'Hair' Gets Rave Review in Beverly Hills Newspaper

MUSICAL MAGIC

We saw a wonderful remounting of the Broadway classic, “Hair,” on May 30th, a presentation by the UCLA Department of Theater at the Little Theater in Macgowan Hall. This particular production had a winning combination of directorial insight, substantial talent and pure energy.

To begin with, “Hair,” more than many other musicals, benefits from the perspective of time. It was originally jingoistic and an attack on 1960’s America. The direction of Mel Shapiro, while not shying away from its drug culture essence, does make the material more credible by subtle shifts of emphasis. There are some scenes where the horrors of drug use are hinted at, where the nightmare of living on the street is depicted, albeit in passing. While the “libretto” is staunchly heterosexual, Shapiro introduces a casual and non-judgmental bisexuality by having boys dance with each other and women fondle breasts. By using the talented, and very pregnant, Elizabeth Alegria in the key role of Jeanie, he underscores the romantic hopefulness of a whole generation going to seed. This approach, when combined with the greater focus on character by authors Gerome Ragni and James Rado in the musical’s second act, heightened the tragedy of the otherwise celebratory play’s conclusion. It was at times hard to determine where direction ended and choreography began, so intrinsic to the vision was the work of Nicholas Gunn, which was seamlessly executed.

The lighting design of Jane Hall was top of the line professionalism, the costume design of Jeannique Prospere realistic and not lampooning. Many “bravos” should go to Brian Mohr for the sound design, which was perfectly – and I mean perfectly – balanced. The back up band kept things moving along at a punchy tempo, and especially the trumpeting of Rhys Henson, Michael Schwartz and Larry Lippold was effectively employed and extremely insightfully played, as was the tromboning of Kerry Farrell. It was all kept coherent and briskly conducted by musical director Gary Busby.

The acting was uniformly fine and the cast well chosen. With such an outstanding ensemble effort, one is hesitant to single any one out, but the vocals of Naomi Elizabeth Jones and, more than any other, Marc William Fellner, were as good as one would hear on or off Broadway. Fellner’s work was very strong. Most of the other voices were of Broadway musical quality, although some were better than that. But it was the overall talent of its ensemble that helped make this show light years better than almost any other stage musical seen in Los Angeles in recent memory, regardless of the venue. And this talent was epitomized by the spunky and saucy work of Monica Quintanilla: baring her all, impersonating Abraham Lincoln or dancing across the stage as one of the Supremes, her presence was to be felt everywhere. While not featured in a role, her abilities announced themselves in an unmistakable manner that elevated the entire production and made it as well rounded as it was.

Which brings us to the source material. On the downside, the “libretto,” such as it is, is really nothing more than a stringing together of scenes meant to be just a fig leaf for the music as it rolls along. Consequently, characterizations become mere poses; points – or vignettes – are made and then discarded. Only the developing, if not entirely rationally credible, conflict of Claude keeps the action together.

But the musical score of Galt MacDermot is immortal. Synthesizing the whole spectrum of American popular music into one score is an incredible accomplishment. Melodic inventiveness never ends and MacDermot truly finds the tribalism underlining our musical landscape. It is legitimately toe tapping and energized the cast in an almost magical way. MacDermot’s music itself is brilliant and redeems whatever dramatic shortcomings the story might have.

If this is any indication of what the next generation holds for us in the world of musical theater, then a whole world of artistic accomplishment lies before us. And we will have Mr. Shapiro and UCLA to thank for it.

Related Program

Keywords

"mel shapiro" "nicholas gunn" 

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