[Mb-hair] For The Lists

Mon Sep 26 18:21:47 PDT 2005

Well said Jonathon!!!

Peace and Love and Blessings to all our Tribe.
~~Charles~~
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Jonathon Johnson 
  To: mb-hair at islandlists.com 
  Sent: Monday, September 26, 2005 9:14 PM
  Subject: Re: [Mb-hair] For The Lists

  My Opinion: 

  You have to be very careful when trying to "update" Hair. It is after all, a masterpiece play. 30,000 plus ticket buyers and counting are the proof. A review like the one below is also proof. 

  I ask this basic question to all who feel the need to change Hair. Why fix something that is not broken?

  You must assume that the audience is intelligent enough to figure out or know that the show
  is about the 60's. You also have to trust that they are smart enough to put together the political
  analogies to the times we are in. 

  Hair in its original form will work and be moving until world peace becomes a reality, and war
  becomes obsolete. 

  That is my opinion.

  Peace, Love and Blessings ~ Jonathon

  Ocsomtan at aol.com wrote:
    HAIR - the ANTI-AMERICAN GANG-BANG HATE ROCK MUSICAL

    The liturgical basis of Western drama is well-documented.  The Miracle and Mystery plays sought to explain the Christian legend to an illiterate flock.  At worst, the Church's goal was feudal servitude and subjugation; at best, ephiphanous rectitude.

    As theatre evolved, so did the motus operandi of its practitioners: there were the self-aggrandizers and the light-givers.

    Our HAIR, at its inception, and through most of its incarnations, was in the latter camp.  Springing from the 'Sixties, a period of possibilities and hope, it spoke about and for a generation, disenchanted with the powers-that-be and intent upon changing what the world was for what it could become.  I don't have to tell any of you about HAIR: we were all there.

    Numerous attempts have been made to make age- and time-specifics works more current and/or accessible to modern audiences.

    The British theatre and opera director, Jonathan Miller, coined the term "renovatio" to represent a search to find a current theatre vocabulary and point of view to parallel the one shared by those who first created and experienced a piece.

    Certainly, any efforts to find a "renovatio" for HAIR would face great challenges.  Moreover, our world already provides striking parallels in the Viet Nam/Iraq and Nixon/Bush deja-vu dance.  With such self-evident resonances, is an update really required?

    Nonetheless, there are those who, understimating the human mind's capacity to make meaningful leaps, might feel an updating of HAIR to be a necessity.

    On to the modernization of HAIR at The Gate Theatre, London.

    Firstly, let me say that if updates are to be undertaken, this script, reconcei ved and re-constructed, for this production, could not be better in keeping with the spirit, intent and essence of the original production in the following way:  The inclusion of current events, pop culture, modern political and social issues, have been ingeniously handled by the writer.

    If a non-singing "Oprah" replaces our beloved "Tourist Lady", well, why not? -- we live in a tell-all culture which is more likely to "spill its guts" on camera than to a best friend.  Indeed, if "Hair" is sung to "Oprah's" camera crew rather than we, the audience, that too, bespeaks of our society.  And, yes, we all loathe Dubya and Condie enough to tolerate their prominence as the evil genies in this new/old musical.

    But, here's the problem: to quote Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now", "there's something lost, but something's gained...", and I'm not sure that it's a fair exchange.

    Putting aside the re-inveented script, ("Claude", on Prozac, singing a terse lamenti ng ballad, "Manchester, England, England", his parents, encouraging him to enlist to help pay for his university fees), there are directorial choices which scream "self aggrandizer" rather than "light giver."

    The Space:  you arrive in a room about the size of my entire apartment (brave and impressive -- I'd be hard-pressed to do GODSPELL let alone HAIR in my home!); there are 2 giant painted curtains emblazoned with the words "Coca" and "Cola".  "Uh-oh," you think.  "We're going to be confronted with American cultural imperialism and rampant consumerism" -- OK, not a very original thesis but not something with which anyone would argue.  A blonde lad enters in abbreviated white jockey shorts and pushes aside the curtains, and proceeds to dress in his jeans, jacket, backpack, walkman.  A radio-style voice over tells us it's New York, another working day, etc.  During this, creatures in black robes enter (Supreme Court bigots? distorted univers ity graduates?) with black-and-white rubber rolled wigs (pipelines? rollers? pasta?  I give up!).  They also sport masks with roses in place of their eyes (rose-colored glasses? American Beauties?).  Their mouths are unique - from each hang emblems reflective of American consumer society (a cellphone, a banner from the NY TIMES, a Dorito package, a Starbuck's cup).  As the radio din reaches a cacaphony, "Claude" enters the Times Square area and a voice advises the "1,2,3, 9, A, C, E, 7, R, N and Shuttle" can be reached at this junction.  "Claude" and the robed personalities cram into a central space for a sardine-inspired, bouncing train ride which becomes a din until a lone voice ("Sheila"?) shrieks, "When the moon...peace will guide the planets and love will steer the stars...."  Clearly, its ironic.

    Throughout the rest of the number (which is aggressive and harsh), "Claude" tries to dodge the robed creatures who weave erratic patterns and impede his way.  Eventually, the voices crescendo off stage.  There is no union, no tribe, no love, no hope, and no people.

    So far, OK, "not so good", but "original" and "tolerable".  So, "where's the beef?", as they say.

