Aquarius!!!

In my Oliviers post, I said that I was waiting for another show to start whilst writing my notes: bring back flower power, because it was Hair - the ahead-of-its-time, rock-and-roll and controversial musical, celebrating its 50th Anniversary. The Hope Mill production from 2016 transferred to he Vaults in London a year later, and is now on a UK tour, winning acclaim and awards all the way.

It was written by Galt Macdermot, Gerome Ragni and James Rado in 1967, the year it's set in, featuring a colourful group of hippies known as "The Tribe" as they protest the Vietman War and pray for peace - with a LOT of pot. It was radical for its time to say the least, discussing race, war, peace, freedom, nationality - and of course, features that famous nude scene.... 🙈

When it was being planned to open in London, it fell foul of censorship at the Lord Chamberlain's Office not just once but 3 times!! (Until 1968, playwrights had to submit their work to have it approved for things like language and sexual references). Hair finally opened just a few days after the law was repealed, and featured Paul Nicholas as Claude, as well as Elaine Paige and Tim Curry in some of their earliest roles.

I hadn't got a chance to see it at the Hope Mill, and Manchester Theatres did one of their £20 offers for the show - so I got a really good view for a decent price. So what did I think of it.... Errrrr? I'm not sure it was my cup of tea..

I'll get to that later, but let me say first that the stage was bright and colourful, and a lot of the songs were too - in fact, a lot of them are well known: Aquarius, Good Morning Starshine, I've Got Life (famously covered by Nina Simone) to name a few; the final number, Let The Sun Shine In, was particularly powerful. I may actually download a few of the numbers I enjoyed - but not the full album.

I have also GOT to mention that the number of talented people that they've managed to get onboard has to be commended, because the cast are incredible. In fact, they blew the roof off! Paul Wilkins lead the cast as the torn Claude, and it also featured X Factor finalist Marcus Collins (a former Seaweed of mine) and Jake Quickenden in a very surprising turn as the cocky Berger.

So you may now be asking, Chazza, why is it not your cup of tea, you've sounded so positive until now... Well much like a hallucination from too much weed (which is quite literally what half of the 2nd act WAS), some things in the story just didn't add up to me. It had a lot of those "What am I watching?" moments; even the nude scene was a really random plot point! It felt like "hey, forget what we were supposed to be doing *insert spoiler here*, let's strip!". Well, that's what it seemed like to me anyway.
Interestingly enough, I was sat next to a lady who had seen the film version multiple times and was a big fan of it - but she wasn't a fan of this production at all. I wonder if it was for a similar reason....? I haven't seen the film, so cannot fully say - let me know down in the comments how the film and stage show differ, if you've seen both. Also comment if you've seen it at the Hope Mill - a completely different space to the Palace.

Oh and can I also say - the sound almost ruined it! All over the place doesn't even cover it unfortunately. In the beginning of the 2nd half, the actor's mics kept cutting out, but the biggest problem was with the band: they were WAAAAY too loud!!! In fact, they almost drowned the actors, not allowing us to hear the words that this Tribe is preaching, and not hearing the harmonies that I KNOW are there. Instead, I left with my eardrums ringing! You're at the Palace Theatre guys, not the MEN! It's a shame, because that really did spoil it for me 😿

In conclusion, Hair wasn't bad, but I don't think it was the greatest thing I've ever seen either. I'm glad I've seen it, and I will still keep belting Easy To Be Hard in my singing lessons. But at the same time, I'm not jumping at the chance to become a member of the Tribe anytime soon....