Hair Tour Deconstruction... as promised. ^_^ (1/3)

[eirenical]

12:51 AM -- OK, before I even get to the review/deconstruction, I need to mention a little puzzle fun that I've been watching over the last day or so on Twitter that you all might appreciate. *snerts*

#1: gavincreel Gavin Creel
why was i an a-hole to someone in my dream last night? that freaks me out. does that mean my subconscious is really a jerk? that sucks.
24 Oct

((Have I mentioned how absolutely adorable it is that he actually worries about things like that? ^_^))

#2: AudraEqualityMc Audra McDonald
@gavincreel no sweets. It's the only place that u can actually b an a-hole. Ur 2 nice in real life. Did u c my man& my wee posse yesterday?
24 Oct

#3: gavincreel Gavin Creel
tonight I MOVE FORWARD with marc kimelman & the beautiful artists of toronto to help performers dealing with cancer. go marc!
9 hours ago via web

#3: Facebook reminds me that today (10/26) is Will Swenson's birthday. ((Happy Birthday, Will!! :D))

Do you get it? Do you see the puzzle picture? ^_^

Concert for cancer, my ass. Audra totally sent Gavin to Toronto as a birthday present for Will! XD

And now... I return you to the review. ^_^

*deep breath* OK. I think I'm finally ready to do this and I hope I haven't forgotten too much. O_O There are nine single-spaced, 10 point font pages of Hair review that I have to post, so I'm going to break it up into three sections: the reviews of "everyone except the triad," ^_^, the reviews of "the Triad, individually," and the review of Paris and Steel as Claude and Berger and the dance party. That way it won't overwhelm anyone... including me. O_O

Enjoy...?

First things first -- I loved it. Loveloveloved. The casting choices were all fantastic and the minute changes that they made to places in the script only enhanced what was happening on stage. It felt fresh and new and in a very real way, I felt like I'd just come home after far too long an absence and I spent most of the show trying not to cry from that sheer, overwhelming feeling of peace and belonging. By the time it was over, I was so overwhelmed I was shaking. ^_^

So, with that out of the way, allow me to perform a little deconstruction and look at characters one at a time. ^_^

1) Phyre Hawkins as Dionne -- Wow. Just... wow. I will be the first to admit that I adore Sasha Allen's voice and wasn't sure anyone could replace her without lessening the impact of the character. I think she is fantastic in that role and her voice is like a warm, rich velvet. I missed her very much when she left, especially as her opening performance sets the standard by which people judge the show. She's the first impression you have of Hair and by her voice a fan can be made or lost in that first moment. Phyre Hawkins... *_* You have my undying love. She stepped right into Sasha Allen's shoes and owned Aquarius from the very first note. She has a sultry, seductive quality to her voice that suits Dionne's character perfectly with the exception that instead of standing out, she blends into the Tribe like she belongs there. You'll note -- I think this is a good thing. It's a slightly different interpretation of the character and it adds to the beautiful harmony that is the Tribe. ^_^

Here is the other thing worthy of note about Phyre Hawkins (and I almost hate to even bring it up, because it's not even close to the most important part of her fabulous performance, but I think it bears mentioning)... she is not a twig. She is curvy, she is voluptuous, (and you'll pardon me for saying so about another girl, but...) she has a damn fine ass. In short... she is real. To me, Dionne has always been the sexiest character on that stage. It's part of her function, from her rich voice to her unabashed comfort with who she is as a person. And I adore that they cast a larger woman in that role. What a message that sends! Here she is: Dionne, the very embodiment of sexy... and she's not a size 0. ^________^ I love it.

2) Kacie Shiek as Jeanie -- Kacie Shiek... OMG, Kacie Shiek. I missed you so hard, I don't even have the words. Seeing you back on that stage was one of the finest moments of the afternoon for me. *_* Before I get into my breakdown of what I love about Kacie's Jeanie... first let me expound on something else I love about Kacie Shiek, herself: her voice. She has an extremely unique voice -- it's beautiful, that's for damned sure, but it's more than that. I've describe her before as being the vocal equivalent of a character actor and I still can't think of a better way to say it. She does these things with her voice that are completely unique and just unbelievably well-suited to Jeanie's character and... gah! If you've heard her sing "Air" you know exactly what I'm talking about. And in spite of all those vocal acrobatics and silly-isms, it doesn't make the character overly goofy or ridiculous. It just fits. Honestly, I think Jeanie is one of the hardest characters in the whole Tribe to play. It's very easy to play her as a weak-willed, lovesick little girl who is blown about by the forces of Fate. It's very easy to play her as someone who needs to be looked after constantly so she doesn't wander out into traffic. It's very easy to play her as tragic, as always thinking "Woe is me, my life is just one terrible sadness after another." It's not easy to take all the elements in the character that make those choices appear appropriate and make her strong because of them.