    Before I go there, let me give credit where credit is due: a brave producer and theatre, heretofore content with mounting mostly new translations of overlooked European treasures has had the courage to take on a 20th-Century theatrical icon.  There's a talented and more-than-willing cast of 16 -- note, the original company had 21 -- giving their all.  (In fact, I could have wished they had given a wee bit less: regarding nudity on stage as opposed to sex in the home, less is definitely more!)  Especially noteworthy are "Sheila", "Jeanie", a female "Hud", "Berger" (for cudliness rather than power), "Claude", (for a fine voice, and being "game'"- having graduated RADA just last year, I expect this production was the farthe st thing from his mind a year ago!).  Then there's the band of lithe, acrobatic singer-dancers who did nude cartwheels within six inches of my face -- something I never expected to encounter without someone buying someone dinner first!  And, as I've said before, I laud the attempts to modernize what could be seen as a period piece.

    On to the "beef", or rather the "Berger":

    "Berger" is discovered alone -- he rips off his trousers, introduces himself and launches into "Donna".  No "transcendental meditation on the Ocean of Reality".  No "love".

    This production, as conceived by its director, eschews transcendence and love in favor of (for all its fornication) impotence and rage.

    Every number becomes an attack on the material vocally, an assault on the audience emotionally, and an attack of the USA morally -- not its government, not its policies -- we, the people.  (Actually, it makes for a very monotonous evening as there is no ar c, no journey, no discovery -- just a lot of shouting at top decible.)  The thesis is the people are the policies; the policies are the people.  We're all sheep. (At one point the robed/rose people bleet at one another, just in case we haven't gotten that point.)  Oh, and Condie Rice, Bush and Rumsfeld sing "Crazy for the Red, White and Blue".  Kind of missing out on the layer of irony as it had been previously done, and, once again, blaming the people for being blind sheep.

    Frankly, this tack is too facile, too easy a blame-game.  It screams "Young Director (David) with Chip on Shoulder Trying to Attract Attention by Taking Shots at America (Goliath)"  Very Australian-style theatre of the 70s, actually.

    I can accept that the USA has done a great many bad things, and that it's gotten away from we, the people.  But I'm not certain using HAIR to reinforce these problems is a helpful thing.

    Moreover, what is more of a concern fo r me is the distortion of the principles and spirit of HAIR to serve this director's ends.

    "White Boys" is a number extolling the joys of bondage and is sung by the female "Hud" and one black girl and man while whipping "Berger" and two other white boys, naked except for their leather masks etc. (Actually, this seems quite an English "take" on things -- the only thing missing was someone dressed up as a maid!).  "Black Boys" is not about "candy": -- it's an explicit re-enacted fornication upon inanimate objects like stage poles, microphone stands -- (Oh, well, black boys were in short supply in this production.  Perhaps this was the solution?)  And there are some obvious gaffs.  For example, here the entire tribe is enrolled in NYU, not just "Sheila", a school requiring a minimum of $25,000 per year in tuition.  How can students getting a $100,000 education honestly moan "Ain't Got No?"

    Another instance of strange concepts: "Woof", once upon a time representative of the unconditional love of Man's Best Friend, is now the kind of mutt that would hump a guest's leg in heat!  This character, in particular, is such a distortion of the "Woof" of the Original Company that he deserves a few words: He has emerald green buzz cut hair, a naked chest, and a large tattoo emblazoned across it: "H.I.V.I.P".  A rather pale (and not-very-excited, I might add) naked blonde boy is beneath him.  "Woof" introduces himself as "Neil 'Woof' Donovan", goes to hump him, at which point, the boy screams, "Where's your condom?"  "Woof" produces a plastic surgical sheet, covers the entire body, and proceeds to hump the body encased in plastic while singing "Sodomy".  I might add this was about a foot-and-a-half from my feet!  (I wasn't very excited either, but I was willing to go along with changes because they were, initially, amusing.)

    I did cringe at "Jeanie's line going into "Claude's" trip: "Whatever you d ecide to do -- know you were loved."

    Eventually, though, a darker agenda became apparent.  Indeed, in "Going Down", I recalled our "baby angels".  In this production, the entire cast is wearing plastic horns and celebrating the darkening of the light whenever possible.

    Whatever happened to the "dawning of the Age of Aquarius" and the light givers"?

    Of course, that might be this director's point, but I contend that the bigger picture is more important than his self-serving visions.

    I don't believe that the updated script of HAIR or any previous version of HAIR advocated hate, anger, anarchy and destruction.  

    Using a piece created to expand brotherhood and peace for such distorted ends seems to me to be a betrayal of those who died in Viet Nam, Afghanistan, and Iraq.  This production can only foment terrorism, anger, hate, and vengeance, and pain.

    To me, the definition of "sin" is "intentional wrong action".  These cha racters are more "sinning" than "sinned against".  The implication is "Aren't we all?"

    Perhaps.  But I didn't care about any of them, and when "Claude's" black coffin was hauled onstage enshrouded in those ubiquitous roses, I never shed a tear.

    Is this a message we wish to endorse, and is this the message of HAIR?

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  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  Good HAIR Days: A Personal Journey with the American Tribal Love-Rock Musical HAIR, by Jonathon Johnson. For more information on the book and how to order it, visit www.goodhairdays.net. 

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