Hair (Musical)

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Hair (musical)
1 History

This article is about the musical. For the musical film,
see Hair (film).

Hair was conceived by actors James Rado and Gerome
Ragni. The two met in 1964 when they performed together in the Off-Broadway flop Hang Down Your Head
and Die,[4] and they began writing Hair together in late
1964.[5][6] The main characters were autobiographical,
with Rado’s Claude being a pensive romantic and Ragni’s
Berger an extrovert. Their close relationship, including its
volatility, was reflected in the musical. Rado explained,
“We were great friends. It was a passionate kind of relationship that we directed into creativity, into writing,
into creating this piece. We put the drama between us on
stage.”[7]

Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a
rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and
Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product
of the hippie counterculture and sexual revolution of the
1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the antiVietnam War peace movement. The musical’s profanity, its depiction of the use of illegal drugs, its treatment
of sexuality, its irreverence for the American flag, and
its nude scene caused much comment and controversy.[1]
The musical broke new ground in musical theatre by
defining the genre of “rock musical”, using a racially integrated cast, and inviting the audience onstage for a "BeIn" finale.[2]

Rado described the inspiration for Hair as “a combination
of some characters we met in the streets, people we knew
and our own imaginations. We knew this group of kids
in the East Village who were dropping out and dodging
the draft, and there were also lots of articles in the press
about how kids were being kicked out of school for growing their hair long”.[2] He recalled, “There was so much
excitement in the streets and the parks and the hippie areas, and we thought if we could transmit this excitement
to the stage it would be wonderful.... We hung out with
them and went to their Be-Ins [and] let our hair grow.”[8]
Many cast members (Shelley Plimpton in particular) were
recruited right off the street.[2] Rado said, “It was very
important historically, and if we hadn't written it, there'd
not be any examples. You could read about it and see film
clips, but you'd never experience it. We thought, 'This is
happening in the streets,' and we wanted to bring it to the
stage.”[4]

Hair tells the story of the “tribe”, a group of politically active, long-haired hippies of the "Age of Aquarius" living
a bohemian life in New York City and fighting against
conscription into the Vietnam War. Claude, his good
friend Berger, their roommate Sheila and their friends
struggle to balance their young lives, loves, and the sexual
revolution with their rebellion against the war and their
conservative parents and society. Ultimately, Claude
must decide whether to resist the draft as his friends have
done, or to succumb to the pressures of his parents (and
conservative America) to serve in Vietnam, compromising his pacifistic principles and risking his life.
After an off-Broadway debut in October 1967 at Joseph
Papp's Public Theater and a subsequent run in a midtown
discothèque space, the show opened on Broadway in
April 1968 and ran for 1,750 performances. Simultaneous productions in cities across the United States
and Europe followed shortly thereafter, including a successful London production that ran for 1,997 performances. Since then, numerous productions have been
staged around the world, spawning dozens of recordings
of the musical, including the 3 million-selling original
Broadway cast recording. Some of the songs from its
score became Top 10 hits, and a feature film adaptation
was released in 1979. A Broadway revival opened on
March 31, 2009, earning strong reviews and winning the
Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for best revival of
a musical. In 2008, Time magazine wrote, “Today Hair
seems, if anything, more daring than ever.”[3]

Rado and Ragni came from different artistic backgrounds. In college, Rado wrote musical revues and aspired to be a Broadway composer in the Rodgers and
Hammerstein tradition. He went on to study acting
with Lee Strasberg. Ragni, on the other hand, was an
active member of The Open Theater, one of several
groups, mostly Off-off Broadway, that were developing
experimental theatre techniques.[9] He introduced Rado
to the modern theatre styles and methods being developed at The Open Theater.[10] In 1966, while the two
were developing Hair, Ragni performed in The Open
Theater’s production of Megan Terry's play, Viet Rock,
a story about young men being deployed to the Vietnam
War.[11] In addition to the war theme, Viet Rock employed
the improvisational exercises being used in the experimental theatre scene and later used in the development
of Hair.[6][12]
1

2

1 HISTORY

Rado and Ragni brought their drafts of the show to
producer Eric Blau who, through common friend Nat
Shapiro, connected the two with Canadian composer Galt
MacDermot.[13] MacDermot had won a Grammy Award
in 1961 for his composition “African Waltz” (recorded by
Cannonball Adderley).[14] The composer’s lifestyle was
in marked contrast to his co-creators: “I had short hair,
a wife, and, at that point, four children, and I lived on
Staten Island.”[8] “I never even heard of a hippie when I
met Rado and Ragni.”[4] But he shared their enthusiasm
to do a rock and roll show.[4] “We work independently,”
explained MacDermot in May 1968. “I prefer it that way.
They hand me the material. I set it to music.”[15] MacDermot wrote the first score in three weeks,[7] starting
with the songs “I Got Life”, “Ain't Got No”, “Where Do
I Go” and the title song.[2] He first wrote “Aquarius” as
an unconventional art piece, but later rewrote it into an
uplifting anthem.[7]

duction did not go smoothly: “The rehearsal and casting
process was confused, the material itself incomprehensible to many of the theater’s staff. The director, Gerald
Freedman, the theater’s associate artistic director, withdrew in frustration during the final week of rehearsals and
offered his resignation. Papp accepted it, and the choreographer Anna Sokolow took over the show.... After a
disastrous final dress rehearsal, Papp wired Mr. Freedman in Washington, where he'd fled: 'Please come back.'
Mr. Freedman did.”[16]
Hair premiered off-Broadway at the Public on October
17, 1967 and ran for a limited engagement of six weeks.
The lead roles were played by Walker Daniels as Claude,
Ragni as Berger, Jill O'Hara as Sheila, Steve Dean as
Woof, Arnold Wilkerson as Hud, Sally Eaton as Jeanie
and Shelley Plimpton as Crissy.[17] Set design was by
Ming Cho Lee, costume design by Theoni Aldredge, and
although Anna Sokolow began rehearsals as choreographer, Freedman received choreographer credit.[18] Although the production had a “tepid critical reception”,
it was popular with audiences.[16] A cast album was released in 1967.
Chicago businessman Michael Butler was planning to run
for the U.S. Senate on an anti-war platform. After seeing
an ad for Hair in The New York Times that led him to believe the show was about Native Americans, he watched
the Public’s production several times[8] and joined forces
with Joe Papp to reproduce the show at another New
York venue after the close of its run at the Public. Papp
and Butler first moved the show to The Cheetah, a discothèque at 53rd Street and Broadway. It opened there on
December 22, 1967[19] and ran for 45 performances.[2]
There was no nudity in either the Public Theater or Cheetah production.[1]

1.2 Revision for Broadway

Poster from The Cheetah with the Native American theme

1.1

Off-Broadway productions

The creators pitched the show to Broadway producers and
received many rejections. Eventually Joe Papp, who ran
the New York Shakespeare Festival, decided he wanted
Hair to open the new Public Theater (still under construction) in New York City’s East Village. The musical was Papp’s first non-Shakespeare offering.[4] The pro-

Hair underwent a thorough overhaul between its closing
at the Cheetah in January 1968 and its Broadway opening
three months later. The off-Broadway book, already light
on plot, was loosened even further[20] and made more realistic. For example, Claude had been written as a space
alien who aspires to be a cinematic director; he became
human for the Broadway version.[21] Moreover, 13 new
songs were added.[20] The song “Let the Sun Shine In”
was added so that the ending would be more uplifting.[7]
Before the move to Broadway, the creative team hired
director Tom O'Horgan, who had built a reputation directing experimental theater at the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. He had been the authors’ first choice
to direct the Public Theater production, but he was in
Europe at the time.[22] Newsweek described O'Horgan’s
directing style as “sensual, savage, and thoroughly musical... [he] disintegrates verbal structure and often breaks
up and distributes narrative and even character among
different actors.... He enjoys sensory bombardment.”[23]

3
In rehearsals, O'Horgan used techniques passed down by
Viola Spolin and Paul Sills involving role playing and improvisational “games”. Many of the improvisations tried
during this process were incorporated into the Broadway
script.[24] O'Horgan and new choreographer Julie Arenal
encouraged freedom and spontaneity in their actors, introducing “an organic, expansive style of staging” that
had never been seen before on Broadway.[4] The inspiration to include nudity came when the authors saw an
anti-war demonstration in Central Park where two men
stripped naked as an expression of defiance and freedom,
and they decided to incorporate the idea into the show.[4]
O'Horgan had used nudity in many of the plays he directed, and he helped integrate the idea into the fabric of
the show.[2]

Sheila is carried onstage (“I Believe in Love”) and leads
the tribe in a protest chant. The tribe reprises “Ain't Got
No (Grass)". Jeanie, an eccentric young woman, appears
wearing a gas mask, satirizing pollution (“Air”). She is
pregnant and in love with Claude. Although she wishes it
was Claude’s baby, she was “knocked up by some crazy
speed freak”. The tribe link together LBJ (President
Lyndon B. Johnson), FBI (the Federal Bureau of Investigation), CIA (the Central Intelligence Agency) and LSD
(“Initials”). Six members of the tribe appear dressed as
Claude’s parents, berating him for his various transgressions – he does not have a job, and he collects “mountains
of paper” clippings and notes. They say that they will not
give him any more money, and “the army'll make a man
out of you”. In defiance, Claude leads the tribe in celePapp declined to pursue a Broadway production, and so brating their vitality (“I Got Life”).
Butler produced the show himself. For a time it seemed After handing out imaginary pills to the tribe members,
that Butler would be unable to secure a Broadway theater, saying the pills are for high-profile people such as Richard
as the Shuberts, Nederlanders and other theater owners Nixon, the Pope, and "Alabama Wallace", Berger relates
deemed the material too controversial. However, Butler how he was expelled from high school (“Goin' Down”).
had family connections and knew important people; he Claude returns from his draft board physical, which he
persuaded Biltmore Theatre owner David Cogan to make passed. He pretends to burn his Vietnam War draft card,
his venue available.[25]
which Berger reveals as a library card. Claude agonizes
about what to do about being drafted.

2

Synopsis

Act I
Claude, the nominal leader of the “tribe”, sits center stage
as the tribe mingles with the audience. Tribe members
Sheila, a New York University student who is a determined political activist, and Berger, an irreverent free
spirit, cut a lock of Claude’s hair and burn it in a receptacle. After the tribe converges in slow-motion toward the stage, through the audience, they begin their
celebration as children of the Age of Aquarius (“Aquarius”). Berger removes his trousers to reveal a loincloth.
Interacting with the audience, he introduces himself as a
“psychedelic teddy bear” and reveals that he is “looking
for my Donna” (“Donna”).

