Loooonnnngggg overdue...

I actually started writing this entry about 2 weeks ago. So I'm over a month behind! Instead of quickly jotting down my Little Night Music thoughts, I decided to post what I had on Hair. More to follow soon:

Wow, I’ve been seriously shirking my blogging duties lately. I hadn’t realized three (!!) weeks had passed since my last Broadway outing, a double header of Hair and A Little Night Music, and even longer since my last post. I guess I’ve just been busy with the start of Wedding Singer rehearsals and summer (yes, summer) auditions for Pineda Conservatory. Is it really that time again?

Hair was a major disappointment. Maybe I was suffering from heightened expectations, but I just didn’t love it (and I wanted to). I’ve always found parts of the score fun, but as a whole I don’t think it’s dramatically that interesting (the show, not the topic). The first act is littered with throw-away songs that don’t do much except create atmosphere - which is totally legitimate, except you don’t need five of them. The best stuff is the more emotionally substantial material (duh), the songs / scenes dealing with generational conflict, the war, relationships. For me, a 90-minute, one act version cutting most of the first act would be dramatically and emotionally more satisfying than the current two act format. I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I got bored with the audience interaction shtick after about 20 minutes, though I did find Will Swenson to be enormously charming. How the overly preened and squeaky clean Ace Young will ever fill those grungy shoe-less feet is beyond me. But hey, you never know.

I do give props to the cast for giving a ridiculously energetic performance in a less-than-full house (I got fifth row center tickets the day of the show). Swenson also deftly handled annoying latecomers with sarcasm and light-hearted chiding. Don’t even get me started on the chatty audience members sitting around us. I know, it’s Hair, but come on. Ever hear of whispering? In spite of audience nuisance, the cast does succeed in capturing the communal feel and ensemble inherent in the material. I’ll even go as far as to say that the staging of the last 20 minutes is worth the Broadway ticket price.

Photo: Joan Marcus