Hair Theatre Breaks – time travel to a land that never was….. Hair is back in the West End and we can travel back in time for a theatre break to that heady, hairy place that was the Summer of Love. We’ve all heard the cliche that if you remember the 60s you weren’t there, well, the new production of the 60s hit musical Hair takes us back to one version of that time of flower power, beads and illicit substances.
Last Tuesday night we had the chance to see the lively new Broadway production of Hair. I was really looking forward to the show as it’s been on my wish list ever since I heard it was coming (More about Hair). Of course, this cast of bright energetic young Americans weren’t even born when Hair arrived in London for the first time. (I worry that just possibly neither were some of their parents – moving swiftly on!) For them Hair is a period piece from a time as exotic and unfamiliar as the 1920s. I’m old enough to remember the 60s, or to be more precise, I was trying to re-create them for most of the early 70s. At first tiny details that weren’t ‘quite’ right jarred slightly. A few minutes in though I suddenly realised that being ‘right’ really didn’t matter. I was watching a wonderful, energetic interpretation of a kind of fairy tale. We weren’t in the 60s at all. We were in Neverland with a group of Lost Boys, Peter Pan (Burger) and the rest of the cast. So I stopped worrying about historical accuracy and relaxed into a most enjoyable evening of music, dance and humour. The music of the show is wonderful, from the iconic start of The Age of Aquarius via Good Morning Starshine to the final auditorium wide singing of Let the Sun Shine in we are swept along by a succession of huge hits and tiny masterpieces like Frank Mills. If you can’t get to London to see the show buy the album on Amazon – you won’t regret it! Who Will Enjoy Hair? Looking round the audience, and we got a better look at them than you usually do as a huge number of people made it onstage for the final song, Hair seems to appeal to all ages. There were a few aging ex-hippies (you know who you are!) but just about every age from 14 or so up was represented. Hair does of course famously have full frontal (actually rather tasteful and touching) nudity, references to drug use and quite explicit (and not at all tasteful, but fun!) sexual references. You might think twice about taking your younger children or your aging aunt. On second thoughts aging aunts are an unpredictable bunch and can have quite interesting pasts! Book Hair Theatre Breaks
| 