Two tribe members dressed as tourists come down the
aisle to ask the tribe why they have such long hair. In answer, Claude and Berger lead the tribe in explaining the
significance of their “Hair”. The tourist lady states that
kids should “be free, no guilt” and should “do whatever
you want, just so long as you don't hurt anyone.” She observes that long hair is natural, like the “elegant plumage”
of male birds (“My Conviction”). She opens her coat to
reveal that she’s a man in drag. As the couple leaves, the
tribe calls her Margaret Mead.
Sheila gives Berger a yellow shirt. He goofs around and
ends up tearing it in two. Sheila voices her distress that
Berger seems to care more about the “bleeding crowd”
than about her ("Easy to Be Hard"). Jeanie summarizes everyone’s romantic entanglements: “I'm hung up
on Claude, Sheila’s hung up on Berger, Berger is hung
up everywhere. Claude is hung up on a cross over Sheila
and Berger.” The tribe runs out to the audience with fliers
inviting them to a Be-In. Berger, Woof and another tribe
member pay satiric tribute to the American flag as they
fold it (“Don't Put it Down”). After young and innocent
Crissy describes “Frank Mills”, a boy she’s looking for,
the tribe participates in the “Be-In”. The men of the tribe
burn their draft cards. Claude puts his card in the fire,
then changes his mind and pulls it out. He asks, “where
is the something, where is the someone, that tells me why
I live and die?" (“Where Do I Go”). The tribe emerges
naked, intoning “beads, flowers, freedom, happiness.”

The tribe recites a list of pharmaceuticals, legal and illegal (“Hashish”). Woof, a gentle soul, extols several sexual
practices (“Sodomy”) and says, “I grow things.” He loves
plants, his family and the audience, telling the audience,
“We are all one.” Hud, a militant African-American, is
carried in upside down on a pole. He declares himself “president of the United States of love” (“Colored
Spade”). In a fake English accent, Claude says that he is
“the most beautiful beast in the forest” from "Manchester,
England”. A tribe member reminds him that he’s really from Flushing, New York. Hud, Woof and Berger
declare what color they are (“I'm Black”), while Claude
says that he’s “invisible”. The tribe recites a list of things Act II
they lack (“Ain't Got No”). Four African-American tribe
members recite street signs in symbolic sequence (“Dead Four tribe members have the “Electric Blues”. After a
black-out, the tribe enters worshiping “Oh Great God of
End”).

4
Power.” Claude returns from the induction center, and
tribe members act out an imagined conversation from
Claude’s draft interview, with Hud saying “the draft is
white people sending black people to make war on the
yellow people to defend the land they stole from the red
people”. Claude gives Woof a Mick Jagger poster, and
Woof is excited about the gift, as he has said he’s hung
up on Jagger. Three white women of the tribe tell why
they like “Black Boys” (“black boys are delicious...”),
and three black women of the tribe, dressed like The
Supremes, explain why they like “White Boys” (“white
boys are so pretty...”).

3

EARLY PRODUCTIONS

ters dressed in a military uniform, his hair short, but they
do not see him because he is an invisible spirit. Claude
says, “like it or not, they got me.”
Claude and everyone sing “Flesh Failures”. The tribe
moves in front of Claude as Sheila and Dionne take up the
lyric. The whole tribe launches into “Let the Sun Shine
In”, and as they exit, they reveal Claude lying down center stage on a black cloth. During the curtain call, the
tribe reprises “Let the Sun Shine In” and brings audience
members up on stage to dance.

(Note: This plot summary is based on the original Broadway script. The script has varied in subsequent producBerger gives a joint to Claude that is laced with a tions.)
hallucinogen. Claude starts to trip as the tribe acts out
his visions (“Walking in Space”). He hallucinates that
he is skydiving from a plane into the jungles of Vietnam.
3 Early productions
Berger appears as General George Washington and is told
to retreat because of an Indian attack. The Indians shoot
all of Washington’s men. General Ulysses S. Grant ap- 3.1 Broadway
pears and begins a roll call: Abraham Lincoln (played by
a black female tribe member), John Wilkes Booth, Calvin Hair opened on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre on
Coolidge, Clark Gable, Scarlett O'Hara, Aretha Franklin, April 29, 1968. The production was directed by Tom
Colonel George Custer. Claude Bukowski is called in the O'Horgan and choreographed by Julie Arenal, with set
roll call, but Clark Gable says “he couldn't make it”. They design by Robin Wagner, costume design by Nancy Potts,
all dance a minuet until three African witch doctors kill and lighting design by Jules Fisher. The original Broadthem – all except for Abraham Lincoln who says, “I'm way “tribe” (i.e., cast) included authors Rado and Ragni,
one of you”. Lincoln, after the three Africans sing his who played the lead roles of Claude and Berger, respecpraises, recites an alternate version of the Gettysburg Ad- tively, and Lynn Kellogg as Sheila, Lamont Washington
dress (“Abie Baby”). Booth shoots Lincoln, but Lincoln as Hud, Sally Eaton and Shelley Plimpton reprising their
off-Broadway roles as Jeanie and Crissy, Melba Moore as
says to him, “I ain't dying for no white man”.
Dionne, Steve Curry as Woof, Ronnie Dyson (who sang
As the visions continue, four Buddhist monks enter. One
“Aquarius”), Paul Jabara and Diane Keaton (both Moore
monk pours a can of gasoline over another monk, who
and Keaton later played Sheila).[26] Among the performis set afire (reminiscent of the self-immolation of Thích
ers who appeared in Hair during its original Broadway run
Quảng Đức) and runs off screaming. Three Catholic nuns
were Ben Vereen, Keith Carradine, Barry McGuire, Ted
strangle the three remaining Buddhist monks. Three asLange, Meat Loaf, Kenny Seymour (of Little Anthony
tronauts shoot the nuns with ray guns. Three Chinese
and The Imperials), Joe Butler (of the Lovin' Spoonpeople stab the astronauts with knives. Three Native
ful), Peppy Castro (of the Blues Magoos), Robin McNaAmericans kill the Chinese with bows and tomahawks.
mara, Heather MacRae (daughter of Gordon MacRae),
Three green berets kill the Native Americans with maEddie Rambeau, Vicki Sue Robinson, Beverly Bremers
chine guns and then kill each other. A Sergeant and two
and Kim Milford.[26]
parents appear holding up a suit on a hanger. The parents
talk to the suit as if it is their son and they are very proud The Hair team soon became embroiled in a lawsuit with
of him. The bodies rise and play like children. The play the organizers of the Tony Awards. After assuring proescalates to violence until they are all dead again. They ducer Michael Butler that commencing previews by April
rise again ("Three-Five-Zero-Zero") and, at the end of 3, 1968 would assure eligibility for consideration for the
the trip sequence, two tribe members sing, over the dead 1968 Tonys, the New York Theatre League ruled Hair inbodies, a melody set to a Shakespeare lyric about the no- eligible, moving the cutoff date to March 19. The producers brought suit[27] but were unable to force the League to
bility of Man (“What A Piece of Work Is Man”).
reconsider.[28] At the 1969 Tonys, Hair was nominated
After the trip, Claude says “I can't take this moment to
for Best Musical and Best Director but lost out to 1776
moment living on the streets.... I know what I want to be...
in both categories.[29] The production ran for four years
invisible”. As they “look at the moon,” Sheila and the othand 1,750 performances, closing on July 1, 1972.[26]
ers enjoy a light moment ("Good Morning Starshine").
The tribe pays tribute to an old mattress (“The Bed”).
Claude is left alone with his doubts. He leaves as the tribe 3.2 Early regional productions
enters wrapped in blankets in the midst of a snow storm.
They start a protest chant and then wonder where Claude The West Coast version played at the Aquarius Theatre in
has gone. Berger calls out “Claude! Claude!" Claude en- Los Angeles beginning about six months after the Broad-

3.3

West End

way opening and running for an unprecedented two years.
The Los Angeles tribe included Rado, Ragni, Robert
Rothman, Ben Vereen (who replaced Ragni), Red Shepard, Ted Neeley (who replaced Rado), Meat Loaf, Gloria
Jones, Táta Vega, Jobriath, Jennifer Warnes, and Dobie
Gray.[5]

5

3.3 West End

Hair opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London on
September 27, 1968, led by the same creative team as
the Broadway production. The opening night was delayed
until the abolition of theatre censorship in England under the Theatres Act 1968 so that the show could include
There were soon nine simultaneous productions in U.S.
nudity and profanity.[39] As with other early productions,
[5][30]
cities, followed by national tours.
Among the perthe London show added a sprinkling of local allusions and
formers in these were Joe Mantegna, André DeShields,
other minor departures from the Broadway version.[40]
[31]
and Alaina Reed (Chicago),
David Lasley, David
Patrick Kelly and Shaun Murphy (Detroit),[32] Arnold The original London tribe included Sonja Kristina, Peter
McCuller (tour),[33] Bob Bingham (Seattle)[34] and Philip Straker, Paul Nicholas, Melba Moore, Elaine Paige, Paul
Michael Thomas (San Francisco).[35] The creative team Korda, Marsha Hunt, Floella Benjamin, Alex Harvey,
from Broadway worked on Hair in Los Angeles, Chicago Oliver Tobias, Richard O'Brien and Tim Curry. This
and San Francisco, as the Broadway staging served as a was Curry’s first full-time theatrical acting role, where he
rough template for these and other early regional pro- met future Rocky Horror Show collaborator O'Brien.[41]
ductions. A notable addition to the team in Los Ange- Hair's engagement in London surpassed the Broadway
les was Tom Smothers, who served as co-producer.[36] production, running for 1,997 performances[40] until its
Regional casts consisted mostly of local actors, although closure was forced by the roof of the theatre collapsing in
a few Broadway cast members reprised their roles in July 1973.[42]
other cities.[37] O'Horgan or the authors sometimes took
new ideas and improvisations from a regional show and
brought them back to New York, such as when live chick- 3.4 Early international productions
ens were tossed onto the stage in Los Angeles.[37]
The job of leading the foreign language productions of
It was rare for so many productions to run simultaneously Hair was given to Bertrand Castelli, Butler’s partner and
during an initial Broadway run. Producer Michael But- executive producer of the Broadway show.[43] Castelli
ler, who had declared that Hair is “the strongest anti-war was a writer/producer who traveled in Paris art circles and
statement ever written”, said the reason that he opened so rubbed elbows with Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau. Butmany productions was to influence public opinion against ler described him as a “crazy showman ... the guy with
the Vietnam War and end it as soon as possible.[38]
the business suit and beads”.[44] Castelli decided to do the
show in the local language of each country at a time when
Broadway shows were always done in English.[43] The
translations followed the original script closely, and the
Broadway stagings were used. Each script contained local references, such as street names and the names or depictions of local politicians and celebrities. Castelli produced companies in France, Germany, Mexico and other
countries, sometimes also directing the productions.[43]

