Review: Hair. at Theatre Royal

Christchurch Press 26 January 1994
Review: Hair. at Theatre Royal

Hair, presented by Christchurch Operatic at the Theatre Royal. 18 April to 2 May, 8pm. Running time 2 hours 40 minutes. Reviewed by Alan Scott.

Hair is back, is immensely enjoyable, and stands the test of time. although only just. Seen through history's glass, darkly, it's self indulgent, swaggering recklessness seems, in the face of AIDS, drug addiction, and a hundred more Vietnams, to be so much vainglory.

Shorn by time of its power to shock, its dramatic impact lessened by the passage of events, the thinly plotted first half, spoilt by a sound imbalance and swallowed words from some singers which made the songs hard to follow, threatens to drag the show into a. tacky commercialism.

Then you realise that here's no great matter, that the time it reached Broadway it was already a parody of itself, and that's OK, man, whatever you're into. For in the second half the cast play a Winder like there is no tomorrow. A magnificently crafted exuberance, hi-tech wizardry, superlative direction and a stunning commitment to the concept combine to knock the audience back in t heir seats.

Whatjoy there was, what life, fun, and laughter. The cast captures so admirably that moment which we all find then lose, as they expressed theatrically what Wordsworth put in lines after the French Revolution: "Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, and to be young was very heaven".

This is the meaning of Hair, if ever a musical can be said to have a meaning. It's not a 60s protest, more a universal song to freedom from those who would live beyond society's iron mask, who would dance, hands waving free, on the edge of oblivion.

See Hair and enjoy it. It's a real groove. There is no finer plaudit.