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

[eirenical]

OK... the last one was a little short. ^_^ And this one is significantly longer, so I'll post it up early. Finally we get to my obsessiveness long discourse about the awesomeness that is Paris and Steel's Claude and Berger... and the epicness that happened at the dance party. *_*

And now we get to the meat of this review... *snerts* Pun actually not intended. XD Claude and Berger -- more specifically, Paris and Steel's Claude and Berger. Right out of the starting gate, it's obvious that they have something special. It happens as early as "Colored Spade." The original staging had Will and Gavin nowhere near each other in that moment. The new staging? *snerts* Claude is all the hell over Berger even then. They're right next to each other, with Paris cuddling Steel's leg at stage left. As a way to set the tone? That's awesome. ^_^ And it just keeps building more and more as the show continues.

Addendum: Because zoicite is made of awesome and I just lovedlovedloved how she phrased this in her own entry, I needed to quote her. ^_^ "Claude and Berger are in love, did you know? Steel and Paris certainly wanted us to know. All over each other." So unbelievably true!! :D Now, allow me to elaborate... for the next 1800+ words. O_O

|--- Side note: Gavin Creel, Will Swenson and Caissie Levy have unbelievably powerful stage presences. You can't escape it. They all have powerhouse voices and you can't miss a single one of them when they're on stage. You're always aware of where they all are. As a result, they form a very well-balanced triangle. You really believe that all three of them are in love and the triangle never tilts too far to one side. I could appreciate that interpretation, but we all know which side of the triangle that I favor most heavily. ^_^ As a contrast, let's look at Paris Remillard, Steel Burkhardt and Caren Lyn Tacket. Now, I've noted before what a strong presence on stage that Paris is. He toned it done a little in this performance -- in fact, I noticed they all did. There were stand-out moments, but as a whole, the Tribe gelled very well. They presented more as a whole than as stand-out characters. Steel also has a pretty amazing stage presence. Even when they were both Tribe members, you always tended to notice them on stage. Caren Lyn Tacket, however, doesn't have as powerful a stage presence. She has a beautiful voice and I liked her interpretation of the character, but she tends to fade into the background a bit. That could just be because the boys have a longer history with each other than her, but... *shrugs* I often found myself sitting in the audience and thinking, "Where's Sheila? Eh. More importantly, who cares?" ^_^ Anyway, the end result was that the triangle was more like a line segment with a point off to the side. The end result? Even more obvious Gay! :D ---|

Honestly, there were so many little moments between them that I can't even remember them all, much less recount them. One thing that I noticed consistently, however, was their tendency to say their lines while very intensely staring into each other's eyes... from a space of about one inch. If that. ^_^ And there were one or two moments when Steel's hair would swing forward and your inner fangirl just knew they were kissing behind it. ^_~ There was the moment in "Colored Spade" and a similar moment later in Act I (Gah, I forget when!) when Paris is sitting on the floor with Steel standing over him and he just keeps wrapping his arm around Steel's calf... knee... thigh... *coughs* One wonders if hands ever wander somewhere they shouldn't in that scene... ^_~ Another sweet moment was at the beginning of "Where Do I Go?" When Claude is singing that first verse and the rest of the actors are completely still, when Claude starts walking his way around the inner half-circle. When he reaches Berger, he reaches a hand out like he'd like to touch the other man and the look of pain on his face is tremendous. You can feel that he knows he's letting Berger down and that he's going to cause him pain by doing this... and it kills a little piece of him. ;_;

The one thing that made me sad was the elimination of Berger groping Claude in the middle of "Hair." You know the part -- it was when Gavin made those unbelievably naughty moaning sounds right into his mic that always had me blushing. O_O Steel and Paris just marched. But honestly....? They gave us so much other slash fodder that I'm willing to overlook it. ^_^

Bigger moments: During "3-5-0-0" (I think), when Claude is lying on the ground and Berger is crying over him, Steel had his hands fisted in the front of Paris' uniform jacket and was clutching at it, like if he just held on tight enough, Claude would come back. Also, before that moment, when they're lying on the ground together, Steel had an arm slung across Paris' chest and was laying half on top of him, like he was trying to protect him. *_* At the end of the trip, when Claude is curled up on his side, not yet awake, the girls and Woof are around him stroking whatever part of him that they can reach. And here comes another precious Hud/Berger / overprotective!Hud moment: Hud sees what's going on and goes looking for Berger. When he finds him, he grabs Berger's hand and pulls him over to Claude, then helps push people out of the way so that Berger can get to him. *_* Love you again, Darius!