London programme

A German production, directed by Castelli,[43] opened in
1968 in Munich;[45] the tribe included Donna Summer,
Liz Mitchell and Donna Wyant. A successful Parisian
production of Hair opened on June 1, 1969.[46] The original Australian production premiered in Sydney on June 6,
1969, produced by Harry M. Miller and directed by Jim
Sharman, who also designed the production. The tribe
included Keith Glass and then Reg Livermore as Berger,
John Waters as Claude and Sharon Redd as The Magician. Redd was one of six African-Americans brought
to Australia to provide a racially integrated tribe.[47][48]
The production broke local box-office records and ran for
two years, but because of some of the language in the
show, the cast album was banned in Queensland and New
Zealand. The production transferred to Melbourne in
1971 and then had a national tour. It marked the stage debut of Boston-born Australian vocalist Marcia Hines.[48]
In Mexico the production was banned by the government
after one night in Acapulco.[49] An 18-year-old Sônia

6
Braga appeared in the 1969 Brazilian production.[50]

4

THEMES

pler times. Some hippies wore old World War
II or Civil War jackets as way of co-opting the
symbols of war into their newfound philosophy
of nonviolence.[54]

Another notable production was in the former Yugoslavia
(Belgrade), the first Hair to be produced in a communist
country.[51] Directed by local female producer-director
Mira Trailović[52] and attended by president Tito, the
Belgrade production was a favorite of authors Rado and
Ragni, with Ragni declaring “there’s no middle class prej- 4.1 Race and the tribe
udices here”. Local references in the script included
barbs aimed at Mao Zedong as well as Albania, Yu- Extending the precedents set by Show Boat (1927) and
Porgy and Bess (1935), Hair opened the Broadway mugoslavia’s traditional rival.[43]
sical to racial integration; fully one-third of the cast was
By 1970, Hair was a huge financial success, and nineteen
African American.[55] Except for satirically in skits, the
productions had been staged outside of North America.
roles for the black members of the tribe portrayed them as
In addition to those named above, these included producequals, breaking away from the traditional roles for blacks
tions in Scandinavia, South America, Italy, Israel, Japan,
in entertainment as slaves or servants.[56] An Ebony mag[30]
Canada, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria.
azine article declared that the show was the biggest outlet
According to Billboard, the various productions of the
for black actors in the history of the U.S. stage.[55]
show were raking in almost $1 million every ten days, and
royalties were being collected for 300 different record- Several songs and scenes from the show address racial
[54]
ings of the show’s songs, making it “the most successful issues. “Colored Spade”, which introduces the characscore in history as well as the most performed score ever ter Hud, a militant black male, is a long list of racial slurs
(“jungle bunny... little black sambo”) topped off with the
written for the Broadway stage.”[53]
declaration that Hud is the “president of the United States
of love”.[57] At the end of his song, he tells the tribe that
the “boogie man” will get them, as the tribe pretends to
4 Themes
be frightened.[56] “Dead End”, sung by black tribe members, is a list of street signs that symbolize black frusHair explores many of the themes of the hippie movement tration and alienation. One of the tribe’s protest chants
of the 1960s. Theatre writer Scott Miller described these is “What do we think is really great? To bomb, lynch
as follows:
and segregate!"[56] “Black Boys/White Boys” is an exuberant acknowledgement of miscegenation;[58] the U.S.
[T]he youth of America, especially those
Supreme Court had struck down laws against the pracon college campuses, started protesting all the
tice in 1967.[59] Another of the tribe’s protest chants is
things that they saw wrong with America:
“Black, white, yellow, red. Copulate in a king-sized
racism, environmental destruction, poverty,
bed.”[56]
sexism and sexual repression, violence at home
“Abie Baby” is part of the Act 2 “trip” sequence: four
and the war in Vietnam, depersonalization
African witch doctors, who have just killed various
from new technologies, and corruption in polAmerican historical, cultural and fictional characters,
itics. ... Contrary to popular opinion, the
sing the praises of Abraham Lincoln, portrayed by a black
hippies had great respect for America and befemale tribe member, whom they decide not to kill.[60]
lieved that they were the true patriots, the only
The first part of the song contains stereotypical language
ones who genuinely wanted to save our counthat black characters used in old movies, like “I’s finished
try and make it the best it could be once again.
... pluckin' y'all’s chickens” and “I’s free now thanks to
... [Long] hair was the hippies’ flag – their ...
y'all, Master Lincoln”. The Lincoln character then recites
symbol not only of rebellion but also of new
a modernized version of the Gettysburg Address, while a
possibilities, a symbol of the rejection of diswhite female tribe member polishes Lincoln’s shoes with
crimination and restrictive gender roles (a phiher blond hair.[56]
losophy celebrated in the song “My ConvicThe many references to Native Americans throughout the
tion”). It symbolized equality between men
script are part of the anti-consumerism, naturalism foand women. ... [T]he hippies’ chosen clothing also made statements. Drab work clothes
cus of the hippie movement and of Hair. The characters
(jeans, work shirts, pea coats) were a rejection
in the show are referred to as the “tribe”, borrowing the
of materialism. Clothing from other cultures,
term for Native American communities.[54] The cast of
each production chooses a tribal name: “The practice is
particularly the Third World and native Amernot just cosmetic ... the entire cast must work together,
icans, represented their awareness of the global
must like each other, and often within the show, must
community and their rejection of U.S. imperiwork as a single organism. All the sense of family, of bealism and selfishness. Simple cotton dresses
longing, of responsibility and loyalty inherent in the word
and other natural fabrics were a rejection of
“tribe” has to be felt by the cast.”[54] To enhance this feelsynthetics, a return to natural things and sim-

4.4

Religion and astrology

7

burn his draft card.[54] Pacifism is explored throughout the extended trip sequence in Act 2. The lyrics to
"Three-Five-Zero-Zero", which is sung during that sequence, evoke the horrors of war (“ripped open by metal
explosion”).[67] The song is based on Allen Ginsberg's
1966 poem, "Wichita Vortex Sutra". In the poem, General Maxwell Taylor proudly reports to the press the number of enemy soldiers killed in one month, repeating it
digit by digit, for effect: “Three-Five-Zero-Zero.” The
song begins with images of death and dying and turns
4.2 Nudity, sexual freedom and drug use into a manic dance number, echoing Maxwell’s glee at
reporting the enemy casualties, as the tribe chants “Take
The brief nude scene at the end of Act I was a subject weapons up and begin to kill”.[54] The song also includes
of controversy and notoriety.[1][62] Miller writes that “nu- the repeated phrase “Prisoners in niggertown/ It’s a dirty
dity was a big part of the hippie culture, both as a rejec- little war”.[56]
tion of the sexual repression of their parents and also as
“Don't Put It Down” satirizes the unexamined patrioa statement about naturalism, spirituality, honesty, opentism of people who are literally “crazy” for the American
ness, and freedom. The naked body was beautiful, someflag.[68] “Be In (Hare Krishna)" praises the peace movething to be celebrated and appreciated, not scorned and
ment and events like the San Francisco and Central Park
hidden. They saw their bodies and their sexuality as gifts,
Be-Ins.[69] Throughout the show, the tribe chants popular
[54]
not as 'dirty' things.”
protest slogans like “What do we want? Peace! – When
Hair glorifies sexual freedom in a variety of ways. In ad- do we want it? Now!" and “Do not enter the induction
dition to acceptance of miscegenation, mentioned above, center”.[56] The upbeat song, “Let the Sun Shine In”, is
the characters’ lifestyle acts as a sexually and politically a call to action, to reject the darkness of war and change
charged updating of La bohème; as Rado explained, “The the world for the better.[54]
love element of the peace movement was palpable.”[4] In
Hair also aims its satire at the pollution caused by our
the song “Sodomy”, Woof exhorts everyone to “join the
civilization.[54] Jeanie appears from a trap door in the
holy orgy Kama Sutra".[63] Toward the end of Act 2, the
stage wearing a gas mask and then sings the song “Air":
tribe members reveal their free love tendencies when they
“Welcome, sulfur dioxide. Hello carbon monoxide. The
banter back and forth about who will sleep with whom
air ... is everywhere”.[70] She suggests that pollution will
that night.[64] Woof has a crush on Mick Jagger, and a
eventually kill her, “vapor and fume at the stone of my
three-way embrace between Claude, Berger and Sheila
tomb, breathing like a sullen perfume”.[56] In a comic,
turns into a Claude–Berger kiss.[56]
pro-green vein, when Woof introduces himself, he exVarious illegal drugs are taken by the characters during plains that he “grows things” like “beets, and corn ... and
the course of the show, most notably a hallucinogen dur- sweet peas” and that he “loves the flowers and the fuzz
ing the trip sequence.[54] The song “Walking in Space” and the trees”.[56]
begins the sequence, and the lyrics celebrate the experience declaring “how dare they try to end this beauty
... in this dive we rediscover sensation ... our eyes are 4.4 Religion and astrology
open, wide, wide, wide”. Similarly, in the song “Donna”,
Berger sings that “I'm evolving through the drugs that you Religion, particularly Catholicism, appears both overtly
put down.”[65] At another point, Jeanie smokes marijuana and symbolically throughout the piece, and it is often
[54]
Berger sings of looking
and dismisses the critics of “pot”.[56] Generally, the tribe made the brunt of a joke.
for
“my
Donna”,
giving
it
the
double meaning of the
favors hallucinogenic or “mind expanding” drugs, such as
[66]
woman
he’s
searching
for
and
the
Madonna.[71] During
LSD and marijuana, while disapproving of other drugs
such as speed and depressants. For example, Jeanie, af- “Sodomy”, a hymn-like paean to all that is “dirty” about
ter revealing that she is pregnant by a "speed freak”, says sex, the cast strikes evocative religious positions: the
[71]
that "methedrine is a bad scene”.[56] The song “Hashish” Pietà and Christ on the cross. Before the song, Woof
provides a list of pharmaceuticals, both illegal and legal, recites a modified rosary. In Act II, when Berger gives
including cocaine, alcohol, LSD, opium and Thorazine, imaginary pills to various famous figures, he offers “a pill
for the Pope".[56] In “Going Down”, after being kicked
which is used as an antipsychotic.[66]
out of school, Berger compares himself to Lucifer: “Just
like the angel that fell / Banished forever to hell / Today have I been expelled / From high school heaven.”[72]
4.3 Pacifism and environmentalism
Claude becomes a classic Christ figure at various points
The theme of opposition to the war that pervades the in the script.[73] In Act I, Claude enters, saying, “I am the
show is unified by the plot thread that progresses through Son of God. I shall vanish and be forgotten,” then gives
the book – Claude’s moral dilemma over whether to benediction to the tribe and the audience. Claude suffers
ing, O'Horgan put the cast through sensitivity exercises
based on trust, touching, listening and intensive examination that broke down barriers between the cast and crew
and encouraged bonding. These exercises were based on
techniques developed at the Esalen Institute and Polish
Lab Theater.[24] The idea of Claude, Berger and Sheila
living together is another facet of the 1960s concept of
tribe.[61]

