin
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Sherwin Ross" <sherwin at aceross.com>
> To: <mb-hair at islandlists.com>
> Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2005 3:26 PM
> Subject: RE: [Mb-hair] Gate HAIR report
>
>
> > May I ad my two cents worth......
> >
> > In the past year I have been to two HAiR plays, Bridgeport CT and Santa
> > Anna
> > University, Both times I cried like a baby....
> >
> > When I played Berger, staged by Robert Camuto and Sally Eaton, every
> > performance we did, when I looked into the audience during "Let the
> > Sunshine
> > In", there was not a dry eye out there.
> >
> > Why would anyone even consider changing a master piece?
> > YOU CAN NOT CHANGE HISTORY AND HISTORY IS REPEATING ITSELF.
> > People need to see HAiR, without one word from the original Tames
Whitmark
> > Book being changed!
> >
> > Just my opinion :)
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: mb-hair-bounces at islandlists.com
> > [mailto:mb-hair-bounces at islandlists.com] On Behalf Of richard haase
> > Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2005 12:15 PM
> > To: mb-hair at islandlists.com
> > Subject: Re: [Mb-hair] Gate HAIR report
> >
> > it sounds nasty
> > but
> > again i would say its a bad adaptation
> > not the fault of updating per se in principal
> >
> > it sounds like the director at 26 had no idea
> > what hair was or what the 60s were etc
> >
> > i think first of all for the updating to work it must be minimal
> > the extraneous insertion of ipods or S and M
> > or making white boys and black boys homosexual etc
> >
> > or having the nude scene with mickey mick
> > etc
> > it all just sounds really bad
> >
> > obviously i think aside from a few topical changes
> > and subtle changes in mis en scene
> > the script/book is perfectly contemporary as is etc
> >
> > shame
> > it sounded like a courageous attempt at the gate
> > that went terribly wrong
> > shame
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Michael Butler" <michael at michaelbutler.com>
> > To: "HAIR List" <mb-hair at islandlists.com>
> > Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2005 2:30 PM
> > Subject: [Mb-hair] Gate HAIR report
> >
> >
> >>
> >> ------ Forwarded Message
> >> From: ocsomtan at aol.com
> >> Date: Sat, 24 Sep 2005 18:52:42 -0400
> >> To: michael at michaelbutler.com
> >> Subject: Re: Hair #2
> >>
> >>
> >>  M:
> >>
> >> No, that's the thing -- sometimes it was so different, it made me
> >> laugh --
> >> there was real originality there, but it wasn't HAIR.  It was the piece
> >> formerly-known as-HAIR-aspiring-to-be-RENT -- But did you know "Oprah"
is
> >> the Tourist Lady?  That "Hair" is sung to her cameras? -- That there is
> >> no
> >> nude scene is Act 1 (but rather a nice rip off of RENT's candlelight
> >> vigil
> >> in it's place?); however, there IS a nude scene after Woof's "Mickie
Jag"
> >> speech?  [Incidentally, why does this generation have such lumpy
bodies?
> >> And why do they insist upon taking it off when there's nothing -- or
> > rather
> >> , too  much -- to see?]  Oh, and Woof has a tattoo H.I.V.I.P across
> >> chest!
> >>
> >> "My Conviction" has been cut; "Dead End" has been cut.  "Sheila" is
Asian
> >> and wonderful.  "Jeanie" has been rewritten so no one (except me, when
I
> >> played her in Paris wearing flippers), could get a laugh!  -- She can
> > really
> >> sing, and she only miscarried twice!  "Hud" is a woman, and she should
> > have
> >> kept her clothes on!
> >>
> >> There is no war sequence.  "What A Piece of Work" is a duet for
"Berger"
> > and
> >> "Claude" who seem to be at each other's throats for most of the piece,
so
> >> it's weird.  Oh, they also get to banter "To be or not to be" back and
> >> forth.  I laughed when "Berger" went into "nymph"...but, it's a very
"in"
> >> joke -- "Ham" tells "Ophelia", "nymph in thy orisons be all thy sins
> >> remembered."  -- I guess the BRits are more likely to get it -- but I
was
> >> the only one laughing.
> >>
> >> I'll have to talk to you about this -- the rewrites are one thing, and
> >> the
> >> directing another.  The cast is more-than-willing -- but why?
> >>
> >> "White Boys" was sung by "Hud" about "Berger" and two others in
bondage.
> >>
> >> We shoudl speak about this -- it has been more than an eye openeer -- 
and
> >> yes -- I got a program for Miss Nina's archives.
> >>
> >> (oi!)
> >>
> >> Nat
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> 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