ARTS NET, Tampa Bay*

Ok.  Be cool now.  I will lay this down for you but you have to tell me now that you’re going to stay cool.  You ready?  Hair.  I said HAIR, man!  Like… I saw it in the park in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.  They even let me bring the dogs in with me!  American Stage called it their Inaugural Dog-Friendly Night and, like, I wasn’t the only one there who was cool with dogs!  Can you dig it?

As part of their regular American Stage In The Park series, American Stage premiered their production of the 1968 Broadway play “Hair.”  Looking at the play from a perspective of 42 years gone, and as one who was a young child in that era, I personally realize that the dreamy ideals of the youth of any generation are easily dashed by harsh reality.  That really is what Hair has come to represent in the modern day.  It is an intriguing snapshot of a time of unprecedented prosperity of the middle class, and rapid social and economic advancement for the marginalized in our country.  The prosperity allowed a generation to explore social conscience, mind-altering substances, sexuality, irresponsibility, ecology, and the encroachment of new technologies.  Arguable along political lines, we have legislatively lost as many individual rights and freedoms as were gained during the late-1960s.  We have embraced technologies that did not even seem possible during the time of Hair.  We have experienced new psychotropic drugs (now legally provided by prescription) and new wars, and wonders unimaginable.  Most who were open participants in the “hippy” movement of the psychedelic period would not admit today that they were, and even seem ashamed of it.  Watching Hair provides a good perspective of where we’ve been while making us very aware of where we are. 

Ok; I’ll admit it, I’m getting old.  Yes, I was actually on this Earth when Hair premiered on Broadway, although I was way too young to attend then.  I did, however, hear many of the songs from the play on the radio, and I think the songs from the play will ring familiar, even with younger viewers, since most of the biggest hits from the play have worked their way into the fabric of our general culture.

Taken directly from the American Stage website:  Contains mature language and themes, and partial nudity.  Aside from imprinting that warning on hand-painted psychedelic placards at the entry point to Demen’s Landing Park, I don’t know how much clearer this fact could have been.  Anyone even remotely familiar with the play knows that there is language, there are explicit sexual references, and there is partial nudity.  Hair would not be Hair without these elements.  Despite this fact, people brought young children to the performance, and one couple, visibly embarrassed, left in a huff just a few minutes into the first act. 

A live band onstage (and a particularly good one) provided the music.  American Stage did a fairly good job with the set and backdrop, although I think it could have been more freaky-psychedelic in keeping with the era.  We’ll call it a beiged-down psychedelic theme.  Perhaps there are too many heavy metals or dangerous chemicals in the original fluorescent paint for them to be allowed in modern times.  (Wouldn’t that be ironic, considering the new focus on ecology in that era?) 

The costumes were convincing; somewhere between 60’s psychedelic and The Mommas & The Papas.  (You have the Internet, look them up.)  The atmosphere was believably late-60s (from what I remember of that time as a child), and yet had an updated modern feel to the theme, which I believe may have been intentional.

Instead of concentrating on the individual players and their respective parts (all of which were good), I will step back and provide an overview of the performance.  We cannot expect a local production to have a Broadway presentation, especially considering that the play was performed outside in a park.  They knew their lines, they seemed to know their queues, they sang fine (for the most part), and were believable in their roles.  The costumes were great.  It was a Happening, man!  I loved it.

American Stage took a couple of excellent risks in putting this play on.  With so many performers onstage, it’s already difficult to assure that they’ll be heard by the entire audience; immediately, a technical challenge.  Although there were some problems in some parts of the preview performance on Wednesday, April 21 (including some closed mics during actors’ lines and some off-key singing, likely due to the performers being unable to hear themselves adequately), American Stage pulled off the sound part of the production fairly admirably, and I’m certain that there will be improvements in ensuing performances.  The lighting design was quite good, especially considering that it was done for an outdoor venue.  I applaud their achievement there.  The multi-level staging was simple but effective. 