8

5

DRAMATICS

from indecision, and, in his Gethsemane at the end of Act
I, he asks “Where Do I Go?". There are textual allusions
to Claude being on a cross, and, in the end, he is chosen
to give his life for the others.[73] Berger has been seen as a
John the Baptist figure, preparing the way for Claude.[54]

gle to find their place in a world marred by war, violence,
and venal politics. They see both the luminous possibilities and the harshest realities of being human. In the end,
unable to effectively combat the evil around them, they
tragically succumb.”[84]

Songs like “Good Morning, Starshine” and "Aquarius" reflect the 1960s cultural interest in astrological and cosmic concepts.[74] “Aquarius” was the result of Rado’s
research into his own astrological sign.[75] The company’s astrologer, Maria Crummere, was consulted about
casting:[76] Sheila was usually played by a Libra or
Capricorn and Berger by a Leo,[75] although Ragni, the
original Berger, was a Virgo.[77] Crummere was also
consulted when deciding when the show would open on
Broadway and in other cities.[49] The 1971 Broadway
Playbill reported that she chose April 29, 1968 for the
Broadway premiere. “The 29th was auspicious ... because the moon was high, indicating that people would
attend in masses. The position of the 'history makers’
(Pluto, Uranus, Jupiter) in the 10th house made the show
unique, powerful and a money-maker. And the fact that
Neptune was on the ascendancy foretold that Hair would
develop a reputation involving sex.”[78]

Other literary references include the song “Three-FiveZero-Zero”, based on Ginsberg’s poem “Wichita Vortex
Sutra”,[85] and, in the psychedelic drug trip sequence, the
portrayal of Scarlett O'Hara, from Gone with the Wind,
and activist African-American poet LeRoi Jones.[56]

5 Dramatics
In his introduction to the published script of Viet Rock,
Richard Schechner says, “performance, action, and event
are the key terms of our theatre – and these terms are
not literary.”[86] In the 1950s, Off-off Broadway theaters
began experimenting with non-traditional theater roles,
blurring the lines between playwright, director, and actor. The playwright’s job was not just to put words on
a page, but to create a theatrical experience based on a
central idea. By 1967, theaters such as The Living Theatre, La MaMa E.T.C. and The Open Theatre were actively devising plays from improvisational scenes crafted
in the rehearsal space, rather than following a traditional
script.[87]

In Mexico, where Crummere did not pick the opening
date, the show was closed down by the government after one night.[49] She was not pleased with the date of the
Boston opening (where the producers were sued over the
show’s content)[79][80] saying, “Jupiter will be in opposition to naughty Saturn, and the show opens the very day
of the sun’s eclipse. Terrible.” But there was no astrolog- 5.1
ically safe time in the near future.[81]

4.5

Literary themes and symbolism

Hair makes many references to Shakespeare’s plays, especially Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, and, at times, takes
lyrical material directly from Shakespeare.[54] For example, the lyrics to the song “What a Piece of Work Is Man”
are from Hamlet (II: scene 2) and portions of “Flesh Failures” (“the rest is silence”) are from Hamlet’s final lines.
In “Flesh Failures/Let The Sun Shine In”, the lyrics “Eyes,
look your last!/ Arms, take your last embrace! And lips,
O you/ The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss” are
from Romeo and Juliet (V: iii, 111–14).[82] According to
Miller, the Romeo suicide imagery makes the point that,
with our complicity in war, we are killing ourselves.[54]
Symbolically, the running plot of Claude’s indecision, especially his resistance to burning his draft card, which
ultimately causes his demise, has been seen as a parallel
to Hamlet: “the melancholy hippie”.[83] The symbolism
is carried into the last scene, where Claude appears as a
ghostly spirit among his friends wearing an army uniform
in an ironic echo of an earlier scene, where he says, “I
know what I want to be ... invisible”. According to Public
Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis, “Both [Hair and
Hamlet] center on idealistic brilliant men as they strug-

Viet Rock and Hair

Megan Terry’s Viet Rock was created using this improvisational process.[87] Scenes in Viet Rock were connected
in “prelogical ways": a scene could be built from a tangent from the scene before, it could be connected psychologically, or it could be in counterpoint to the previous
scene.[87] Actors were asked to switch roles in the middle of a show, and frequently in mid-scene. In her stage
directions for a Senate hearing scene in Viet Rock, Terry
wrote, “The actors should take turns being senators and
witnesses; the transformations should be abrupt and total.
When the actor is finished with one character he becomes
another, or just an actor.”[87]
Hair was designed in much the same way. Tom
O'Horgan, the show’s Broadway director, was intimately
involved in the experimental theatre movement.[54] In the
transition to Broadway, O'Horgan and the writers rearranged scenes to increase the experimental aspects of the
show.[87] Hair asks its actors to assume several different
characters throughout the course of the piece, and, as in
Claude’s psychedelic trip in Act 2, sometimes during the
same scene. Both Hair and Viet Rock include rock music,
borrowed heavily from mass media, and frequently break
down the invisible "fourth wall" to interact with the audience. For example, in the opening number, the tribe
mingles with audience members, and at the end of the
show, the audience is invited on stage.[87]

9

5.2

Production design

In the original Broadway production, the stage was completely open, with no curtain and the fly area and grid exposed to the audience. The proscenium arch was outlined with climb-ready scaffolding. Wagner’s spare set
was painted in shades of grey with street graffiti stenciled
on the stage. The stage was raked, and a tower of abstract
scaffolding upstage at the rear merged a Native American totem pole and a modern sculpture of a crucifixshaped tree. This scaffolding was decorated with found
objects that the cast had gathered from the streets of New
York. These included a life-size papier-mâché bus driver,
the head of Jesus, and a neon marquee of the Waverly
movie theater in Greenwich Village.[88] Potts’ costumes
were based on hippie street clothes, made more theatrical
with enhanced color and texture. Some of these included
mixed parts of military uniforms, bell bottom jeans with
Ukrainian embroidery, tie dyed T-shirts and a red white
and blue fringed coat.[88] Early productions were primarily reproductions of this basic design.

5.3

that part of acting is being private in public. So I did
it.”[94] According to Melba Moore, “It doesn't mean anything except what you want it to mean. We put so much
value on clothing. .... It’s like so much else people get
uptight about.”[95] Donna Summer, who was in the German production, said that “it was not meant to be sexual.
... We stood naked to comment on the fact that society
makes more of nudity than killing.”[7] Rado said that “being naked in front of an audience, you're baring your soul.
Not only the soul but the whole body was being exposed.
It was very apt, very honest and almost necessary.”[7]

6 Music

Nude scene

“Much has been written about that scene ... most of it
silly,” wrote Gene Lees in High Fidelity.[89] The scene was
inspired by two men who took off their clothes to antagonize the police during an informal anti-war gathering.[7]
During “Where Do I Go?", the stage was covered in a
giant scrim, beneath which those choosing to participate
in the scene removed their clothes. At the musical cue,
“they [stood] naked and motionless, their bodies bathed in
Fisher’s light projection of floral patterns. They chant[ed]
of 'beads, flowers, freedom, and happiness.'"[90] It lasted
only twenty seconds.[91] Indeed, the scene happened so
quickly and was so dimly lit that it prompted Jack Benny,
during the interval at a London preview, to quip, “Did you
happen to notice if any of them were Jewish?"[92] Nevertheless, the scene prompted threats of censorship and
even violent reactions in some places.[8] It also became
fodder for pop-cultural jokes. Groucho Marx quipped, “I
was gonna go see it, and then I called up the theater. ...
They said the tickets were $11 apiece. I told them I'd call
back, went into my bathroom, took off all my clothes, and
looked at myself in the full-length mirror. Then I called
the theater and said, 'Forget it.'"[93]
The nudity was optional for the performers. The
French cast was “the nudest” of the foreign groups,
while the London cast “found the nudity the hardest to
achieve.”[52] The Swedish cast was reluctant to disrobe,
but in Copenhagen, the tribe thought the nudity too tame
and decided to walk naked up and down the aisle during
the show’s prelude.[43] In some early performances, the
Germans played their scene behind a big sheet labeled
“CENSORED”.[43][52] Original Broadway cast member
Natalie Mosco said, “I was dead set against the nude scene
at first, but I remembered my acting teacher having said

In these two measures of “What a Piece of Work Is Man”, the red
notes indicate a weak syllable on a strong beat.

After studying the music of the Bantu at Cape Town University,[54] MacDermot incorporated African rhythms
into the score of Hair.[9] He listened to “what [the Bantu]
called quaylas... [which have a] very characteristic beat,
very similar to rock. Much deeper though.... Hair is very
African – a lot of [the] rhythms, not the tunes so much.”[9]
Quaylas stress beats on unexpected syllables, and this
influence can be heard in songs like “What a Piece of
Work Is Man” and “Ain't Got No Grass”.[96] MacDermot said, “My idea was to make a total funk show. They
said they wanted rock & roll – but to me that translated
to 'funk.'"[97] That funk is evident throughout the score,
notably in songs like “Colored Spade” and “Walking in
Space”.[97]
MacDermot has claimed that the songs “can't all be the
same. You've got to get different styles.... I like to think
they're all a little different.”[4] As such, the music in Hair
runs the gamut of rock: from the rockabilly sensibilities of “Don't Put it Down” to the folk rock rhythms of
“Frank Mills” and “What a Piece of Work is Man”. "Easy
to Be Hard" is pure rhythm and blues, and protest rock
anthems abound: “Ain't Got No” and “The Flesh Failures”. The acid rock of “Walking in Space” and “Aquarius” are balanced by the mainstream pop of “Good Morning Starshine”.[98] Scott Miller ties the music of Hair to
the hippies’ political themes: “The hippies... were determined to create art of the people and their chosen
art form, rock/folk music was by its definition, populist.
...[T]he hippies’ music was often very angry, its anger

