Musical Notes: Hair

One of my earliest memories of seeing a musical is seeing Hair at the Media Theatre.  I was thirteen years old…my mom lied about my age to get me a ticket.  It hadn’t been a good day.  I was struggling with mental health issues, and I learned I had a C in English.  But I went in and everything felt better.  The Media Theatre is a lovely theatre, and they went all out.  There were hippies handing out leaflets and a general feel of something amazing brewing.  I was so excited to see a musical my mom had been raving about for as far back as I could remember.

Hair is basically about hippies during the Vietnam War.  Honestly, there’s not much of a plot line, but that doesn’t take away from its brilliance.  It’s fun, it’s catchy, and there are lots of dancing hippies.  I would consider it somewhere between a rock musical and a classic musical.  It’s pretty much impossible for me to not sing along.  And there is so, so much love in it.  I think that’s one of the most special parts about it…it’s about humanity and uncertainty and love.

The music is incredibly fun.  I’m literally singing in my head as I write this post.  There are some connections, but a lot of standalone songs that are still phenomenal.  It’s also impossible to not dance while listening to this soundtrack.  It’s one of my favorite ones to put on while I’m cooking, because singing and dancing around the kitchen is so fun, and feels so natural.  I’ve danced with the hippies onstage, which I will definitely cite for my absolute love of dancing to the finale.

Along with all these amazing songs is a really strong message.  We’re watching Vietnam protestors…they believe in love and not war.  There are parts where characters burn their draft cards (super illegal in those times, by the way).  There’s a part where one of the characters fabricates his time in the induction center, trying to prove himself to his friends.  This was a class of people who did drugs and had a lot of sex…it was all a part of their culture.  Even though it is a fun musical, there’s a lot of layers to it.  Claude, one of the main characters, is extremely conflicted, as I imagine many hippies were.

There’s a lot of controversy surrounding Hair, that I’ve heard over the years.  Which is reasonable, because there is a lot of controversy in the show.  When my mom and I saw it over twenty years ago, she had to lie about my age (I was thirteen, and they were only allowing sixteen and over) because of things like the content, and something that seems to always come up…the nudity.  So many people have so much to say about how the nude scene is staged.  I guess there’s not a ton of nudity in musicals (just wait until I get to Spring Awakening), but Hair pushes a lot of boundaries.  And honestly, in all the times I’ve seen this show, the nude scene has been done tastefully and appropriately.

This show is about a generation very different from mine.  There’s so many combined cultures that make up the group of hippies and friends in Hair.  We see drug culture, sex culture, war culture…we see how much they love each other, but also have no idea what love is.  Of course, even now there are these things, but Hair captures a moment in time that can never, and should never, be forgotten.  It’s a perfect picture into a world that really did exist once upon a time, and made a giant impact on the future…including our present day.  Some things are strange and different (draft cards), but there are other things that we can watch and think…hey, me too.

Last Musical Notes post, I talked about RENT.  And I’ve got to say…I don’t think RENT would have existed if it wasn’t for Hair.  RENT reinvented the rock musical.  Hair was one of the first to start that.  Off-Broadway in 1967 and on Broadway in 1968, Hair did something that had never really been done before.  We definitely wouldn’t have the modern musical if it wasn’t for Hair.  We wouldn’t see shows that show sex or drugs or anything controversial.  Hair was ahead of its time, and paved the way for so much more musical theatre.

I have seen Hair four times, and I could see it a million more times.  It’s absolutely one of my favorite musicals, and will always have a special place in my heart.  I want to be thirteen again, seeing this show for the first time.  I want to be nineteen, seeing it under the night sky in Central Park.  And I want to be in my early twenties, seeing it on Broadway.  Every time I’ve seen this show, it was different, and it was magical.  Honestly, I think that’s a lot of what there is to Hair…it’s always going to bring out something new in you, and you’re always going to love it.