The musical HAIR played on Mount Tam last month. My friend Sacha and I hike up Mount Tam every year for the Mountain Play and usually the best part is the hike, even though we love the plays too. This year, I am pregnant, so we took the shuttle up the mountain. (This is also why I have been absent so long from the blog--too sick and tired, literally, for extra activities)
A few years back, Sacha and I saw a terrible production of HAIR, so we weren't expecting much from this one either. We love the songs and the musical itself for the campy aspects. This production, however, was AMAZING! Maybe it was the outdoor amphitheatre setting, with forest around us and the San Francisco Bay in the distance, or maybe it was the political climate of the time influencing our feelings about the content. Almost solid musical numbers, the antiwar and pro-positive thinking/love sentiment was strong and came across clearly without being preachy. I really had the feeling that this generation was seeing the world in a whole new light thanks to the new-at-the-time mind-altering drugs and they were extremely angry with what they were seeing and the fact that the dominant culture was trying to keep them from seeing it. Different characters played out various perspectives on the war and culture. Some were certain of the wrongness of the war, others were in a gray area. The irreverence for the dominant culture was clearly expressed and the intense feelings and confusion about what was happening with the war, the country and even the situation the youth found themselvs in was chilling and beautiful and reflective of today without being obvious.
These days the idea of the hippies may sound like a cliche, but there is a lot to learn and praise about this era, especially from an authentic source. Check out a good production of this musical when you have a chance for an amazing experience of this groundbreaking era.
