Editorial Reviews

Since it first appeared off-Broadway at the Public Theater in October 1967, preparatory to a four-year Broadway run that began the following April, Hair, "the American tribal love-rock musical," seemingly has been on the boards somewhere, defying the conventional wisdom that, at best, it was a show of its time and place. On the contrary, it has turned out to be a time capsule that works just as well as a period piece as it did as a topical one, in part because its ripped-from-the-headlines quality has transitioned smoothly into a ripped-from-the-history-books one, and in part because the issues it raises, including war, environmentalism, drug use, and the conflict between straight and hip cultural values, continue to be timely. And its place has turned out to be everywhere, with productions all over the world, in part because its brand of pop/rock/soul music has continued to be universally popular. Yet, except for a brief revival in 1977, it has not been seen again in New York until the Public Theater again mounted it, first for a few concert performances in 2007, then for a summer run as part of the free Central Park theater series in 2008, and finally back on Broadway, starting on March 31, 2009. For this production, the surviving creators, composer Galt MacDermot and co-lyricist/librettist James Rado (his partner Gerome Ragni died in 1991), have returned, examining various scripts of the ever-evolving musical revue it was and refurbishing it without updating it. This Hair is a bit more concerned with dotting the i's and crossing the t's in terms of references that might not be clear to a 2009 audience. But MacDermot and Rado also have restored some of the show's early, off-Broadway flavor. MacDermot, who swamped the 1979 movie adaptation with disco-derived funk rhythms, is more restrained and appropriate in his revisions of his orchestrations this time, and Rado has only fleshed out a few things. The result is, perhaps necessarily, not nearly as satiric as in 1968, although it is sometimes "non-traditional" in other ways. ("My Conviction" wasn't sung by a female impersonator in the '60s, as it is here.) The cast is a talented bunch, and they sing the score well. That score, which was always Hair's secret weapon, remains just as tuneful as ever, carrying the lyrics and the performers along, particularly here, as played by a hot band featuring guitarist Steve Bargonetti and drummer Bernard Purdie. (Two days before the release of this album on June 9, 2009, Hair won the Tony Award for best musical revival of the season.) William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

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