Hair
by Claire J Rottenberg
"Hair" was the next rock and roll musical to
revolutionize musical theater. It represented the
open, free, "flower children" of the late 1960s and
it created a new kind of musical theater.
The creators of "Hair," James Rado and Gerome Regni,
began working on the play in 1965 but it took three
years before it was completed and ready for Broadway.
In 1966, they started a collaboration with composer
Galt MacDermot to turn their concept for the play
into a musical. The work was too radical for Broadway
producers, but Joseph Papp, director and producer of
the New York Shakespeare Festival, agreed to produce
"Hair" in Greenwich Village. This first production
was a disaster.
The play was revised and "Hair" opened off-Broadway
in 1967 for a limited six week run. Audiences loved
it but the critics did not. The rights to the play
were then purchased by businessman Michael Butler who
felt it could be a success on Broadway. "Hair"
didn't, however, go straight to Broadway. Instead, it
opened at a discoteque on 53rd Street and Broadway.
It played for 45 performances and then closed in
January, 1968.
"Hair" went through major revisions and 13 new songs
were added, including the future hit,
"Let
The Sun Shine In."
At this point, Papp left the production and Butler
took it to Broadway where "Hair" opened in
April,1968.
"Hair" was a smash hit on Broadway, running for four
years and 1,750 performances. Although audiences
loved it, the play did not win any Tony awards.
"Hair" created huge controversy with its themes of
drugs and sex and its loosely designed plot. The
score, also, went against the grain of musical
theater, with over 30 songs, many of which combined
rock music sounds with the sounds of African music.
The innovative score yielded three enormously popular
hit songs: "Aquarius,"
"Let
The Sun Shine In"
and "Good
Morning, Starshine."
A film adaptation of "Hair" was released in 1979. It
had a new, tighter screenplay, written by Michael
Weller, and it was directed by Milos Forman. New
choreography was created for the film by Twyla Tharp
and the film starred Treat Williams, John Savage and
Nell Carter. Significant changes were made for the
film version and the show's original creators, Rado
and Ragni, were dissatisfied with the final result
which, according to them, did not match the play's
original concept. The film did not receive any
Academy Award nominations and, although it was
initially successful with audiences, it did not
become a classic film like "Grease" did.