10

6

MUSIC

directed at those who would prostitute the Constitution, Great God of Power”,[106] two songs that were cut from
who would sell America out, who would betray what the original production.
America stood for; in other words, directed at their parents and the government.”[54] Theatre historian John Kenrick explains the application of rock music to the medium 6.2 Recordings
of the stage:
The first recording of Hair was made in 1967 featuring the off-Broadway cast. The original Broadway cast
The same hard rock sound that had conrecording received a Grammy Award in 1968 for Best
quered the world of popular music made its
Score from an Original Cast Show Album[30] and sold
way to the musical stage with two simultanenearly 3 million copies in the U.S. by December 1969.[49]
ous hits – Your Own Thing [and] Hair.... This
The New York Times noted in 2007 that “The cast album
explosion of revolutionary proclamations, proof Hair was... a must-have for the middle classes. Its exfanity and hard rock shook the musical theatre
otic orange-and-green cover art imprinted itself instantly
to its roots.... Most people in the theatre busiand indelibly on the psyche.... [It] became a pop-rock
ness were unwilling to look on Hair as anyclassic that, like all good pop, has an appeal that tranthing more than a noisy accident. Tony votscends particular tastes for genre or period.”[16] The 1993
ers tried to ignore Hair’s importance, shutting
London revival cast album contains new music that has
it out from any honors. However, some now inbeen incorporated into the standard rental version.[54]
sisted it was time for a change. New York Times
RCA also released DisinHAIRited (RCA LSO-1163): an
critic Clive Barnes gushed that Hair was “the
album of songs that had been written for the show, but
first Broadway musical in some time to have
saw varying amounts of stage time. Some of the songs
the authentic voice of today rather than the day
were cut between the Public and Broadway, some had
before yesterday.”[99]
been left off the original cast album due to space, and a
few were never performed onstage.[104]
The music did not resonate with everyone. Leonard Bernstein remarked “the songs are just laundry lists”[100] and Songs from Hair have been recorded by numerous
[107]
including Shirley Bassey, Barbra Streisand
walked out of the production.[101] Richard Rodgers could artists,
[100]
and
Diana
Ross.[108] “Good Morning Starshine” was
only hear the beat and called it “one-third music”.
John Fogerty said, "Hair is such a watered down ver- sung on a 1969 episode of Sesame Street by cast mem[109]
and versions by artists such as
sion of what is really going on that I can’t get behind it ber Bob McGrath,
[102]
Sarah
Brightman,
Petula
Clark, and Strawberry Alarm
at all.”
Gene Lees, writing for High Fidelity, claimed
[110]
Clock
have
been
recorded.
Artists as varied as Liza
that John Lennon found it “dull”, and he wrote, “I do not
[89]
Minnelli
and
The
Lemonheads
have recorded “Frank
know any musician who thinks it’s good.”
Mills”,[111] and Andrea McArdle, Jennifer Warnes, and
Sérgio Mendes have each contributed versions of “Easy to
Be Hard”.[112] Hair also helped launch recording careers
6.1 Songs
for performers Meat Loaf, Dobie Gray, Jennifer Warnes,
Donna Summer
The score had many more songs than were typical of Jobriath, Bert Sommer, Ronnie Dyson,
and Melba Moore, among others.[53]
[5]
Broadway shows of the day. Most Broadway shows
had about six to ten songs per act; Hair's total is in the The score of Hair saw chart successes, as well. The 5th
thirties.[103] This list reflects the most common Broadway Dimension released "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" in
lineup.[104]
1969, which won Record of the Year in 1970[113] and
The show was under almost perpetual re-write. Thirteen topped the charts for six weeks. The Cowsills' recording
song “Hair” climbed to #2 on the Billboard
songs were added between the production at the Public of the title
[114]
while Oliver's rendition of “Good Morning
Hot
100.
[104]
Theater and Broadway, including “I Believe in Love”.
Starshine”
reached
#3.[115] Three Dog Night's version of
“The Climax” and “Dead End” were cut between the pro[116]
Nina Simone's 1968
ductions, and “Exanaplanetooch” and “You Are Stand- “Easy to Be Hard” went to #4.
medley
of
“Ain't
Got
No
/
I
Got
Life”
reached the top
ing on My Bed” were present in previews but cut before
[117]
5
on
the
British
charts.
In
1970,
ASCAP
announced
Broadway. The Shakespearean speech "What a piece of
that
“Aquarius”
was
played
more
frequently
on
U.S. radio
work is a man" was originally spoken by Claude and mu[118]
and
television
than
any
other
song
that
year.
sicalized by MacDermot for Broadway, and “Hashish”
was formed from an early speech of Berger’s.[104] Subsequent productions have included “Hello There”, “Dead
End”,[104] and “Hippie Life” – a song originally written
for the film that Rado included in several productions in
Europe in the mid-nineties.[105] The current Broadway revival includes the ten-second “Sheila Franklin” and “O

Productions in England, Germany, France, Sweden,
Japan, Israel, Holland, Australia and elsewhere released
cast albums,[119] and over 1,000 vocal and/or instrumental performances of individual songs from Hair have been
recorded.[30] Such broad attention was paid to the recordings of Hair that, after an unprecedented bidding war,

7.1

Awards and nominations

ABC Records was willing to pay a record amount for
MacDermot’s next Broadway adaptation Two Gentlemen
of Verona.[120] The 2009 revival recording, released on
June 23, debuted at #1 on Billboard's “Top Cast Album”
chart and at #63 in the Top 200, qualifying it as the highest debuting album in Ghostlight Records history.[121]

7

Critical reception

Reception to Hair upon its Broadway premiere was, with
exceptions, overwhelmingly positive. Clive Barnes wrote
in the New York Times: “What is so likable about Hair...?
I think it is simply that it is so likable. So new, so fresh,
and so unassuming, even in its pretensions.”[64] John J.
O'Connor of The Wall Street Journal said the show was
“exuberantly defiant and the production explodes into
every nook and cranny of the Biltmore Theater”.[122]
Richard Watts Jr. of the New York Post wrote that “it
has a surprising if perhaps unintentional charm, its high
spirits are contagious, and its young zestfulness makes it
difficult to resist.”[123]
Television reviews were even more enthusiastic. Allan Jeffreys of ABC said the actors were “the most talented hippies you'll ever see... directed in a wonderfully
wild fashion by Tom O'Horgan.”[124] Leonard Probst of
NBC said "Hair is the only new concept in musicals on
Broadway in years and it’s more fun than any other this
season”.[125] John Wingate of WOR TV praised MacDermot’s “dynamic score” that “blasts and soars”,[126] and
Len Harris of CBS said “I've finally found the best musical of the Broadway season... it’s that sloppy, vulgar,
terrific tribal love rock musical Hair.”[127]

11
noisy, ugly and quite desperately funny.”[131]
Acknowledging the show’s critics, Scott Miller wrote in
2001 that “some people can't see past the appearance of
chaos and randomness to the brilliant construction and
sophisticated imagery underneath.”[54] Miller notes, “Not
only did many of the lyrics not rhyme, but many of the
songs didn't really have endings, just a slowing down and
stopping, so the audience didn't know when to applaud....
The show rejected every convention of Broadway, of traditional theatre in general, and of the American musical
in specific. And it was brilliant.”[54]

7.1 Awards and nominations

8 Social change
Hair challenged many of the norms held by Western society in 1968. The name itself, inspired by the name of a
Jim Dine painting depicting a comb and a few strands of
hair,[5][132] was a reaction to the restrictions of civilization
and consumerism and a preference for naturalism.[133]
Rado remembers that long hair “was a visible form of
awareness in the consciousness expansion. The longer the
hair got, the more expansive the mind was. Long hair was
shocking, and it was a revolutionary act to grow long hair.
It was kind of a flag, really.”[132]

The musical caused controversy when it was first staged.
The Act I finale was the first time a Broadway show had
seen totally naked actors and actresses,[1] and the show
was charged with the desecration of the American flag
and the use of obscene language.[8][134] These controversies, in addition to the anti–Vietnam War theme, attracted
occasional threats and acts of violence during the show’s
A reviewer from Variety, on the other hand, called the early years and became the basis for legal actions both
show “loony” and “without a story, form, music, danc- when the show opened in other cities and on tour. Two
ing, beauty or artistry.... It’s impossible to tell whether cases eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
[the cast has] talent. Maybe talent is irrelevant in this
new kind of show business.”[128] Reviews in the news
weeklies were mixed; Jack Kroll in Newsweek wrote, 8.1 Legal challenges and violent reactions
“There is no denying the sheer kinetic drive of this new
Hair... there is something hard, grabby, slightly corrupt The touring company of Hair met with resistance
about O'Horgan’s virtuosity, like Busby Berkeley gone throughout the United States. In South Bend, Indiana,
bitchy.”[129] But a reviewer from Time wrote that although the Morris Civic Auditorium refused booking,[135] and
the show “thrums with vitality [it is] crippled by being a in Evansville, Indiana, the production was picketed by
bookless musical and, like a boneless fish, it drifts when several church groups.[136] In Indianapolis, Indiana, the
producers had difficulty securing a theater, and city auit should swim.”[130]
Reviews were mixed when Hair opened in London. Irv- thorities suggested that the cast wear body stockings as a
city’s ordinance prohibiting publicly
ing Wardle in The Times wrote, “Its honesty and pas- compromise to the
[135]
Productions were frequently condisplayed
nudity.
sion give it the quality of a true theatrical celebration –
fronted
with
the
closure
of theaters by the fire marshal,
the joyous sound of a group of people telling the world
[137]
Gladewater,
Texas.
Chattanooga's 1972 refusal
as
in
exactly what they feel.” In The Financial Times, B. A.
to
allow
the
play
to
be
shown
at
the city-owned Memorial
Young agreed that Hair was “not only a wildly enjoyable
[138][139]
was
later
found
by the U.S. Supreme
Auditorium
evening, but a thoroughly moral one.” However, in his fi[140]
Court
to
be
an
unlawful
prior
restraint.
nal review before retiring after 48 years, 78-year-old W.
A. Darlington of The Daily Telegraph wrote that he had The legal challenges against the Boston production were
“tried hard”, but found the evening “a complete bore – appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Chief of

12

9

the Licensing Bureau took exception to the portrayal of
the American flag in the piece,[141] saying, “anyone who
desecrates the flag should be whipped on Boston Common.”[79] Although the scene was removed before opening, the District Attorney's office began plans to stop the
show, claiming that “lewd and lascivious” actions were
taking place onstage. The Hair legal team obtained an
injunction against criminal prosecution from the Superior
Court,[142] and the D.A. appealed to the Massachusetts
Supreme Judicial Court. At the request of both parties,
several of the justices viewed the production and handed
down a ruling that “each member of the cast [must] be
clothed to a reasonable extent.” The cast defiantly played
the scene nude later that night, stating that the ruling was
vague as to when it would take effect.[79] The next day,
April 10, 1970, the production closed, and movie houses,
fearing the ruling on nudity, began excising scenes from
films in their exhibition. After the Federal appellate
bench reversed the Massachusetts court’s ruling, the D.A.
appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a 4–4
decision, the Court upheld the lower court’s decision, allowing Hair to re-open on May 22.[80]
In April 1971, a bomb was thrown at the exterior of a
theater in Cleveland, Ohio that had been housing a production, bouncing off the marquee and shattering windows in the building and in nearby storefronts.[143] That
same month, the families of cast member Jonathon Johnson and stage manager Rusty Carlson died in a fire in the
Cleveland hotel where 33 members of the show’s troupe
had been staying.[144][145] The Sydney, Australia production’s opening night was interrupted by a bomb scare in
June 1969.[146]

8.2

Worldwide reactions

Local reactions to the controversial material varied
greatly. San Francisco’s large hippie population considered the show an extension of the street activities there,
often blurring the barrier between art and life by meditating with the cast and frequently finding themselves onstage during the show.[37] An 18-year-old Princess Anne
was seen dancing onstage in London,[147] and in Washington DC, Henry Kissinger attended. In St. Paul,
Minnesota, a protesting clergyman released 18 white
mice into the lobby hoping to frighten the audience.[37]
Capt. Jim Lovell and Jack Swigert, after dubbing Apollo
13's lunar module “Aquarius” after the song, walked out
of the production at the Biltmore in protest of perceived
anti-Americanism and disrespect of the flag.[148]