Biggest moments:

1) "Hair"/"My Conviction": So... the whole scene before this song is just heartbreaking. First of all, Steel actually comes across as upset that he got kicked out of school. You really feel the connection between the two of them in that moment and how afraid they are -- not for themselves, but for each other. Then, of course, we shift gears into the title song. They start it off, again, singing their lines about one inch apart from each other... if that. There were lots of little cute moments during the song itself and at the end, instead of ending it the way that Will and Gavin did or Ace and Kyle, they went back to the park ending. Paris leaps up so that he lands across Steel's shoulders in a kind of fireman's carry and then Steel starts prancing around the stage and showing him off. *laughs* You get the definite feeling that Claude is about to be carted off somewhere for some serious hanky-panky... and he doesn't look upset by it in the slightest! :D Finally, Steel puts him down and Josh Lamon says his lines. While all of that went on, Paris was now standing slightly upstage from Steel... and he just wrapped his arms around Steel's waist from the side and cuddled up against him with his head on Steel's shoulder. Steel dropped his arms down to wrap around Paris and they just stood there snuggling. *_* Fantastic!

2) "Walking in Space" -- OMFG... Walking in Space. O_O Sheila? Who is this Sheila of whom you speak? :D OK, so we get the boys on the floor and then what happens? Will and Gavin often used to tangle their legs together while Will hovered over Gavin. Very sexy. *_* Ace used to lay kind of to the side... and I honestly don't remember what else he did. It didn't leave much of an impression. Steel laid down next to Paris, I believe with his head on his shoulder, and spent that entire segment of the song just lazily stroking his hand over Paris' stomach and chest. It was so gentle, so soothing... so unbelievably sexy. They didn't have eyes for anyone but each other.

Honestly, that was one of the most unique things about their take on these characters and ultimately was what won me over so completely. Will was so wild and so crazy as Berger that that translated over into how he reacted to Gavin's Claude. You got the feeling that there were moments when he would have liked a quiet cuddle but he just couldn't be that passive. Every time he tried, he'd eventually break down and do something silly... like slapping Gavin's ass. ^_^ It was awesome and I loved it, but it was loud and it was in your face, just like the rest of Will's Berger. Steel's Berger... he likes to cuddle. He likes to cuddle a lot. And most especially, he likes to cuddle Paris' Claude. ^_^ He has a quieter, more mature side to him. He has a little more control over himself. It's different and it allows for these quiet moments between him and Paris that so clearly express how very much they love each other. *_* *_*

Which brings us to...

3) "Good Morning, Starshine" -- So... Gavin and Will had their little wrestling/making out thing going on. There was some body diving, some ass-slapping, some making out and a little cuddling on the side. Like I said, nothing about their relationship was quiet. Ace... I never entirely pinned down most of his interpretation on Berger because so much of it was a copy of Will's, but I seem to remember him doing some wrestling, maybe a little making out... honestly, I don't remember. Paris and Steel... Wow. Just... wow. First of all, we had the return of Berger burying his face in Claude's stomach while clutching him as close as he can at the beginning of the song. I missed that. *_* Then, when Berger backs away and Claude follows... there is no wrestling. Steel just stretched out on his back on the stage and Paris stretched out on his back... full length on top of him. Legs over legs, hips over hips, chest over chest and his head resting on Steel's left shoulder. *_* Then they twined the fingers of their downstage hands together and held them up and out so everyone could see they'd done it. ^_^ Paris at one point took his right hand and rested it on Steel's right cheek, then turned Steel's head towards him and turned his own head so he could stare into Steel's eyes and smile. Steel then entwined the fingers of their right hands and folded both his arms (fingers all still entwined) around Paris' chest and just laid there and cuddled him for the rest of the scene.

