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'Hair' Stays True to Hippie Spirit

By Matt Windman

8:37 PM EDT, September 6, 2007

It's rather ironic that this production is presented by a new Off-Off-Broadway company titled The Real Theater Company. Why? Because this is an eerily authentic, if not totally successful, revival of "Hair." The singing is bad. The acting is amateurish. The set is covered with scaffolding and neon lights. The cast makes a habit of touching and talking to audience members. The clothes come off briefly at the end of Act One.

"Hair," in spite of its beloved score and hippie spirit, has yet to receive a Broadway revival. What keeps it from receiving another fully mounted production is a dated, rambling, rather revue-like book. It has instead received countless concert stagings from companies like Encores, The Actors Fund and later this month The Public Theater. In these cases, the score is usually performed to perfection, but the book, as well as the physical improvisations that characterized the original, are set aside.

You might describe Maggie Levin's (a self-described Robert Lepage protégé) production as the "Hair" director's cut. At a three-hour length, it preserves almost the entire original book and score, even numbers that always get cut. This overstuffing adds to the production's unpolished feeling. Even if the cast is lacking vocally, it is totally committed physically and dramatically. It has the exact authenticity that the concert productions lack.

In a notorious New York University production of "Hair" last year, the entire cast, boys and girls, shaved their heads and performed in hospital smocks against a white backdrop. The tempo of the entire score was changed. Almost anyone who attended will report that it was a misfire. If "Hair" is to be successfully revised, a more sensitive approach will be necessary.

The Real Theatre Company production, for better or worse, is "Hair" as it is meant to be. It even has the endorsement of co-writer James Rado, who described it as "the latest and maybe greatest" production of "Hair" on his website. For anyone who has ever wondered why "Hair" was such a legendary production, and why we are now having such a tough time doing a definitive revival, check out this production.

Acorn Theater, 410 West 42nd St, 212-279-4200, $26.25. Fri-Sat 8pm, Sun 7pm. Thru Sun.