Images: Ben Fon

By Kim Sparkes

Hair, the Grammy and Tony Award-winning American tribal love-rock psychedelic musical that helped focus the world’s attention on the futility of the Vietnam War, first exploded onto the Australian stage in 1969. I recently caught up with Director Glenn Elston for a chat about bringing this iconic global phenomenon back to the stage in Sydney.

Glenn says “revisiting it now, I’m reminded how fearless this show was back then and how much it still matters today… with its message continuing to resonate with audiences almost 60 years later”. Glenn adds the show “has a particular way of running a line of love and care, all the way through, and it comes out so beautifully at the end, where it’s all about the touching love that these people have for each other.”

Hair tells the story of free-spirited young hippies advocating pacifism and free love in a society riddled with intolerance and brutality, while exploring timeless themes of alienation, civil disobedience, religion, sexual identity, racism, love, recreational drugs, and youthful defiance. 

Created by Gerome Ragni and James Rado (book and  lyrics) and featuring an electrifying score by Galt MacDermot, it became an anthem for a generation,  and included unforgettable hits such as Aquarius, Good Morning Starshine, Let the Sunshine In, I Got Life and the title track HAIR – songs that broke records, topped charts, and helped define the sound of the era.

I asked Glenn whether the show he’s directing now differs from the 1990 production of Hair that he co-produced.

“We’ve explored the humour in it wherever possible. Some of these songs are amusing, fun and cheerful — they’re not all dour. So we’ve tried to explore that a bit more.”

On the Shakespearean references in songs such as What a Piece of Work Is Man (Hamlet) and Manchester England (Romeo and Juliet), Glenn believes the songs still resonate through the timeless wisdom and universal truths of the Bard. “People still love each other, people still fight with each other, all those things still happen, and his descriptions and analysis of it is still one of the best in the world. Best ever – so the fact that Gerome Ragni and James Rado reached out to his text and used it was a very clever and wise thing to do.”

For those of us who have only seen the 1979 film adaptation of Hair, there were changesmade from the musical. Glenn says  “the overall joy that these hippies are, projecting is still there, like you see in the film and they’re dancing in the streets…. that’s all there in the live play….it’s not an immersive production but the actors will at different times come through the audience as it really helps with the connection between audience and performer.”

Glenn is excited about the talented ensemble cast, with Phoenix Mendoza also joining the production. “We’ve got a nice age range of ages in the tribe, which is great, you know, kind of balances it out to say that, it’s not only young people were a part of this, but also people who are a bit older.”

Glenn believes “Hair gave a young generation and their parents alike a voice to protest against being sent to fight and die
in this senseless war. I think we would all agree that voice is needed again right now.”

ABOUT:

Directed by Glenn Elston OAM

Choreography by Sue-Ellen Shook

Venue: Theatre Royal Sydney, 108 King St, Sydney

Dates from June 6 – July 12

Tickets: www.hairthemusical.com.au

Kim Sparkes works as a Librarian and is an advocate of bibliotherapy — using the power of literature to heal.