Hair- March 11 2011

Hair- March 11, 2011 8:00 PM

So when I purchased my season tickets for Broadway In Chicago, there was one show that I was apprehensive about from the beginning. Hair was that show. I knew two of the songs coming in and knew that it was about Hippies and sex and that there was a scene with nudity, or at least that's what my tickets told me. But inside me, my optimistic told me that I needed to have an open mind and accept the show for what it was. It might not be my favorite show in the world but at least have an open mind to what I would experience at the theatre that night. Well after 3 full days of simply fantastic choral music to a world of rock music and acting was a bit of a shock to the system.

Now on to the show, this show opens with one of the two songs that I actually knew. Phyre Hawkins and the rest of the cast open the show with a rousing version of Aquarius. Phyre Hawkins has a simply amazing voice and her piercing soprano voice carries over the ensemble in this version of the song. Simply amazing. One difficulty I had with this show is that you never get too invested in any one character or story line other than that of Paris Remillard's character Claude. The character lines were not strong and the story left a lot of different story lines open ended and left you questioning what really happened to them. One of the only clear Strong characters that I saw was in the humorous portrayal of Margaret Mead by Josh Lamon. His character was simply the funniest part of the show in my opinion. The strongest point of this show was its music. The vocals from the entire cast were simply amazing. Each person who even had a short solo line sang beautifully and the music was well mixed. Another simply wonderful part of this show was their audience interaction. Of course sitting up in the balcony, you don't expect much in the form of audience interaction. Cast members did come up to the balcony and even passed out littler flyers that entertained me and were a cool keepsake for the show overall.

Now if you truly know me, you know I'm not a prude or even all that offended by jokes in a sexual tone or anything to that extent. That being said, the sheer number of these lewd jokes and fake sex positions on the stage got to be a bit much even for me. Also the nude scene towards the end of the first act was just in my mind a little tasteless. Of course its not that much of a surprise as for much of the show the men are dancing without shirts or with little shirts. That may just be a little jealousy as their muscles were far better than mine, but in the end the sexual content of the show was a bit much for me in the end.

Overall, I'm glad that I have seen this show and will no longer be oblivious to what this show is, but it may well be the one and only time I do see the show as it just simply wasn't for me. This show runs in Chicago until March 20 and then continues to tour stopping in Boston for the next few weeks and then Hershey Pennsylvania.

Rating 5/10
Theatremandan