Age of Aquarius will dawn on rural farm hosting musical Hair
Though he's just 21, Ryan Maschke considers himself a child of the '60s, which pretty much explains why, as artistic director of Browncow Collective, he's producing and starring in a version of the iconic period musical Hair.
“I've always loved the music of the '60s and I respect all the themes in the musical Hair. We've given the show a new look for contemporary audiences without losing the flare of Hair.
The new production is called Hair: The American Tribal Loverock Musical.
“It's an important musical because it highlights the social movements of the 1960s that changed our world and it is the ideal musical to be doing these days when diversity is so important. Hair was always all about diversity,” says Maschke, who will be playing the musical's counterculture hero Berger to Fionn Laird's gung ho traditionalist Claude.
Maschke and Laird both performed in Theatre Calgary's productions of Billy Elliot and The Louder We Get and are joined in this cast of young emerging artists by Zoe Montgomery as Sheila, Rondell Roberts as Hud, Jehnene Morgan as Dionne and Latisha Chiwele as Ronny.
To give this Hair an exciting contemporary feel, Maschke approached Cindy Anash and Stephanie Jurkova, recent graduates of the University of Calgary's contemporary dance program, to be its choreographers and Sabrina Naz Comanescu of Decidedly Jazz Danceworks to direct it.
To really get the feel of the '60s hippy era, Hair will be performed in an outdoor setting on a farm near Olds on a set designed by James Penaranda.
“We chose an outdoor venue because we didn't know what restrictions might or might not be in effect, but the more we worked on the show, the more it seemed Hair was meant to be performed outdoors,” says Maschke. “The outdoor setting lends a lot of freedom to the staging of the musical numbers.”
Maschke will literally be at home when performing there as it's his parents' flower farm.
“Growing up, it was always me and 30,000 peonies. For years, my mother kept prodding me to use the farm for an outdoor theatre venue, and I've finally found the perfect vehicle for its inaugural show.”
The farm is an hour's drive from Calgary to Olds with directions posted on the website, Browncowcollective.com.
Hair runs July 3-18 with performances at 8:30 p.m. There are also 4 p.m. matinees on July 9 and 16. All seats are $25 and should be reserved as there is limited seating to comply with social distancing restrictions.