Gavin Creel, a (irrestibly dreamy) cast-member of the current Broadway revival of the musical Hair (which won this year’s Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical), convinced the producers to close the show for one day on October 11, so that the cast could march and perform in the gay rights rally in Washington, D.C. The producers agreed, despite the fact that the Sunday matinee is an extremely lucrative performance and they will end up losing quite a bit of money.
For those who aren’t musical theater nerds like me, Hair is to 1960s/70s musical theater what Rent is to current musical theater. Okay, that may not have clarified anything. Hair is the story of a group of hippies who are fighting for sexual liberation and protesting the war in Vietnam. Although it may seem dated now, when it was originally produced on Broadway, it was extremely risque, with scenes where the entire cast (gasp!) smokes pot and (double gasp!) gets entirely naked. Seriously though, the show brought political activism and protest to the Broadway stage, a place where it hadn’t really ever been. So it seems to make sense that of all Broadway casts, the cast of Hair would be the one to go down to D.C. and take a stand for the issues they care about today.
I’m not a huge fan of the show Hair. I think it lacks coherence and seems extremely dated on today’s stage. However, I have a huge amount of respect for the cast as they take their jobs to a new level. It’s great to see that more than merely acting on stage, these actors are embodying the spirit of the show and putting their energy towards trying to create change in the real world. It’s also incredibly refreshing to hear about producers who will forego profits in order to make a political statement. For this action, I certainly give the cast and crew of Hair a standing ovation.
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Emily Posts 