How will you spend your Thanksgiving break?
Last week, I danced on a Broadway stage in front of a packed audience. In case you were wondering, I don't have an enviable side job that no one knows about.
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I was simply part of the audience "Be-In" encouraged at the end of the Broadway revival of "Hair." Yes, that flower-power musical that was parodied in "The 40 Year Old Virgin." Yes, the free love, full-frontal nudity, hallucinogen-positive hippie-fest that premiered over 40 years ago.
I was a bit skeptical of the show before I went to see it. In WSN's original favorable review of "Hair" last year, Issie Lapowsky called it "your mother's musical," and indeed, my now moderately conservative mother did actually perform in "Hair" as a young teenager shortly after it premiered at the 92nd St. Y (minus the nudity, thank God). But even with all its age and some bad vibes thrown its way by theater critics, the "Hair" revival still survives, and even flourishes.
Joining the cast onstage for a reprisal of "Let the Sun Shine In" was freeing and delightful and even sort of thrilling. And it isn't the only thing "Hair" does differently. Cast members regularly sit and stand on stairs at the edges of the stage, singing and — in a nice touch — even whispering to each other, seemingly out of character. They perform in the aisles of the theater and approach audience members in the front rows, flirting with them, joining hands in a massive circle, giving out flowers, and even in my case, kissing me on the forehead.
This interactive component transports the audience members out of their normal complacency and their typical points of view. The fourth wall is repeatedly broken as attention-loving Berger (Will Swenson) sporadically addresses the audience directly. This is even incorporated into the script itself, as Berger's best friend, the Manchester-loving and emotionally conflicted Claude (Gavin Creel, who perfectly captures Claude's complexity) says to his mother at one point, "Mom, please, you're embarrassing the audience."
Visionary for its time, "Hair" retains much of its original fresh appeal, and while it no longer shocks, there are definitely some welcome surprises. The staging of the enormous ensemble (under Diane Paulus' artful direction) feels natural in a way the sincerity of the characters doesn't. The actors somewhat overplay their wide-eyed innocence and buoyant optimism, but the ideas behind this "concept musical" — one of the first on Broadway — remain as true and as relevant as ever. With its emphasis on community and its evocations of protest and civil disobedience, the musical reminds us that we live in dangerously disconnected times.
Though The Public Theater's production is decidedly more crowd-pleasing than experimental, I couldn't help but get swept up in the infectious good time the cast was having, mirrored by the appreciative audience. Even if it's manufactured entertainment in the form of watered-down agitprop, "Hair" does what most plays, and certainly most Broadway shows (outside of "Fela!"), do not. The show intensely involves the audience and evokes an enthusiastic, visceral response, elevating our mood before showing us life's cold reality in the final scene. Luckily, that's the point at which we're invited to come onstage to dance away the pain — and ourselves.
"Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical" is playing at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre (302 W. 45th St.). Tickets ($37-122) are available at telecharge.com or by calling 212.239.6200.