Kacie's Jeanie is so much more than the sum of her parts. She is often high, often out of touch with reality, that is true. She got pregnant by a man she didn't love, didn't even like, probably because she was too high to say "No," that's true, too. She is desperately in love with a man who will never love her that deeply in return. Her parents abandoned her when she got stranded in New York, refused to even send her enough money to get home. It's easy to see why this character could spend the show tragic, woeful and out of touch. But Kacie doesn't interpret her that way. She looks beneath the surface of Jeanie's circumstances and finds a deeper truth there that is so often missed: in order to survive all of that and not break, Jeanie must be the strongest character on that stage. How may of us could go through what Jeanie has and still maintain a positive outlook? I couldn't. I'm not that strong. But Kacie's Jeanie... she just takes it all in stride. It happened? It's karma. Accept it and move on, deal with the consequences. He doesn't love you the way you do him? Fine. Just keep loving him anyway. You know that love isn't always a two way street and the more of it you put out into the world, reciprocated or not, the better a place it will be. Your parents don't want you anymore? Who needs them? You've built a new family around yourself and you are their mother... and you would never abandon them. You watch out for every one of them, from being the one to realize that Claude isn't going to burn his draft card to being the one who worries over Crissy's obsession with Frank Mills. Who in your circumstances wouldn't want to escape reality? So, you choose to be high, you choose to be in touch with a higher plane and try to bring all your friends with you to transcend the harsh reality of your existence. And yet through all of it, she maintains this core of inner strength and love and goodness. She maintains a positive outlook and tries to buoy all of her friends right up there with her. She isn't naïve. She does know the score... but she chooses to live her life above it. I have missed that dimension to her character. I have missed it hardcore. Thank you for bringing it back, Kacie!

3) Darius Nichols as Hud -- OMG, another original cast member that I have missed with a passion. First off... the man is just gorgeous. Honestly, there are times I think that it should be illegal for him to wear a shirt. The man is sex on a stick and his voice... oh G-d, I wish I could roll up in it on a cold winter day. That line about, "Look out, there's a train comin'." O. M. G. And the bit where he torments poor Hubert... :D Love it! *sheepish grin* *coughs* But that superficiality aside, he also brings a unique perspective to Hud's character and it initially took gildedmuse to point it out to me. He is not just a militant black who is made of sex. He is much more than that. If Jeanie is the Tribe's mother... then Hud is their father. He looks out for them, tries to protect them, even from themselves. He looks after the girls, tries to look after Claude (and you can see the inner angst every time he fails), hell he even tries to protect Berger... and Berger tolerates it, even seeks it out.

The Gay... Point #1 -- Which brings me to an interesting side point... I love this cast for so many reasons, but one of them is (surprise, surprise!) that the gay is even more obvious in the touring cast than it was in the original revival cast... and I didn't think that was possible! XD Point #1: there was definitely something going on between Hud and Berger. They kept having these cute little moments all over the stage, especially centered around when Claude was going to do something that would get Berger upset. Hud would just be there, intensely meeting Berger's eyes, or gripping his hand... and let's not forget the moment when they kissed with nothing but Berger's draft card between them. ^_~ Love it!

4) Matt DeAngelis as Woof -- Loved him! His Woof was purely his own but managed to incorporate my favorite elements of Bryce's Woof and Jason Wooten's Woof. He came off as innocent with an edge of naughty. Mostly he seemed like he needed looking after and he definitely had the lost puppy feel to him, but there were moments when his eyes would shift and you just knew he was picturing someone with their clothes off... and consequently doing something naughty to them. XD And the man has a beautiful voice, too, let's not forget that. ^_^

The Gay... Point #2 -- And just like there was something going on between Hud and Berger, there was totally something going on between Claude and Woof, too. They kept finding each other and hugging and dancing around with each other. ^_^ It was adorable.

