Hair continues to be an experience like no other

                I love Hair.  It’s no secret.  I’ve seen it twice before – once on Broadway at the Al Hirschfeld, and once on tour at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.  I can’t get enough of that show.  A number of songs from the cast recording are on my top played songs on my ipod.  My cat is named Frank Mills.  It’s safe to say I’m at least slightly obsessed with Hair.

                Needless to say, I was more than pleased when I found out that the national tour of Hair would be making a stop in North Carolina at the Durham Performing Arts Center.  I bought tickets to see it – twice.  I actually had a third ticket as well, but I had to leave for NYC that day, so the ticket went to a very deserving friend.  I saw it two nights in a row, and it was awesome.  This was one of the times that I was particularly glad that I enjoy going to the theater alone, because I met some awesome people.

                The first night I went, I was sitting near two sets of mother and daughter, who were some of the coolest people I've met at DPAC.  I chatted with them a lot about the show, about favorite songs, about what the experience of this production was like – they hadn’t seen it before, but were very familiar with it through press stuff and the cast recording.  We danced on stage together after the show.  At intermission, I chatted with an Elon musical theater student who grew up in the same area as me, and who is excited about Elon doing Hair next year.  I might even go see it.  I just love being around other theatergoers who are just as passionate about theater as I am, who react to me telling them that I’m about to go to NYC for a week and see seven Broadway shows with awe and envy rather than a diagnosis of insanity.  These are my people.

                The show was just as thrilling as ever, except even more so, because I was sitting right at the bottom of the steps that lead to the stage.  The actors were interacting with me so much, and I loved it!  During “White Boys,” one of the actors came and sat down on the floor right in front of me, leaning against my legs, wrapping his arm around my leg and kissing it.  What other show provides its audience with crazy experiences like that?  But the best part of those experiences is that they add to the authenticity of the show.  They make us, the audience, really become a part of the tribe, an integral piece of the action.  I don’t think if one of the actors in, say, Guys and Dolls, started kissing my leg, I would feel like it added to the show – I would wonder who let this actor stop taking his meds.  But Hair is so unique in the way that the audience is really an active part of the success of the show.  I love it.  One of the actors untied the shoes of the gentleman sitting next to me, and sitting so close, it was like that was part of the show that was just for the few of us who could see it.

                The second night, I was sitting in much the same seat, just on the opposite side of the row, the other side of the stage.  It was equally great.  It turns out that I was sitting next to the mother of one of the cast members.  That was so cool, to see a proud parent witness her child living out a dream.  Oh, and she had these awesome peace sign sandals, of which I am quite jealous.

                Some people I know were a little worried that seeing this production of Hair so many times might spoil the magic of it for me.  In fact, the opposite is true.  It just keeps getting better and better.  For one thing, the show is never the same twice.  There’s always new ad-libbing, new audience members, and something new to discover about the material.  This show is so rich and so deep, that I don’t think I could get to the bottom of it if I were to see it two hundred times.  So, if you haven’t seen it, so.  If you’ve already seen it, revisit it.  It’s like hanging out with an old friend – who happens to do drugs and get naked.