I have a major admission:  One thing that often precludes my attendance to events is the fact that I feel bad leaving my dogs at home by themselves.  I was very excited that I would be allowed to bring them along on the Dog-Friendly Night, Wednesday.  I went to Wal-Mart and bought a new folding chair especially for the event.  I packed an old wool U.S. Military issue horse blanket, poop bags (which it turns out I didn’t need), and my two enormous dogs (a fila brasileiro and a rottweiler) into my 1988 Chevy Van, which I call the “Scooby-Do Mystery Wagon” (look it up), and arrived a little early to find parking.  Only a little concerned that the 3-hour maximum on the meters would be inadequate, I parked two or three blocks away and fed $3 in coins into the meter.  Doing so, I saved between $2 and $7 compared to the parking lots, and avoided potential problems in unloading the dogs.  I proceeded to the venue.

Carrying a folding chair, a horse blanket, and plastic bag from the Goodwill Thrift Store (which, in turn, was full of poop bags) while trying to deal with two very large dogs, duly excited by new and unfamiliar surroundings, is challenging.  The larger of my dogs is very well-trained but stubbornly decided she was going to act-up a little, and only having two hands myself, I blocked her pulling with the folding chair while verbally trying to control her and chiding her bad behavior.  Passers-by glared at me as if I was a little insane, and they were likely correct for the most part.

I staked out a spot next to the walking path, laid out the horse blanket for the dogs, folded out the chair, and planted my butt a few minutes before the beginning of the show.  Some people asked about my dogs, and complemented them, and commented on my shirt (which said “I hear voices… and they don’t like you“).  Some of the attendees were friendly, some seemed a little constipated, and some were downright weird like me.  During the intermission between acts, I walked the dogs around hoping they’d find a place to pee (which they did not), and was met with hostile little dogs led by the constipated looking people.  (How can people be huffy and acrimonious while watching a play about the Psychadelic Era?).  A few people with friendly dogs approached, and mutual sniffs occurred (between the dogs, not the people).  For the most part, all the dogs were well-behaved with only a few barkers and brawlers in the bunch.  To my knowledge, no blood was shed and no one seemed terribly distracted by the dogs.

A very nice group of people sitting in front of me introduced themselves and talked about my dogs and offered mint chocolate brownies during Intermission.  They were a joy to speak with, and improved my evening.  A few other people smiled and said hello, and seemed to be in keeping with the friendly, open tone you’d expect of attendees of an outdoor performance.

At one point after the beginning of the second act (during a particularly quiet passage), I was loudly approached by a very drunk man who loudly asked questions about my dogs.  He was having difficulty with his balance, and when he attempted to bend down to pet the largest of my two dogs, he completely lost his balance and fell onto me and the largest of my two dogs.  I did my best to quietly control the situation but ended up loudly asserting, “It’s time for you to go now.”  The man left and my personal audience drama was over.  I thought to myself, “Where is Security?”  I think that the venue should have a visible security presence, and I saw none.  This is a concern.

While my dogs were calmly laying on the gray horse blanked as I watched the show, a couple walked by with a beautiful little fuzzy dog of some kind, who suddenly barked and snapped at my big dog.  The couple dragged their dog away and apologized.  A few minutes later, a woman with an expression like she had been sucking on a lemon was dragged across the lawn by her hunting breed dog, who was intent on investigating my dogs.  With his handler unable to control his movements, the dog, who acted as though he had had too much caffeine, rapidly approached and ran right up to my big dog, who promptly snapped at his nose and growled.  “Sorry,” I told the sour-faced young woman as she forcibly dragged her uncontrollable dog away, now with an even more sour and incredulous expression on her face.

The audience, the dogs, the helicopters, the airplanes, people’s cell phones, one or two passing park vehicles,  and random other activity proved to be distractions and minor annoyances… but they did not detract from the joy of the evening.

What a completely entertaining evening!  FAR preferable to staying at home and watching PBS or a Netflix movie.  It was definitely worth it, man.

HAIR!  ran through May 16, 2010.  Go to the American Stage Web Page for tickets and information on present shows.