I. About. Died. I swear there was swooning on my part.

There was another bit to "Starshine" that I also loved. Once the making out is done and the dancing is starting, Berger goes over to Claude and pulls him into the dance. Gavin's Claude went willingly, happily and even seemed OK with it when Berger pushed him at Sheila. Again, that was a pretty even-sided triangle so it made sense to play it that way. The Paris/Steel/Caren triangle, however, is not so even sided and it never came across more clearly than in this scene. Steel literally had to drag Paris into the circle dance. Paris had been hovering at the edge of the stage and clearly didn't want to go. He instead looked like he wanted to drag Steel offstage and do a little more cuddling. And when he finds himself in the center of the circle with Sheila and Berger has backed off, he keeps throwing glances at Berger as though he's saying, "Well... I will if you really want me to... but..." And when he kisses her, she very clearly has to persuade him into it. It's obvious that he'd rather be with Berger and it's just as obvious that Berger's not thrilled about what he just did. It's so poignant... and it's the beginning of the end.

4) And as a little add-on happy... they even carry it through to the encores. XD The look on Steel's face when Paris came running back out... *_* Dude, he couldn't get him back out there fast enough. And when Paris borrowed Steel's hair after rediscovering that his own was missing, Steel totally cuddled him. 'Twas adorable. ^_^ Though... I completely missed that they were in separate balconies at the Shubert at the end of "Let the Sun Shine In" because I was busy hugging on James Rado at the time. *blush*

Fun at the Dance Party... or Renée-chan's Excuse to Excessively Fangirl at Everyone -- OK. So, let's take this one at a time. ^_^ The cast finished the "Hair" encore and started in on "Let the Sun Shine In." Poor Paris is standing up there waving at everyone to come up... and no one's coming. O_O Finally, me and a few other people broke and headed up the aisle.

Encounter #1: Kacie Shiek was standing at the foot of the stairs up my aisle so I paused by her. She saw me standing there and grabbed my hand, I gave her a big grin and said, "I just wanted to thank you for coming back! I've missed you!" She gave me a brilliant smile and thanked me and then I went on my way.

Encounter #2: Darius Nichols was standing at stage center and I ended up right up at the front of the stage on his right, so I essentially repeated my comments to Kacie to him. He gave me that brilliant, sexy smile of his and said, "Thank you, beautiful!" Tee-hee! Darius called me "beautiful!" *beams* Everyone should hear a man that sexy with a voice so deep and smooth call them "beautiful" at least once in their life. Everyone.

Encounter #3-3000: So, I'm dancing around in the front of the stage just to the right of center. Earlier in the day (at intermission), zoicite pointed out to me that James Rado was in the audience. Not entirely a surprise, but still awesome. Why mention this? At one point, I looked to my left to catch another glimpse of Darius Nichols and someone is blocking my view. Who? That's right. James Rado was dancing right next to me. My heart starting pounding so hard I could actually hear it. O_O I always thought that was a cliché. *coughs* So, I figured, if I don't say something, I will regret it forever. So, I lightly tapped his elbow. He didn't notice. Gathering up every ounce of courage I possessed, I laid my hand on his right shoulder and left it there until he turned. Once he did, I stepped closer to talk to him. And here is the epitome of my dorkdom: I was so overwhelmed just to have his attention on me that my voice shook through every word I said and I damned near cried my way through our conversation. O_O Anyway, what I said to him was simply, "Thank you so much for this! Really... just thank you!" He gave me this wide, soft smile and said, "You're so welcome!" I hesitated for just one second, just long enough to wonder if I was about to do something stupid, then stepped closer and held my arms open. He smiled at me again and gave me a big hug. I think maybe I held on a little longer than I should have, but I couldn't have let go if my life depended on it. He was really nice about it, though. I like to think he understood. ^_^

Encounter #3001: On the way back to talk to Josh Lamon, I stopped to tell Phyre Hawkins how incredible she was and she was really sweet about her reaction. She gave me an almost sheepish little grin, like she was honestly surprised to be getting so much praise from people, and thanked me. Aw!

