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| My new boyfriend Hud gracing the cover of the program |
I’ve never seen the musical Hair before last night. Okay, that isn’t entirely true. I’ve seen the movie a ton of times (especially during my John Savage phase) but that isn’t really anything like the play so it doesn’t count. (For real. If you’ve only seen the film and you liked it or hated it, you really haven’t seen Hair until you’ve seen it on stage.)
Last night at the New Rep’s MainStage Theater in Watertown (which, by the way, where have my theater people been about this place? I knew it existed but never really gave it a thought. What a great theater! Can’t wait to go back!) I finally got to experience Hair almost 52 years after it opened on Broadway at the Biltmore (now Friedman) Theatre, and it was about freaking time.
Aside from the actors, I am fairly certain I was one of if not THE youngest person in the theater. And I was born 8 months after Hair premiered on Broadway. This actually enhanced the experience for me. I was surrounded by people in their late 60s and 70s who were THERE. One guy talked about seeing it in Boston during the time when the City wanted to shut it down because of the nudity (we’ll get back to the nudity*). There was a woman who was telling people that she followed the show around back then. She saw it in Boston, she saw it in New York and she saw it in California. This same woman felt compelled to warn folks before the show exactly WHEN the nudity was going to happen “in case you don’t want to look.†Folks in the audience were singing, and clapping, and laughing, and even crying. It was amazing. The chatter at intermission was glowing. Everyone was in love with Claude and Berger – and they were truly fantastic but most of my adoration was saved for Hud, played by Anthony Pires, Jr., partially because he approached me before the show, in character, and gave me a tiny crocheted flower and excitedly told me “We made these today!” But also because he really does shine on the stage. Between his hypnotic singing voice and the way he glided across the stage all night, I was smitten. In all honesty, though, there wasn’t a weak link in the cast. I see a few of the actors I’ve seen before at the Lyric Stage and the Greater Boston Stage Company, and it’s exciting to actually be able to see how these actors are growing with each role.
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| My flower from “Hud” – I’m going to turn it into a magnet! |
I will say that one thing that struck me during the show was that I’m not sure how it would play to a younger crowd. (Actually, I’d be interested in going with a younger person to see their reactions.) It seems to have been written for folks with some knowledge of that culture and pretty much the entire first act would probably feel like one long fever dream to younger folks with no connection to that scene. And I fear some of the 60s references would be completely lost on younger Millennials and Gen-Zers.
But the music is still the music and the message is still the message and I don’t think there is any way anyone leaves that theater without making a lot of comparisons to what’s going on in our country today.
*Okay about the nudity: Here I am, seven, eight years old, and my mother is playing the Hair cast album. I don’t remember if it was on the back of the album or if it had liner notes or if I just overheard people talking about it, but I KNEW one of the big issues folks had with Hair was the nudity. Hell, we’re from Boston. In 1970, Boston famously closed it down and then went to the State Supreme Court to try and ban the show because of the nudity. So for my entire life I’ve had wild ideas of what the nudity consisted of in the show. Let’s just say that 8-year-old me would have been seriously disappointed. The nudity not only fit in the exact spot of the show where it appears, but it’s so quick and the lighting is so skillful that you barely see all that much. (And I promise you there were a multitude of old ladies really looking. 😊) The scene, along with every other scene in this production, was flawless and meaningful and if you can find your way to Watertown I truly suggest you do so and experience the love!