BROWNCOW'S HAIR STAYS TRUE TO MUSICAL'S YOUTHFUL ROOTS
Not even a major cloudburst just minutes before curtain rise could dampen the spirits of the cast or audience at the July 3 opening night performance of Browncow Collective's outdoor production of Hair: The American Tribal Love-rock Musical.
The stage management was prepared for such an eventuality, quickly providing umbrellas for audience members. Then, about 15 minutes into the downpour, something truly magical happened. A lone voice from behind one of the set pieces began singing the musical's signature tune, Let the Sunshine In. The number of backstage voices grew and, eventually, they were joined by voices from under the sea of brightly coloured umbrellas.
From its very first tryouts in New York in the fall of 1967 at the Joseph Papp Public Theatre, Hair always tried to involve its audiences by including a Be-in at the end of the show which invited people to join in the singing of an encore of Let the Sunshine In or even to come onstage if they wished.
When it occurred during this performance, set at an idyllic flower farm near Olds, I looked at Calgary playwright Caroline Russell King, who had accompanied me, and we nodded. This is what everyone in the cast and audience had been missing for 16 months. We were sharing a live theatre experience and it was exhilarating.
It worked wonders for the youthful cast members who burst onto the stage the moment the rain subsided, bringing the iconic hippie musical with its ragtag characters and celebrated songs to exuberant life.
For Caroline and I, the rain was a bit anticlimactic considering we had had to enlist the aid of a constable from the Olds RCMP detachment to help us find the venue after we got royally lost in town.
When Hair first opened on Broadway in April 1968, it was as controversial as it was groundbreaking.
It was the first rock musical to play on Broadway and one of the first shows to revel in being profane, sexually and racially explicit as well as highly critical of traditional family values and damning of America's policies on the Vietnam War — all the while extolling the use and effects of drugs.
So much has changed musically, politically, sexually and racially in 50 years that today Hair seems more quaint than shocking. It's become a love-in to the counterculture of the '60s and the wonderful thing about Hair is that, although the world has aged, the musical remains youthful.
It is the musical's youthfulness that the Browncow Collective has captured so winningly. The exuberance and enthusiasm of these emerging artists are what Hair demands if it is going to succeed and succeed it does despite any shortcomings.
Led by the dynamic Ryan Maschke as the free-spirited, bisexual Berger, you couldn't ask for a better ensemble. They are talented, diverse, vivacious, committed and their passion for the musical's characters, songs and themes is contagious.
They are a most fortunate group of young artists to have been guided by directors Sabrina Naz Comanescu and Tenaj Williams, musical director Misha Maseka and choreographers Cindy Ansah and Stephanie Jurkova, whose insights and inventiveness are evident at every turn.
JJ Penaranda, Ralamy Kneeshaw, Michael Luong and Max Hopkins have given them a set, costumes, lighting and sound designs that make them look as good as they sound.