5) Allison Guinn as Mother and Buddadhalilama -- I love Allison Guinn. ^_^ I miss her "principal/teacher/whatever she was" in Berger's expulsion scene, but she was awesome in her two new roles. Her Buddha-old man shake was freakin' classic! And I think her "Mother" came to Flushing by way of Jersey... or maybe Brooklyn. ^_^ All those amusing moments she shares with Claude right before "I Got Life" were awesomely drawn out and even more comical. ^_^ Loved it! And as a nice side touch... I love how when Gavin and Kyle played Claude (both blonde), they had blonde mothers (Megan Lawrence and Rachel Bay Jones) and now that Paris is playing Claude (a brunette), his mother is also a brunette. Coincidence or careful planning? You decide! ^_~

6) Kaitlyn Kiyan as Crissy -- I was not as enamored of this as I thought I would be, but probably not for the reasons you think. First off, Crissy has... to put it nicely, she has an innocence to her that makes her feel like a little girl. Kaitlyn Kiyan is a woman. She's too mature, both in attitude and voice, to pull off Crissy entirely easily. That could be inexperience with the role, but only time will tell on that. The other reason I wasn't totally thrilled was this: OMG, I missed her solos in "Hare Krishna." I missed them hard. O_O She has an unbelievably gorgeous operatic voice and hearing it soar up and over everyone else's notes was always a high point of the show for me. "Frank Mills" just doesn't show off her voice, as well. It's too small a song and doesn't give her voice the freedom it needs to show off its versatility. It's kind of a shame, really. :( That being said, there was a moment that I really enjoyed because I never noticed it before...

The Gay... Point #3? -- When Crissy delivers her line before Margaret Mead's song and gets shooed away, Josh had always just booped Vanessa's nose and smiled at her. She would then make an "Oops!" face and run away. With Kaitie Kiyan, Josh had already booped Claude's nose (OMG, adorable!) and instead said, "If we're talking, we're not listening." Kaitlyn Kiyan then got a horrified/sad look on her face and ran over to cuddle with Jeanie. I do love me those Crissy/Jeanie moments! ^_^

Which brings me around to...

7) Josh Lamon as Margaret Mead -- OMG, I adore this man. Just lovelovelove him. His portrayal of Margaret Mead always make me want her for a grandmother. ^_^ And he controls that audience like a teacher with a kindergarten class. I especially love this part: after he says, "Be free! No guilt! Be whoever you are. Do whatever you want to do!" the audience always erupts into cheers. He smiles through it for a little while, then raises his hands and says, "Settle down. Settle down." Then everyone instantly calms! ^_^ Once everyone is calm, he adds, "Just as long as you don't hurt anybody. Right?" and everyone erupts again. ^_^ Also, as mentioned above, he used to boop Crissy's nose. He doesn't anymore. The bit I eluded to with Claude was even cuter. I forget when it happened though! D: It was either right before "Hair" or right before "My Conviction." Maybe it was after Claude's "You're cool, lady." O_O Anyway, Claude said something that Margaret found adorable and she said, "Awwww..." and then booped Paris' nose! Complete with "boop" noise! :D It was so cute!

Honestly, I just love everything about this man. ^_^ I love how unbelievably sweet he and his boyfriend are all over their Twitter accounts. I love how he's so moved by the show. I had actually left a message on his FB wall telling him about my Gender Identity paper and how I was inspired by his portrayal of Margaret Mead to write it. He wrote back that he was moved and happy that I was writing about something he found so important. So, of course, I had to tell him how wonderful he was in person. So, after the dancing was done, I spotted him towards the back of the stage and made my way over. He was so overwhelmed by everything that he was actually crying. O_O ;_; Awwww... So, of course when I told him how fabulous I thought he was and how inspiring his portrayal of MM is that set him off again and he grabbed my hands then gave me a big hug. When I stepped back, I told him that I was the girl writing the Gender Identity paper (he had just posted back on his FB about 2 or 3 hours before the show, so I figured he'd remember ^_^). He gave me this big sobbing grin and said, "You are?? That's wonderful! You have to tell me how it works out! Thank you so much!" *_* *_* I seriously do adore him. ^_^ He's so damned genuine it makes me want to cry sometimes. ^_^

Part 1 | On to Part 2! | On to Part 3!

Comments

[zoicite.livejournal.com]

The boop was after 'you're cool, lady'

great review, phew! I can't wait for the next part!

