The Star Online: Entertainment: Music

Posted: 28 Aug 2011 12:20 AM PDT

The musical Hair managed to capture an unforgettable moment in time, while consistently evolving itself.

I've never considered myself to be a fan of musicals. The idea of someone breaking into song in the middle of a movie didn't appeal to me when I was a child (which might be one reason why I stopped watching Tamil, Hindi and Disney movies) and there were only two musicals that I found tolerable when I was growing up ... My Fair Lady and The Sound Of Music.

Eventually, however, my exploration of rock got me into rock operas like The Who's Tommy, Pink Floyd's The Wall and Jeff Wayne's The War Of The Worlds and I began re-examining musicals that strayed into rock territory. It was then that I discovered the power and passion of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar, which to this day remains my favourite musical. This was an almighty and ultimately philosophical look at Christianity's founding figure and I was immensely drawn to it. Then there was the Rocky Horror Picture Show, a camp production about a transvestite mad scientist, which while hardly possessing the same depth, offered hedonistic humour in huge doses.

Recently, however, I've become obsessed with a musical that was very much of its era. Hair (not Hairspray, please!) was a bold attempt by Broadway actors to bring their profession and contemporary culture together.

Conceived against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, and built around the clash of cultures between bourgeois conservative society and the burgeoning hippie movement, it was an ever-evolving work that was conceived by actors Gerome Ragni and James Rado, and set to music by the the incomparable Galt MacDermot.

Keeping track of musicals can be really tough, particularly long-running ones that evolve and have many versions. For example, the cassette of Jesus Christ Superstar I bought was mislabelled ... it was actually the Ted Neeley/Carl Anderson 1973 motion picture version, but the liner notes and credits attributed to the Ian Gillan/Murray Head version. Can you imagine? For nearly 20 years, I was pretending to be the wrong guy!

Hair was even more confusing as the storyline changed constantly, and many songs were added and dropped over time. In fact, I'd have to say for a true Hair afficionado there are at least three crucial and very different versions of the musical that require attention.

Hmmm, make that five! The initial off-Broadway production was certainly the most raw. Ragni and Rado, who'd been working together since 1964, got together with the Grammy-winning MacDermott and came up with a loose script about an alien who wanted to be a movie director!

To add authencity to the musical, which was after all, subtitled Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical, they even plucked genuine hippies off the street to perform. The chaotic off-Broadway run in 1967 may have lasted just a few months but a cast recording has immortalised that period. While this incarnation was indeed a rough diamond, it contained some great jams and interesting performances.

Next, businenessman (and anti-war politician) Michael Butler got in the picture and took the show to Broadway.

Hair then underwent a thorough makeover, with a few songs being dropped and many more added to give the look we are most familiar with. The musical now began with Aquarius, and ran through a gamut of controversial songs like Hashish and Sodomy as well as classic pop like the title track and Good Morning Starshine, before concluding with a massive climax in The Flesh Failures/Let The Sunshine In. That concluding song is still one of the most uplifting pieces of music I can think of, somehow blending a helpless lyric with gospel-like exhortation and orgiastic fervour. The plot was now changed with Claude (in human form) and his friends Berger and Sheila, representing the dilemmas that their generation faced.

The Broadway version began a four-year run and was one of the cutting-edge musicals of its time, alongside Jesus Christ Superstar and Oh Calcutta! The Broadway Cast recording was a multi-platinum effort, and in 1969 pop group Fifth Dimension scored a chart-topping classic with a medley of the musical's opening and closing tunes Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In.

The Cowsills, Three Dog Night and Nina Simone also had hits with their versions of tracks from Hair.It appears that just about everyone and their mother claimed to have been in Hair at that time, but it can be confirmed that Diane Keaton and Meat Loaf were among the many performers who cut their teeth in a production that also starred Walker Daniels, Shelley Plimpton, Lynn Kellogg and Ronnie Dyson.

Over the course of time, there were so many changes, that an album called DisinHAIRited was released, containing songs that had been in the musical, but dropped at one time or another without making it to an official recording!

For much of the mid-1970s, Hair remained dormant, but a revival in the late 1970s led to a movie by acclaimed director Milos Forman, which starred Treat Williams, Beverley D'Angelo and John Savage, among others. Yet again there were changes to the plot, but the power of the anti-war message and the examination of the hippie lifestyle, while maybe not as sympathetic, certainly made for compelling viewing. I still maintain that its impossible to be unmoved by the final scene.

Most recently, Hair underwent another revival, and I've found myself swooning at the sheer talent and power of its cast. Names like Gavin Creel, Will Swenson, Sasha Allen and Allison Case may not be household names but they should be. What's amazing is that even though the times have changed so much, the message is as starkly relevant today as it ever was.

■ Martin Vengadesan, a music lover and history buff, combines his two passions in his fortnightly column. If you have any interesting stories you want him to research, do drop him a line.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Ahad, 28 Ogos 2011

The Star Online: Entertainment: Music

The Star Online: Entertainment: Music

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