Recently, I’ve become a bit of a musical theatre nerd, and I’ve been trying to see as many shows as I can – even if I don’t know a great deal about them. A couple of months ago, I booked tickets to see Hair the Musical at Cardiff’s New Theatre, and I had no idea what it was really about, any of the songs, or anything at all. But when I saw the show last night – oh my god, I was BLOWN AWAY.
Welcome to the ‘Age of Aquarius’. It’s 1967 and HAIR’s hippie ‘tribe’ youngsters in the East Village of New York are yearning to change the world, questioning authority and the American flag. Wild, colourful, sexually liberated and free, they are united in protest and song, under the shadow of the Vietnam War.
Winner of the 2018 WhatsOnStage Award, this exuberant 50th anniversary production of the legendary rock musical HAIR bursts in full psychedelic glory, direct from a sell-out London run. Starring Jake Quickenden, Daisy Wood-Davis and Marcus Collins.
Adored for its Grammy® award-winning score featuring iconic hits such as ‘Aquarius’, ‘Let the Sunshine In’, ‘I Got Life’ and ‘Good Morning Starshine’, experience the intoxicating power of HAIR and celebrate its affirmation of life, freedom and equality.
Come join the tribe and relive the summer of love!
(A quick note – if you don’t want to know anything at all about this show, I’m going to be talking a little bit about some of the plot and some things that happen throughout the show.)
Set, Lighting and Score
When you enter the theatre, the stage is completely open with just a thin, sheer curtain. I loved that – it’s so cool to see the whole set before the show starts, and it gives it almost a festival-type vibe to the whole place. The first thing I noticed was that the band are all onstage for the whole show, rather than being hidden away. They’re all sitting in their own huts or just right on the stage and they’re made to look like part of the scenery, which I loved. So often, the band get forgotten when they’re hidden away, but they’re one of the most important parts of a show!
One of my favourite parts of the show was the lighting design. There are some parts with bright, psychedelic lighting (and, at one point, a few seconds of flashing strobe lights) that probably reflects the characters’ psyche while they’re high on various substances; and then there are parts of complete darkness, where the only glimmers of light come from the lighting of matches or a contained fire in the middle of the stage.
I was also in love with the score – how each song is so full of energy, sung with amazing harmonies, and impeccably choreographed. (This is one cast recording I’m going to be adding to my growing list of musical theatre soundtracks on Spotify, that’s for sure.)
Act 1
The show begins with “Aquarius”, which I realised is a song I did know before going in (probably from watching the trailer). It then launches straight into each of the principle characters telling us about who they are, their stories, and why they’re there, all in song. It’s so fast-paced and the whole ensemble are onstage constantly, either dancing or sitting around the edges. The energy that it has is just amazing; there’s never a dull moment and there’s always something to see.
At the end of the first act, the cast are huddled around the fire, and they’re all taking turns to burn their draft cards in protest so they won’t be conscripted to join the Vietnam war. The stage is almost in complete darkness except the light from the fire, and while the cast sing, every single one of them remove their clothes (in an act of protest which I found out actually happened in the 1960s). The lights come back up for just a few seconds and we see the whole cast standing in solidarity, completely naked. The lights dim again, and the house lights come up to signal the end of the first act. I was amazed at how incredibly confident and brave the cast must be to be able to do something like that! Just those few seconds made such a big impact, and it was funny to see the reaction on some people’s faces (especially on some of the older members of the audience).
Act 2 & Finale
The second act dives straight into the action, and most of it is made up of trippy, hallucinogenic scenes that are chaotic, weird, wonderful, and completely entertaining. There are also more serious scenes towards the end, and the manic, psychedelic headtrips turn into a more somber atmosphere as one of the characters prepares to go to war. The more bleak moments are often interspersed with comic relief, and when the show ends on “Let the Sunshine In”, it’s a bittersweet finale that raises your spirits and picks the darker mood back up again. The last chorus of the song is sung a capella, and with the ensemble’s powerful voices and incredible harmonies, it’s enough to give you goosebumps on your arms and tingles down your spine.
One of the highlights is the big finale, where several members of the cast come down into the audience and encourage (okay, drag) people onto the stage with to dance with them. Last night this was met with some people wanting to glue themselves to their seats, while others were raring to get up and go and have a jig on the stage while the cast sung and danced with them. People in the audience stood up and danced too, and it really just felt like a big party.
After the curtain call finished and the cast left the stage, the band stayed to play the audience out, and it was such a powerfully uplifting end to an incredible, thought-provoking, and vibrantly colourful show that left me wanting to see it again the second I stepped out of the theatre.
Hair the Musical is currently on tour around the UK to celebrate its 50th anniversary. For tickets and more info about the show, head to the official website.
