Posted on 03/26/2012 11:46:41 AM PDT by Borges
The last curtain had barely fallen before the feedback began pouring in.
Tim Rater, executive director of the Paramount Theatre, said that just hours after the opening show for the rock musical “Hair” concluded at the downtown Aurora theater, the emails began arriving.
And the phone calls, Facebook posts and verbal comments have continued ever since.
A few disgruntled patrons called the play — and the Paramount — “un-American,” “anti-Catholic,” “vulgar,” “smutty” and “grotesque,” Rater said. Some declared the show has no place in Aurora or at the Paramount. There were even a few who left at intermission and did not return.
Rater is, of course, referring to the fact that the hit musical — true to its Broadway roots — contains plenty of anti-establishment shots at parents, the American flag and even nuns — in addition to a certain amount of vulgar language and about 20 seconds of nudity.
The show’s producers had taken steps to warn audiences there would be, at one point, actors standing on stage in the buff. Big and little signs were posted throughout the theater. Automated emails went out, and brochures contained the information. And there have been plenty of stories in the media pointing to the fact the show may not be suitable for children.
“To the point of being a bit overkill,” Rater said.
Officials at the Paramount realized from the get-go that deciding to include the provocative “Hair” in their inaugural — and highly successful — Broadway series, might not be popular with some.
But Rater and crew wanted diversity. They wanted something fresh (this is the first production of “Hair” in the Chicago area, as the rights to the musical had just been released). And they wanted a season-ender audiences would not soon forget.
They got it. But for every negative comment, Rater said, they’ve received 12 that were positive. And he offers this email as “more indicative of the overwhelming feedback” coming in:
“I wasn’t prepared for the powerful and visceral reaction of being thrust back to 1968 ... . And, although I cried at the beginning and the end, I smiled all the way through the rest of the marvelous show.”
Rater calls the production so powerful “you get lost to it.” In fact, the 37-year-old theater man is so high on the show — which is also getting rave reviews from professional critics — he considered allowing his 8-year-old to see it.
The adult subject matter would go over her head, he said. And as far as the nudity is concerned, “it would take away some of the mystery.”
In the end, he said he decided against taking her because he didn’t want others in the audience to feel uncomfortable with a child around.
And it was created by outsiders (to the hippie movement) who saw the Counterculture as a niche they could market to. It worked.
Frank Zappa observed, that in the 60s, it was the “old men with cigars” that signed a lot of the bands that ultimately defined the counter-culture. And then in the 70s, the young hipsters started picking the bands, because “since they were young, they ‘knew’ better what the youth wanted.” And the music sucked as a result.
Read Jonathan Leaf's "Politically Incorrect Guide to The Sixties." Leaf confirms what I thought at the time. The percentage of Boomers who were actually hippies was about one percent of the population. The hippies made the most noise, so they got the most pub. And now as then, most members of the media identified with the hippies. Naturally, today everybody thinks most Boomers were hippies when most of us were living pretty unglamorous, anti-hippy lives. Like a lot of other people, loved the music, hated the drug scene.
Want to see something even dumber, go sit through “RENT”.. my God what an aweful play...
Music was okay, but the actual play, a complete waste, not 1 single amoung of personal growth by any character throughout what is supposed to be over a year of their lives. Its an ode to unapologetic bohemianism even if it winds up getting you killed, absolutely stupid.
"LEASE" was better
"EVERYONE HAS AIDS!"
My grandma and my dog 'Ol Blue
The Pope has got it and so do you
C'mon everybody we got quilting to do
We gotta break down these baricades, everyone has
AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS
AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS
AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS
AIDS!
“Hair” should have remained buried in its decade long past. It did not need a “revival”.
I was 8 in 1970, so the hippies were a mystery to me. They seemed pretty strange, and I knew my dad hated them.
Anyway, in 1971 my buddy created what may be the greatest clay hot plate in human history. It depicted a long-haired rock group labeled “The Freaks.” In 1982, his mother lost this magnificent artwork, a crime for which she has never been forgiven.
It was a great movie.
***********************************************************
She asks me why
I'm just a hairy guy
I'm hairy noon and night
Hair that's a fright
I'm hairy high and low
Don't ask me why
Don't know
It's not for lack of break
Like the Grateful Dead
Darling
Gimme head with hair
Long beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming,
Streaming, flaxen, waxen
Give me down to there hair
Shoulder length or longer
Here baby, there mama
Everywhere daddy daddy
Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair
Let it fly in the breeze
And get caught in the trees
Give a home to the fleas in my hair
A home for fleas
A hive for bees
A nest for birds
There ain't no words
For the beauty, the splendor, the wonder
Of my...
Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair
I want it long, straight, curly, fuzzy
Snaggy, shaggy, ratty, matty
Oily, greasy, fleecy
Shining, gleaming, streaming
Flaxen, waxen
Knotted, polka-dotted
Twisted, beaded, braided
Powdered, flowered, and confettied
Bangled, tangled, spangled, and spaghettied!
Oh say can you see
My eyes if you can
Then my hair's too short
Down to here
Down to there
Down to where
It stops by itself
They'll be ga ga at the go go
When they see me in my toga
My toga made of blond
Brilliantined
Biblical hair
My hair like Jesus wore it
Hallelujah I adore it
Hallelujah Mary loved her son
Why don't my mother love me?
Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair
Hair has been performed regionally and on tours fairly constantly since its inception. It’s very popular.
Don't know where you are but, in my neck of the woods (southwest), Hair is a relic of the past . . . . . . and STAYS there!
It’s not a question of where but of performance history. Hair is performed all the time and not just in the U.S.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.