Another thing I was thinking about - the new lines. Mostly about Claude's newspaper clippings all over the house and then later Claude's 'I'm making a movie!' to his mother. What? You are? (I mean, I get it, it's supposed to tie in with Manchester, England sitting in the movies and pretending he's a director, invisible to the audience, performing miracles through film or whatever, but still such a random addition. Now I'm picturing Claude pulling out a camera and driving the tribe nuts by randomly filming them a la mark cohen in rent)

I love Katie Kiyan's deeper Frank Mills, but you know I agree with you on the rest. Katie just seems too smart for Crissy. Also I'm sad I didn't catch that Crissy/Jeanie moment. This is what happens when you spend most of your time staring at Claude and Berger. ;)

[rchan.livejournal.com]

^_^ I thought that's when it was! Thanks for the confirm. ^_^

*happy squirms* Glad you enjoyed and it wasn't too ridiculously long. ^_^

Re: the new lines: I totally forgot to mention that part. I actually liked the bit about the newspaper clippings. It makes total sense and is very much in keeping with the character, how he likes to sit back and watch life go by without always being an active participant and yet is very intently interested in what's going on, just the same. As for the "I'm making a movie!" bit -- apparently that's a theme later on, too (was literally reading someone else's take on that one or two days prior to seeing the show ^_^). He has a line in the Flesh Failures that reads as follows: "I fashion my future on films in space..." which never really made sense to me. It seemed like such a random line. But if you consider this new aspect, even if he's only making the movie in his mind, it makes a little more sense. *shrugs* I agree it still comes out of left field a little bit, but I can see where it kind of ties in.

*laughs* But the image of Claude randomly videotaping the Tribe... XD ...what would he choose to videotape, I wonder...? *waggles eyebrows*

( The page I was reading (http://newhairmusicalfilm.blogspot.com/2010/07/early-brainstorming-overarching-concept.html#more) -- actually, his whole blog is pretty interesting. ^_^ )

Mmm... But staring at Claude and Berger is just such fun! ^_^ I just got lucky that Crissy and Jeanie were in my line of sight at that moment. ^_~

[zoicite.livejournal.com]

thanks for sharing that link! interesting! I sort of wish now that I'd read this/thought about this stuff from that angle back when I was writing that really long Claude story! Claude gave me a lot of problems there.

I actually liked the newspaper clippings too. I still think the "I'm making a movie!" was a weird add-in though, just because other than those few lyrics, we don't get any indication that Claude IS making a movie. Does he even own a camera? Does he mean that he's making the movie in his head? Was the line actually "I'm GOING to make a movie" and I'm just remembering it wrong? I'm going to make a movie would make more sense.

eta - I guess he could be plotting out his future movie in his head, though if that's the case, I'm not sure that's what I'd personally use as an example of whatever during a fight with my parents.

(and now I have that Movie in my Mind song from Miss Saigon in my head)

(also, this is totally unrelated and old, but omg, sometimes Will Swenson is the prettiest ever)

[rchan.livejournal.com]

No problem. ^_^ I thought it was pretty interesting myself. He's obviously given the whole thing a lot of thought and has some pretty interesting ideas.

Yeah, I agree. And unfortunately, I don't remember. I think he did say he was making a movie, not "going to make," but I'm not positive. And honestly, he'd have have to be at plotting/story-boarding stage, because I can't imagine he'd have the money to buy any kind of camcorder. And yeah, it makes no sense to use in the middle of a fight with his parents unless it's a rebuttal to his mother's demand about what he's going to do with his life... but I think his mother's line about that comes later. :-P

Re: Will Swenson picture -- *_* I do so love that one. But I like this one (http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs642.snc4/60255_428014112534_535307534_4987525_2524048_n.jpg) even better. *_* Can we say "brain explosion of cute?" *_* Honestly, I don't think I've ever seen a bad picture of that man. I even find the bizarre one of him in the 80s workout outfit with the side ponytail on the pilates equipment well... kinda hot. I try not to think about that too much. O_O ^_^

[zoicite.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm also a big fan of this picture as well. Adorable. And I love the side ponytail leg warmers pilates look. Thanks, Susan Blackwell!

[zoicite.livejournal.com]

wait, wait, when you say 'the bizarre one of him in the 80s workout outfit with the side ponytail on the pilates equipment', you HAVE seen the broadway.com video it's from, yes? I mean, I assume that you have, but the phrasing makes me concerned that you may be missing out!

[rchan.livejournal.com]

*snickers* Oh, yes. XD I have seen it. Don't you worry. That's how I know it's pilates equipment and not some freakishly bizarre bondage set-up like I'd originally thought it was. That... may be why I find that picture kind of hot, though, now that I think on it. O_O;;;

[zoicite.livejournal.com]

phew just checking. He's all giggles in that video. i love it

[rchan.livejournal.com]

I know! That man is just too adorable for his own good, sometimes. ^_^