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BY LUIS BUENAFLOR
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Friday, December 1, 2017
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“Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revelation
and the mind’s true liberation”…
IF YOU think we’re talking about moi’s hair or rather what’s left of it, we’re not. This is about what is probably the most controversial Broadway musicale first staged in the late ‘60s. It was controversial then, it still is today.
Yes, I know I’m a hairy guy, I’m hairy high and low but this time we’ll talk about other people’s hair – its symbolism for freedom and free expression.
Yes, yes, moi is an ageing hippie and we’ll talk about what a hippie is or was and how they changed the world. As what moi has said before, “what was revolutionary then is now mainstream.”
So what is a hippie then?
According to that free online encyclopedia:
A hippie is member of a counterculture originating in the United States in the 1960s, typically characterized by unconventional dress and behavior, communal or transient lifestyles, typically having long hair, opposition to war, and liberal attitudes toward sexuality and the use of marijuana and psychedelic drugs.
Moving on…Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counterculture and sexual revolution of the late 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement. The musical’s profanity, its depiction of the use of illegal drugs, its treatment of sexuality, its irreverence for the American flag, and its nude scene caused much comment and controversy. The musical broke new ground in musical theater by defining the genre of “rock musical”, using a racially integrated cast, and inviting the audience onstage for a “Be-In” finale.
Hair explores many of the themes of the hippie movement of the 1960s. Theatre writer Scott Miller described these as follows:
“The youth of America, especially those on college campuses, started protesting all the things that they saw wrong with America: racism, environmental destruction, poverty, sexism and sexual repression, violence at home and the war in Vietnam, depersonalization from new technologies, and corruption in politics. … Contrary to popular opinion, the hippies had great respect for America and believed that they were the true patriots, the only ones who genuinely wanted to save our country and make it the best it could be once again. … [Long] hair was the hippies’ flag – their … symbol not only of rebellion but also of new possibilities, a symbol of the rejection of discrimination and restrictive gender roles. It symbolized equality between men and women… The hippies’ chosen clothing also made statements. Drab work clothes (jeans, work shirts, pea coats) were a rejection of materialism. Clothing from other cultures, particularly the Third World and native Americans, represented their awareness of the global community and their rejection of US imperialism and selfishness. Simple cotton dresses and other natural fabrics were a rejection of synthetics, a return to natural things and simpler times. Some hippies wore old World War II or Civil War jackets as a way of co-opting the symbols of war into their newfound philosophy of nonviolence.”
The staging of Hair was banned in the Philippines during martial law although a much censored and watered down version was staged and it was largely ignored and forgotten.
Now on the 50th anniversary of the first staging on Broadway, Hair, the first ever tribal love-rock musical on Broadway, is the yearend grand musicale of Repertory Philippines’ (REP) 2017 season. Relive the rocking spirit of the ‘60s in this iconic production from Nov. 17 to Dec. 17 at the Onstage Theatre, Greenbelt 1.
We had the privilege of watching Hair last Sunday at the Onstage Theatre in Greenbelt 1 and it was 1969 all over again. This ageing hippie reminisced the heady days of “flower power” and of course “sex, drugs and rock and roll.”
To the credit of Repertory Philippines the show was completely faithful to the original Broadway staging of Hair, from the music of course, the authentic hippie clothes, the controversial profanity-laced dialogue and the final scene of Act 1 where the cast took off their clothes and faced the audience completely naked.
Yup, Primo Pablito Araneta, Limuel Celebria and Dan Cartagena, it was a full frontal nude scene.
The finale was the cast inviting the audience to join them on stage for a “Be-In” which took audience participation to a higher (pun intended) level.
As the late Joe Cocker sang in Woodstock, “Let’s Get High.” (brotherlouie16@gmail.com/PN)
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