Hair...

American Stage in the Park

St. Petersburg, FL

May 2, 2010

Let the sunshine in! The show that refused to comply with the Rodgers and Hammerstein formula to musical theatre makes a stop on the waterfront in St. Petersburg. Complete with a cavalcade of characters, emotional musical numbers and “did they just say that” entendres, Hair is a complete show performed with top notch local and national talent.

Hair is a rock musical born in the 1960’s full of protest, rebellion, free love and experimentation. We meet the culturally diverse cast of characters throughout the first handful of songs and learn a little bit about each of them along the way. Criticized since it’s inception, Hair contains themes of race relations, tribal associations, free love, drug use, pacifism, environmentalism and views of anti-establishment youth. Presented in a stream of consciousness setting, we meet and understand all of our characters as the show unfolds.

A host of characters encompass the musical as the show progresses. We meet Woof, Hud, Berger, Sheila, Marjorie and Claude among others. The show revolves around the free spirited nature of the cast and the reserved yet yearning Claude. When each of the cast members burn their draft card, Claude is hesitant and decides at the last moment to concede his decision. Claude states at the beginning of the show that he hails from Manchester, England sporting a bad James Bond accent; only to be reminded he is from Flushing, New York. The juxtaposition of anti-establishment youth and those only pretending was not hard to find. We learn later that Claude does join the Army and realizes his fear of becoming invisible.

I thoroughly enjoyed the performance of Hair at American Stage in the Park hosted in St. Petersburg. A mixed bag of audience members ranging from young to old all seemed to enjoy the show. Set in the 1960’s Vietnam torn America, many of the audience member my age may not connect wholeheartedly with the material, but Hair’s timeless charm and message endures to this day. I would easily argue tooth and nail with anyone in my generation that assumes this is a dated show with little relevance today. I’m sure they would have a good point or two, but challenging the establishment is what our country was founded upon. Kudos to the cast for bringing this ground breaking musical to life once again.

All in all, I was pleased and delighted to be an audience member for the show. Having a cast member sit next to me, hold my hand and rhetorically mutter “peace and love” made the drive across the water worth every mile. It was a pleasant change of pace to see a show on the waterfront on a blanket. American Stage does not disappoint with this Equity laden cast and top notch staging, I look forward to American Stage's next 'In the Park" production of RENT next year.

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Music of the Post - inkwell