Encounter #3002: ^_^ Josh Lamon. *_* *_* Talked about that one earlier up in the bits about Josh as Margaret. For the sake of brevity, I'm not going to repeat, except to say again that he is a wonderful man and to admit that I was nearly crying right along with him. ^_^

Encounter #3003: I ran into Matt DeAngelis (almost literally... between James Rado and Josh Lamon I was seriously distracted... and I'm such a spaz O_O) on the way back from talking to Josh. I told him he was fabulous and thanked him for tonight. He gave me this sheepish little Woof smile and said, "Thank you." My G-d that man is tall! O_O

Encounter #3004: The new Kaitlyn Kyan (Cailan Rose? O_O) liked my scarf -- it was the black one with the million and three peace signs on it. ^_^

Encounter #3005: At this point, I made my way off the stage and back to our seats because the only other person I really wanted to talk to was Paris and I was sure he'd already left the stage. I gathered up my stuff, made plans to meet zoicite at the gift shop area, and started to walk out of the theatre. By the time I got to the next aisle, wonder of wonders, I looked up at the stage and Paris was still there talking to a few audience members. I hurried myself up there and snuck over as one of the stage people was trying to shoo him off the stage and telling people that he really had to go. I said, "Just... just one minute...?" Paris patiently turned back and walked over and took both my hands and gave me that really sweet smile of his. And I told him that he was even more fabulous tonight than he had been when I saw him understudy the part in June. His smile widened and he gave me a hug and said thank you. Then as he let go of one of my hands I added, "And I like your new haircut, even though it is really short!" (I'm paraphrasing -- I honestly don't remember exactly what I said. -.-;;;) And then he pulled a "Paris Cute Move TM." He ducked his head, picked up one hand and rubbed it back and forth a few times over his hair, blushed a little and said, "Thanks." It was so unbelievably adorable I wanted to squish him! *_* But I didn't. I refrained and let him go. ^_^

And because I had by then spoken to everyone I'd wanted to with the exception of Steel, and I already had pictures with all the people I would have cared to get pictures with from earlier experiences stage dooring, I decided that I really didn't need to hang around the stage door. But I will mention one last thing... zoicite and I took a ~½ mile walk around the Yale Campus area before going to dinner at this awesome little Japanese restaurant and when we got back, people were still gathered at the stage door. Why? They still had poor Paris stuck there taking pictures. O_O With the really short haircut, I wasn't 100% positive that it was him... but then I realized that he was wearing his "Blue Hoody TM" and I was sure. ^_^ A boy and his hoody... yet another adorable Paris-ism. ^_^

*wipes sweat off brow* And I think that's finally it. Can you believe that I just wrote nearly 9 pages (that's 7270 words) worth of Hair Tour review and deconstruction? That's as long as my Human Growth and Development paper is supposed to be! O_O Maybe I can just hand in this instead. What do you think? ^_^ Oh well. I think I left a bunch of stuff out, but hopefully not anything important. Hopefully zoicite will add in her two cents wherever appropriate and catch whatever I missed. ^_^

Go back to Part 1 | Back to Part 2 | Part 3

Comments

[justaotherwitch.livejournal.com]

I'm a few months late to this party, but I saw the show for the first time a month ago and now I have finally found the fandom presence on LJ!

It was really interesting to read this review, because my only experience is with the tour. I'm sure I would have loved the show had I seen the Broadway cast, but I wonder if I would have fallen in love with the show that same way I did. (Basically because of everything you covered in this section.)

[rchan.livejournal.com]

Welcome! ^_^ Better late than never, I always say. ^_^ And the Hair fandom needs way more love than it gets! ^_^

*chuckles* And you probably still would have. I never deconstructed the OBRC, but the moments were totally there for them, too. Gavin and Will had amazing chemistry. *nodnod* *searches around* I actually did an update on this after seeing the show in Hershey... *rummage rummage*

A-ha! Here it is. (http://rchan.livejournal.com/158289.html) ^_^ Because Steel and Paris have clearly... *coughs* ...mature into their "relationship"... and it was worthy of note. *eg* *waggles eyebrows*

Again, welcome, and I'm glad you enjoyed the review! ^_^