BEYOND THE 1960S

they were forced to go into hiding.[149] They were expelled from Mexico days later.[150][151]
Hair effectively marked the end of stage censorship in
the United Kingdom.[131] London’s stage censor, the Lord
Chamberlain, originally refused to license the musical,
and the opening was delayed until Parliament passed a
bill stripping him of his licensing power.[131] In Munich,
authorities threatened to close the production if the nude
scene remained; however, after a local Hair spokesman
declared that his relatives had been marched nude into
Auschwitz, the authorities relented.[43] In Bergen, Norway, local citizens formed a human barricade to try to
prevent the performance.[43]
The Parisian production encountered little controversy,
and the cast disrobed for the nude scene “almost religiously” according to Castelli, nudity being common on
stage in Paris.[152] Even in Paris there was nevertheless
occasional opposition, however, such as when a member
of the local Salvation Army used a portable loud speaker
to exhort the audience to halt the presentation.[43][153]

9 Beyond the 1960s
9.1 1970s
See also: Hair (film)
A Broadway revival of Hair opened in 1977 for a run of
43 performances. It was produced by Butler, directed by
O'Horgan and performed in the Biltmore Theater, where
the original Broadway production had played. The cast
included Ellen Foley, Annie Golden, Cleavant Derricks
and Kristen Vigard.[154] Newcomer Peter Gallagher left
the ensemble during previews to take the role of Danny
Zuko in a tour of Grease.[155] Reviews were generally negative, and critics accused the production of “showing its
gray”.[156] Few major revivals of Hair followed until the
early 1990s.
A movie version of Hair, with a screenplay by Michael
Weller, was directed by Miloš Forman and released in
1979. Filmed primarily in New York City’s Central
Park and Washington Square Park,[157] the cast includes
Treat Williams, Beverly D'Angelo, John Savage, Foley
and Golden.[158] Several of the songs were deleted, and
the film’s storyline departs significantly from the musical. The character of Claude is rewritten as an innocent
draftee from Oklahoma, newly arrived in New York to
join the military, and Sheila is a high-society debutante
who catches his eye. In perhaps the greatest diversion
from the stage version, a mistake leads Berger to go to
Vietnam in Claude’s place, where he is killed.[159]

An Acapulco, Mexico production of Hair, directed by
Castelli,[43] played in 1969 for one night. After the performance, the theater, located across the street from a
popular local bordello, was padlocked by the government,
which said the production was “detrimental to the morals
of youth.”[78] The cast was arrested soon after the per- Rado and Ragni were unhappy with the film, feeling that
formance and taken to Immigration, where they agreed Forman portrayed the hippies as “oddballs” and “some
to leave the country, but because of legal complications sort of aberration” without any connection to the peace

9.2

1980s and 1990s

13
inventions make this Hair seem much funnier than I
remember the show’s having been. They also provide
time and space for the development of characters who,
on the stage, had to express themselves almost entirely in
song.... [T]he entire cast is superb.... Mostly... the film
is a delight.”[162]

9.2 1980s and 1990s
A 20th anniversary concert event was held in May 1988 at
the United Nations General Assembly to benefit children
with AIDS.[163] The event was sponsored by First Lady
Nancy Reagan with Barbara Walters giving the night’s
opening introduction.[164] Rado, Ragni and MacDermot
reunited to write nine new songs for the concert. The cast
of 163 actors included former stars from various productions around the globe: Melba Moore, Ben Vereen, Treat
Williams and Donna Summer, as well as guest performers
Bea Arthur, Frank Stallone and Dr. Ruth Westheimer.
Ticket prices ranged from $250 to $5,000 and the proceeds went to the United States Committee for UNICEF
and the Creo Society’s Fund for Children with AIDS.[164]
A 1985 production of Hair mounted in Montreal
was reportedly the 70th professional production of the
musical.[30] In November 1988, Michael Butler produced
Hair at Chicago’s Vic Theater to celebrate the shows’
20th anniversary. The production was well received and
ran until February 1989.[164] From 1990 to 1991, Pink
Lace Productions ran a U.S. national tour of Hair that
included stops in South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee
and Kentucky.[164] After Ragni died in 1991, MacDermot and Rado continued to write new songs for revivals
through the 1990s. Hair Sarajevo, AD 1992 was staged
during the Siege of Sarajevo as an appeal for peace.[30]
Rado directed a $1 million, 11 city national tour in
1994 that featured actor Luther Creek. With MacDermot returning to oversee the music, Rado’s tour celebrated the show’s 25th anniversary.[165] A small 1990
“bus and truck” production of Hair toured Europe for
over 3 years,[165] and Rado directed various European
productions from 1995 to 1999.[105]

1979 movie poster.

movement, failing to capture the essence of the original
stage production.[160] They stated: “Any resemblance between the 1979 film and the original Biltmore version,
other than some of the songs, the names of the characters, and a common title, eludes us.”[160] In their view,
the screen version of Hair has not yet been produced.[160]
However, the film received generally favorable
reviews.[161] Writing in The New York Times, Vincent
Canby called it “a rollicking musical memoir.... Weller’s

A production opened in Australia in 1992[166] and a shortlived London revival starring John Barrowman and Paul
Hipp opened at the Old Vic in London in 1993, directed
by Michael Bogdanov.[167][168] While the London production was faithful to the original, a member of the production staff said the reason it “flopped” was because the
tribe consisted of "Thatcher’s children who didn't really
get it”.[169] Other productions were mounted around the
world, including South Africa, where the show had been
banned until the eradication of Apartheid.[170] In 1996,
Butler brought a month-long production to Chicago, employing the Pacific Musical Theater, a professional troupe
in residence at California State University, Fullerton.
Butler ran the show concurrently with the 1996 Democratic National Convention, echoing the last time the
DNC was in Chicago: 1968.[171] A 30th Anniversary Off-

14

9

BEYOND THE 1960S

Off Broadway production was staged at Third Eye Reper- the original Broadway production joined the cast on stage
tory. It was directed by Shawn Rozsa.[172]
during the encore of “Let the Sun Shine In.” Demand for
the show was overwhelming, as long lines and overnight
waits for tickets far exceeded that for other Delacorte productions such as Mother Courage and Her Children star9.3 2000s and 2010s
ring Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline.[185]
In 2001, the Reprise! theatre company in Los Angeles performed Hair at the Wadsworth Theatre, starring Steven Weber as Berger, Sam Harris as Claude and
Jennifer Leigh Warren as Sheila.[173] That same year,
Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert ended its
2001 City Center season with a production of Hair starring Luther Creek, Idina Menzel and Tom Plotkin, and
featuring Hair composer Galt MacDermot on stage playing the keyboards.[174] An Actors’ Fund benefit of the
show was performed for one night at the New Amsterdam
Theater in New York City in 2004. The Tribe included
Shoshana Bean, Raul Esparza, Jim J. Bullock, Liz Callaway, Gavin Creel, Eden Espinosa, Harvey Fierstein, Ana
Gasteyer, Annie Golden, Jennifer Hudson, Julia Murney,
Jai Rodriguez, RuPaul, Michael McKean, Laura Benanti
and Adam Pascal.[175]
In 2005, a London production opened at the Gate Theatre, directed by Daniel Kramer. James Rado approved
an updating of the musical’s script to place it in the context of the Iraq War instead of the Vietnam War.[176]
Kramer’s modernized interpretation included “Aquarius”
sung over a megaphone in Times Square, and nudity that
called to mind images from Abu Ghraib.[177] In March
2006, Rado collaborated with director Robert Prior for a
CanStage production of Hair in Toronto,[178] and a revival
produced by Pieter Toerien toured South Africa in 2007.
Directed by Paul Warwick Griffin, with choreography by
Timothy Le Roux, the show ran at the Montecasino Theatre in Johannesburg and at Theatre on the Bay in Cape
Town.[179] A two-week run played at the Teatro Tapia in
Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, in March 2010, directed by
Yinoelle Colón.[180]
Michael Butler produced Hair at the MET Theatre in Los
Angeles from September 14 through December 30, 2007.
The show was directed and choreographed by Bo Crowell, with musical direction from Christian Nesmith (son
of Michael Nesmith).[181][182] Butler’s production of Hair
won the LA Weekly Theater Award for Musical of the
Year.[183]
It was a show about now when we did it. Now it’s a show
about then – but it’s still about now.
James Rado, 2008[132]

2009 Broadway revival poster

Nine months later, The Public Theater presented a fully
staged production of Hair at the Delacorte in a limited run
from July 22, 2008 to September 14, 2008.[186] Paulus
again directed, with choreography by Karole Armitage.
Groff and Swenson returned as Claude and Berger, together with others from the concert cast.[187] Caren Lyn
Manuel played Sheila, and Christopher J. Hanke replaced Groff as Claude on August 17.[188] Reviews were
generally positive, with Ben Brantley of The New York
Times writing that “this production establishes the show
as more than a vivacious period piece. Hair, it seems, has
deeper roots than anyone remembered”.[189] Time magazine wrote: "Hair... has been reinvigorated and reclaimed
as one of the great milestones in musical-theatre history.
... Today Hair seems, if anything, more daring than
ever.”[3]

For three nights in September 2007, Joe’s Pub and the
Public Theater presented a 40th anniversary production of Hair at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. 9.3.1 2009 Broadway revival and 2010 U.S. National
This concert version, directed by Diane Paulus, featured
Tour
Jonathan Groff as Claude and Galt MacDermot on stage
on the keyboards. The cast also included Karen Olivo The Public Theater production transferred to Broadway
as Sheila and Will Swenson as Berger.[184] Actors from at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, beginning previews on

9.3

2000s and 2010s

March 6, 2009, with an official opening on March 31,
2009. Paulus and Armitage again directed and choreographed, and most of the cast returned from the production in the park. A pre-performance ticket lottery was
held nightly for $25 box-seat tickets.[190] The opening cast
included Gavin Creel as Claude, Will Swenson as Berger,
Caissie Levy as Sheila, Megan Lawrence as Mom and
Sasha Allen as Dionne.[191] Designers included Scott Pask
(sets), Michael McDonald (costumes) and Kevin Adams
(lighting).[192]
Critical response was almost uniformly positive.[193] The
New York Daily News headline proclaimed "Hair Revival’s High Fun”. The review praised the daring direction, “colorfully kinetic” choreography and technical accomplishments of the show, especially the lighting, commening that “as a smile-inducing celebration of life and
freedom, [Hair is] highly communicable"; but warning:
“If you're seated on the aisle, count on [the cast] to be in
your face or your lap or ... braiding your tresses.”[194] The
New York Post wrote that the production “has emerged triumphant.... These days, the nation is fixated less on war
and more on the economy. As a result, the scenes that
resonate most are the ones in which the kids exultantly reject the rat race.”[195] Variety enthused, “Director Diane
Paulus and her prodigiously talented cast connect with the
material in ways that cut right to the 1967 rock musical’s
heart, generating tremendous energy that radiates to the
rafters. ... What could have been mere nostalgia instead
becomes a full-immersion happening. ... If this explosive
production doesn't stir something in you, it may be time to
check your pulse.”[196] The Boston Globe dissented, saying that the production “felt canned” and “overblown” and
that the revival “feels unbearably naive and unforgivably
glib”.[197] Ben Brantley, writing for The New York Times,
reflected the majority, however, delivering a glowing review:
Having moved indoors to Broadway from
the Delacorte Theater ... the young cast members ... show no signs of becoming domesticated. On the contrary, they’re tearing down
the house. ... This emotionally rich revival ...
delivers what Broadway otherwise hasn't felt
this season: the intense, unadulterated joy and
anguish of that bi-polar state called youth. ...
Karole Armitage’s happy hippie choreography,
with its group gropes and mass writhing, looks
as if it’s being invented on the spot. But there’s
intelligent form within the seeming formlessness. ... [Paulus finds] depths of character and
feeling in [the 1968 show about kids] frightened of how the future is going to change them
and of not knowing what comes next. ... Every
single ensemble member emerges as an individual. ... After the show I couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen to [the characters]. Mr. MacDermot’s music, which always
had more pop than acid, holds up beautifully,

