I have a confession to make: Hair makes me giddy. Bouncing up and down, squealing like a pre-teen girl, willing to do anything for tickets giddy. I've already confessed to owning six different recordings of Hair, to naming my cat Frank Mills, and to being an all-out Hair freak. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out my Dos and Don'ts for seeing Hair. To say I was excited about seeing the touring cast of Hair this past Saturday at the Kennedy Center would be the grossest of understatements.
I saw the show last December in NYC with my mom. We drove up from DC for a matinee. It was magical. It really got my musical theater flame going strong, and is almost singlehandedly responsible for my current musical theater junkie status. When I left the Hirsschfeld Theatre, it had just begun to snow in Times Square (a magical continuation of the snow on stage at the end of the show), and I haven’t shut up about Hair since.
I got a great deal on my ticket to Hair at the Kennedy Center: I got my mom to pay for them. I went with both of my parents – it was my dad’s first time seeing the show! Before the show, I walked up to the merchandise booth on a mission: love beads. I bought the beads, put them on (the perfect complement to my “Let the Sun Shine In yellow” shirt), and proceeded to my seat. As always, I read the playbill very carefully. I love that the cast bios for Hair aren’t your typical playbill fare. Many include the performer’s astrological sign, love for their tribe, and marriage equality enthusiasm. Every playbill should be so cool.
Highlights of the show: the really hot blonde guy tribe member with glorious abs, having a tribe member play with my hair during the title song, seeing an actress bump into a banister while running around the darkened house (the beauty of live performance, folks!), Berger needing to use his back-up lighter (seriously, live theater is the best!), getting goosebumps while the cast walked by me singing “Let the Sun Shine In” a capella while walking out the back of the theater, and dancing on stage with the tribe.
It was so awesome being on stage at the Kennedy Center! I loved it so much! The cast members kept coming up to me, giving me hugs, dancing with me, and saying in-character things like “thanks for coming, sister.” There was a really old man (at least 80 years old) who came on stage, which was surreal. It was the perfect example of how Hair reaches all different people. As I was leaving the stage after the dance party, I stopped for a moment, turned back toward the back of the stage, and soaked in the moment, just absorbing the sheer awesomeness of the experience. One final tribe member gave me a big hug, chock-full of hippie love and said “thank you.” To this, I quickly replied, “thank YOU!” There simply aren’t words to describe the amazingness.
I returned to my parents, waiting in row AA, both exclaiming how cool it was to see me on stage. My dad said, “wow, you hugged the whole cast!” I was still beaming. I couldn’t stop squealing for at least the next hour. My mom laughed when I asked “can we come back for tonight’s performance?” She thought I was kidding. While we didn’t go back that night, she and I are hoping to go again later this month. I already have tickets to two performances when the tour rolls into Durham in May (and I’m buying a ticket to a third performance when I’m at the box office tonight), but the thought of waiting all the way until May to see Hair again makes me die a little inside.
An understated note of caution:
The cast:
Hair Tour Website - buy your tickets now!
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