15
given infectious life by the onstage band and
the flavorfully blended voices of the cast.[198]
The Public Theater struggled to raise the $5.5 million
budgeted for the Broadway transfer, because of the severity of the economic recession in late 2008, but it reached
its goal by adding new producing partners. Director Diane Paulus helped keep costs low by using an inexpensive set. The show grossed a healthy $822,889 in its
second week.[199][200] On April 30, 2009 on the Late
Show with David Letterman, the cast recreated a performance on the same stage at the Ed Sullivan Theater
by the original tribe.[201] The production won the Tony
Award for Best Revival of a Musical,[202] the Drama
Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Musical[203]
and the Drama League Award for Distinguished Revival
of a Musical.[204] Its cast album won the Grammy Award
for Best Musical Show Album.[205] By August 2009, the
revival had recouped its entire $5,760,000 investment,
becoming one of the fastest-recouping musicals in Broadway history.[206]
When the Broadway cast transferred to London for the
2010 West-End revival, a mostly new tribe took over on
Broadway on March 9, 2010, including former American
Idol finalists Ace Young as Berger and Diana DeGarmo
as Sheila. Kyle Riabko assumed the role of Claude, and
Annaleigh Ashford played Jeanie.[207] Sales decreased after the original cast transferred to London, and the revival
closed on June 27, 2010 after 29 previews and 519 regular performances.[208][209]
A U.S. National Tour of the production began on October
21, 2010. Principals included Steel Burkhardt as Berger,
Paris Remillard as Claude and Caren Lyn Tackett as
Sheila.[210] The tour received mostly positive reviews.[205]
The show returned to Broadway for an engagement at the
St. James Theatre from July 5 through September 10,
2011. After that stop, the tour resumed.[211] The tour
ended on January 29, 2012.[212]
9.3.2 2010 West End revival
The 2009 Broadway production was duplicated at the
Gielgud Theatre in London’s West End. Previews began on April 1, 2010 with an official opening on April
14. The producers were the Public Theater, together
with Cameron Mackintosh and Broadway Across America. Nearly all of the New York cast relocated to London.
A new addition to the London cast was Luther Creek as
Woof.[213][214] The London revival closed on September
4, 2010.[215]
The production received mostly enthusiastic reviews.
Michael Billington of The Guardian described it as “a
vibrant, joyous piece of living theatre”, writing, “it celebrates a period when the joy of life was pitted against the
forces of intolerance and the death-dealing might of the
military-industrial complex. As Shakespeare once said:

16

10

'There’s sap in't yet.'"[216] Charles Spencer in The Daily
Telegraph agreed: “This is a timely and irresistibly vital
revival of the greatest of all rock musicals. ... The verve
and energy of the company ... is irresistible.”[217] Michael
Coveney of The Independent wrote that Hair is “one of
the great musicals of all time, and a phenomenon that,
I'm relieved to discover, stands up as a period piece”.[218]
In The Times, Benedict Nightingale commented that “it’s
exhilarating, as well as oddly poignant, when a multihued cast dressed in everything from billowing kaftans to
Ruritanian army jackets race downstage while delivering
that tuneful salute to an age of Aquarius that still refuses
to dawn.”[219] Quentin Letts was a dissenting voice in the
Daily Mail. Though praising the performances and the
production, he wrote: “by the end the fraudulence of the
gaiety becomes sickening. There is a lack of truthfulness
in Hair which may not have been apparent when it was
first performed in New York City in 1967 but which, today, is unavoidable.”[220]
9.3.3

2014 Hollywood Bowl

In August 2014, the musical was given a three-night engagement at the Hollywood Bowl. Directed by Adam
Shankman, the all-star cast included Kristen Bell as
Sheila, Hunter Parrish as Claude, Benjamin Walker as
Berger, Amber Riley as Dionne, Jenna Ushkowitz as
Jeanie, Sarah Hyland as Crissy, Mario as Hud, and
Beverly D'Angelo and Kevin Chamberlin as Claude’s
parents.[221]

9.4

CULTURAL IMPACT

Crowell helped produce Hair in Russia at the Stas Namin
Theatre located in Moscow’s Gorky Park. The Moscow
production caused a similar reaction as the original did
30 years earlier because Russian soldiers were fighting in
Chechnya at the time.[222][223]
Rado wrote in 2003 that the only places where the show
had not been performed were “China, India, Vietnam, the
Arctic and Antarctic continents as well as most African
countries.”[170] Since then, an Indian production has been
mounted.[224]

10 Cultural impact
10.1 Popular culture
The New York Times noted, in 2007, that "Hair was
one of the last Broadway musicals to saturate the culture as shows from the golden age once regularly did.”[16]
Songs from the show continue to be recorded by major
artists. In the 1990s, Evan Dando's group The Lemonheads recorded “Frank Mills” for their 1992 record It’s
A Shame About Ray, and Run DMC sampled “Where
Do I Go” for their 1993 single “Down With the King”
which went to #1 on the Billboard rap charts and reached
the top 25 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[225][226] In
2004, “Aquarius” was honored at number 33 on AFI’s
100 Years... 100 Songs.[227]

International success

Butler (front) and Rado (behind Butler, in black T-shirt and cap)
with a 2006 Hair cast in Red Bank, New Jersey

Members of the original Swedish cast of 1968 still performing
Hair songs together in Stockholm in 2015.

Hair has been performed in most of the countries of the
world. After the Berlin Wall fell, the show traveled for the
first time to Poland, Lebanon, the Czech Republic and
Sarajevo (featured on ABC’s Nightline with Ted Koppel, when Phil Alden Robinson visited that city in 1996
and discovered a production of Hair there in the midst
of the war).[170] In 1999, Michael Butler and director Bo

Songs from the musical have been featured in films and
television episodes. For example, in the 2005 movie
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the character Willy
Wonka welcomed the children with lyrics from “Good
Morning Starshine”.[228] “Aquarius” was performed in
the final episode of Laverne and Shirley in 1983, where
the character Carmine moves to New York City to become an actor, and auditions for Hair.[229] “Aquarius/Let
the Sunshine In” was also performed in the final scene
in the film The 40-Year-Old Virgin,[230] and Three Dog
Night’s recording of “Easy to Be Hard” was featured

17
in the first part of David Fincher’s film Zodiac.[231] On
the Simpsons episode "The Springfield Files", the townspeople, Leonard Nimoy, Chewbacca, Dana Scully and
Fox Mulder all sing “Good Morning Starshine.”[232] The
episode "Hairography" of the show Glee includes a muchcriticized mash-up of the songs “Hair” and "Crazy in
Love" by Beyoncé.[233] In addition, Head of the Class featured a two-part episode in 1990 where the head of the
English department is determined to disrupt the school’s
performance of Hair.[234] The continued popularity of
Hair is seen in its number ten ranking in a 2006 BBC
Radio 2 listener poll of the "[United Kingdom]'s Number One Essential Musicals.”[235]

turned to megamusicals with pop scores, like Les Misérables (1985) and The Phantom of the Opera (1986).[242]
Some later rock musicals, such as Rent (1996) and Spring
Awakening (2006), as well as jukebox musicals featuring rock music, like We Will Rock You (2002) and Rock
of Ages (2009), have found success. But the rock musical did not quickly come to dominate the musical theatre
stage after Hair. Critic Clive Barnes commented, “There
really weren't any rock musicals. No major rock musician ever did a rock score for Broadway. ... You might
think of the musical Tommy, but it was never conceived
as a Broadway show. ... And one can see why. There’s so
much more money in records and rock concerts. I mean,
pain of a musical which
Because of the universality of its pacifist theme, Hair con- why bother going through the
may close in Philadelphia?"[241][243]
tinues to be a popular choice for high-school and university productions.[30] Amateur productions of Hair are also On the other hand, Hair had a profound effect not only
popular worldwide.[236] In 2002, Peter Jennings featured on what was acceptable on Broadway, but as part of the
a Boulder, Colorado, high school production of Hair for very social movements that it celebrated. For example,
his ABC documentary series “In Search of America”.[237] in 1970, Butler, Castelli and the various Hair casts conA September 2006 community theater production at the tributed to fundraising for the World Youth Assembly,
2,000-seat Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, New Jer- a United Nations-sponsored organization formed in consey, was praised by original producer Michael Butler, who nection with the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the
said it was “one of the best Hairs I have seen in a long United Nations.[244] The Assembly enabled 750 young
time.”[238] Another example of a recent large-scale ama- representatives from around the world to meet in New
teur production is the Mountain Play production at the York in July 1970 to discuss social issues.[245][246] For
4,000-seat Cushing Memorial Amphitheatre in Mount about a week, cast members worldwide collected donaTamalpais State Park in Mill Valley, California in the tions at every show for the fund. Hair raised around
spring of 2007.[239]
$250,000 and ended up being the principal financier
of the Assembly.[247] Tribe members and Hair crews
also contributed a days’ pay, and Butler contributed a
10.2 Legacy
days’ profits from these productions.[244][245] Moreover,
as Ellen Stewart, La MaMa’s founder, noted:
Hair was Broadway’s first concept musical, a form that
dominated the musical theatre of the seventies,[240] inHair came with blue jeans, comfortable
cluding shows like Company, Follies, Pacific Overtures
clothing, colors, beautiful colors, sounds,
[240]
and A Chorus Line.
While the development of the
movement. ... And you can go to AT&T
concept musical was an unexpected consequence of
and see a secretary today, and she’s got on
Hair's tenure on Broadway, the expected rock mublue jeans. ... You can go anywhere you
sic revolution on Broadway turned out to be less than
want, and what Hair did, it is still doing twenty
[240]
complete.
years later.... A kind of emancipation, a spiriMacDermot followed Hair with three successive rock
tual emancipation that came from [O'Horgan’s]
scores: Two Gentlemen of Verona (1971); Dude (1972),
staging. ... Hair until this date has influenced
a second collaboration with Ragni; and Via Galactica
every single thing that you see on Broadway,
(1972). While Two Gentlemen of Verona found receptive
off-Broadway, off-off-Broadway, anywhere in
audiences and a Tony for Best Musical, Dude failed after
the world, you will see elements of the experijust sixteen performances, and Via Galactica flopped afmental techniques that Hair brought not just to
ter a month.[241] According to Horn, these and other such
Broadway, but to the entire world.[248]
“failures may have been the result of producers simply relying on the label 'rock musical' to attract audiences without regard to the quality of the material presented.”[241] 11 See also
Jesus Christ Superstar (1970) and Godspell (1971) were
two religiously themed successes of the genre. Grease
• List of plays with anti-war themes
(1971) reverted to the rock sounds of the 1950s, and
black-themed musicals like The Wiz (1975) were heavily influenced by gospel, R&B and soul music. By the
late 1970s, the genre had played itself out.[241] Except 12 References
for a few outposts of rock, like Dreamgirls (1981) and
Little Shop of Horrors (1982), audience tastes in the 1980s Notes

18

[1] Horn, pp. 87–88
[2] Pacheco, Patrick (June 17, 2001). “Peace, Love and Freedom Party”, Los Angeles Times, p. 1. Retrieved on June
10, 2008
[3] Zoglin, Richard. “A New Dawn for Hair", Time magazine, July 31, 2008 (in the August 11, 2008 issue, pp. 61–
63)
[4] Haun, Harry. “Age of Aquarius”, Playbill, April 2009,
from Hair at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, p. 7
[5] Rado, James (February 14, 2003). “Hairstory – The
Story Behind the Story”, hairthemusical.com. Retrieved
on April 11, 2008.
[6] "Viet Rock". Lortel Archives: The Internet Off-Broadway
Database. Retrieved on April 11, 2008.
[7] “40 years of 'Hair'". Newark Star-Ledger (July 19, 2008).
Retrieved on July 26, 2008.
[8] Taylor, Kate (September 14, 2007). “The Beat Goes On”.
The New York Sun. Retrieved on May 27, 2008.
[9] Miller, pp. 54–56
[10] Horn, p. 23
[11] Gary Botting, The Theatre of Protest in America, Edmonton: Harden House, 1972
[12] Horn, pp. 18–19
[13] Horn, p. 27
[14] “Galt MacDermot Biography”. musiciansguide.com. Retrieved on April 11, 2008.
[15] Whittaker, Herbert (May 1968). "Hair: The Musical That
Spells Good-bye Dolly!". The Canadian Composer. Retrieved on April 18, 2008.
[16] Isherwood, Charles (September 16, 2007). “The Aging of
Aquarius”. The New York Times. Retrieved on May 25,
2008.
[17] Horn, p. 34
[18] Horn, pp. 32–33
[19] Zolotow, Sam (January 23, 1968). “Hair Closes Sunday”
The New York Times, reproduced at michaelbutler.com.
Retrieved on May 23, 2009
[20] Horn, pp. 39–40
[21] Planer, Lindsay. "Hair [Original 1967 Off-Broadway
Cast]". Allmusic.com, accessed February 3, 2011
[22] Horn, p. 29
[23] Junker, Howard (June 3, 1968). “Director of the Year”.
Newsweek, orlok.com. Retrieved on April 11, 2008.
[24] Horn, p. 53
[25] Horn, p. 42

12

REFERENCES

[26] "Hair". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved on April
11, 2008. Archived October 14, 2007 at the Wayback
Machine
[27] “Producer Sues N.Y. Theatre League On Hair Exclusion
as Tony Entry”. Variety, michaelbutler.com (March 10,
1968). Retrieved on April 11, 2008.
[28] Zoltrow, Sam (March 22, 1968). "Happy Time Gets 10
Mentions Among Tony Award Candidates”. New York
Times, p. 59. Retrieved on April 11, 2008.
[29] “Past Winners, 1969”. tonyawards.com. Retrieved on
April 11, 2008
[30] King, Betty Nygaard. "Hair". Encyclopedia of Music in
Canada. Historica Foundation of Canada. Retrieved on
May 31, 2008.
[31] Johnson, p. 87
[32] Hair program, Detroit, 1970
[33] Johnson, p. 134
[34] Biographical notes in the Jesus Christ Superstar film souvenir booklet (1973)
[35] Johnson, p. 82
[36] Johnson, pp. 33, 81, 87–88
[37] Horn, pp. 100–01
[38] Butler, Michael. “How and Why I Got Into Hair". Pages
from Michael Butler’s Journal. michaelbutler.com. Retrieved on April 11, 2008.
[39] Lewis, Anthony. “Londoners Cool To Hair’s Nudity: Four
Letter Words Shock Few at Musical’s Debut”, The New
York Times, September 29, 1968
[40] Horn, p. 105
[41] “Tim Curry – Actor”. Edited Guide Entry. bbc.uk.co (January 2, 2007). Retrieved on April 11, 2008.
[42] “Shaftesbury Theatre, London”. thisistheatre.com. Retrieved on April 17, 2008.
[43] Horn, pp. 103–10
[44] Horn, p. 37
[45] Blumenthal, Ralph (October 26, 1968). “Munich Audience Welcomes Hair; Applause and Foot Stamping Follow Musical Numbers”. New York Times, p. 27. Retrieved on April 11, 2008.
[46] “Translated Hair Cheered in Paris; Title Lends Itself to
Jest at Candidate’s Expense”. New York Times (June 2,
1969), p. 53. Retrieved on June 7, 2008.
[47] "Hair Reaches Australia”, The New York Times (June 7,
1969), p. 26, reproduced at the Hair Online Archives.
Retrieved on April 29, 2009.
[48] Hair: Original Australian production, MILESAGO: Australasian Music & Popular Culture 1964–1975, accessed
April 29, 2009.

19

[49] “Hairzapoppin'". Time (December 12, 1969). Retrieved
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Bibliography
• Davis, Lorrie and Rachel Gallagher. Letting Down
My Hair: Two Years with the Love Rock Tribe (1973)
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24

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• Miller, Scott. Let the Sun Shine In: The Genius of
Hair (Heinemann, 2003) ISBN 0-325-00556-7
• Wollman, Elizabeth Lara, The Theatre Will Rock:
A History of the Rock Musical from Hair to Hedwig
(University of Michigan Press, 2006) ISBN 0-47211576-6

13

External links

• Official website
• Hair at the Internet Broadway Database
• The HAIR Archives at Michael Butler.com, curator
Nina Machlin Dayton, containing numerous historical documents about the musical
• Official HAIR blog from Michael Butler, the musical’s original producer
• Links to discographies and listings of original cast
albums and recordings of songs in Hair compiled
by John Holleman
• Official Galt MacDermot website, Hair composer
• Reocities’ “Hair pages”, curator Tracy Harris

EXTERNAL LINKS

25

14
14.1

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses
Text

• Hair (musical) Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair_(musical)?oldid=672708633 Contributors: Tarquin, Zoe, KF, Someone else,
Ericd, Edward, Patrick, Stevenj, Baylink, TUF-KAT, Big iron, WhisperToMe, Grendelkhan, Itai, Nricardo, Jerzy, Lumos3, Bearcat,
Bgruber, Pfrishauf, Moncrief, ZekeMacNeil, Smb1001, SoLando, David Gerard, Matthew Stannard, Matt Gies, Djinn112, Samuel J.
Howard, Michael Devore, Varlaam, Bookcat, Rainier Schmidt, Queerwiki, Chowbok, Dunks58, Bodnotbod, Icairns, Morgan695, PeR,
Kaisersanders, Sam, Hugh7, Grstain, Redlemur, Aralvarez, Discospinster, Rich Farmbrough, Guanabot, Mazi, Ericamick, User2004,
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Lordorings, Agenciamonterrey, Endlesshallway, 1989, Imgoingtobroadwaysoyeah, ԳևորգՄ90, Minecraft Gurll and Anonymous: 453

14.2

Images

• File:Aquarius.ogg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/03/Aquarius_-_Let_the_Sunshine_In_%28song_from_Hair_-_
sample%29.ogg License: Fair use Contributors:
Original Broadway cast recording of Hair
Original artist: ?
• File:CheetahPoster12lowres.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/11/CheetahPoster12lowres.jpg License: Fair use
Contributors:
michaelbutler.com Original artist: ?
• File:Easy_to_be_Hard.ogg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f4/Easy_to_be_Hard.ogg License: Fair use Contributors:
2009 Broadway revival recording of Hair
Original artist: ?
• File:Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg
Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/
Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work. Based on File:Gnome-mime-audio-openclipart.
svg, which is public domain. Original artist: User:Eubulides
• File:Hair.ogg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1f/Hair.ogg License: Fair use Contributors:
Original Broadway cast recording of Hair
Original artist: ?
• File:Hair2009.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4e/Hair2009.jpg License: Fair use Contributors:
http://www.playbillstore.com/habrpo.html Original artist: ?
• File:Hairmovieposter.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/24/Hairmovieposter.jpg License: Fair use Contributors:
http://www.movieposter.com/poster/A70-3068/Hair.html Original artist: ?
• File:Hairposter.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b8/Hairposter.jpg License: Fair use Contributors:
http://www.orlok.com/hair/holding/photographs/hair/HairPoster.html Original artist: ?

26

14

TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

• File:London1lowres.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3c/London1lowres.jpg License: Fair use Contributors:
michaelbutler.com Original artist: ?
• File:Piece_of_work.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bb/Piece_of_work.png License: ? Contributors: ? Original
artist: ?
• File:Red_Bank_Hair.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Red_Bank_Hair.jpg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0
Contributors: http://c.myspace.com/Groups/00016/39/63/16803693_l.jpg Original artist: Anthony D'Amato
• File:Swedish_1968_Hair_Cast_performing_2015.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Swedish_1968_
Hair_Cast_performing_2015.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: This image comes from the Southerly Clubs of Stockholm, Sweden,
a non-profit society which owns image publication rights to the archives of Lars Jacob Prod, Mimical Productions, F.U.S.I.A., CabarEng,
Ristesson Ent and FamSAC. Southerly Clubs donated this picture to the Public Domain. Deputy Chairman Emil Eikner for the Board of
Directors, Hallowe'en 2008. Original artist: Lars Jacob for CabarEng.
• File:The_Flesh_Failures_(Let_The_Sunshine_In).ogg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0d/The_Flesh_Failures_
%28Let_The_Sunshine_In%29.ogg License: Fair use Contributors:
Original Broadway cast recording of Hair
Original artist: ?
• File:Where_Do_I_Go_.ogg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e5/Where_Do_I_Go_.ogg License: Fair use Contributors:
Original Broadway cast recording of Hair
Original artist: ?

14.3

Content license

• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

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