the Sunshine In'
By David Hinckley
DAILY NEWS TV CRITIC
Monday, July 27th 2009
HAIR: LET THE SUNSHINE IN
Monday night at 9, Sundance
Sundance serves up a solid, well-paced documentary Monday night on
one of the two most overrated cultural "moments" of the 1960s.
In fact, if it weren't for Woodstock, the musical "Hair" would be No. 1.
Now, "Hair" has been revived, and we're about to all gush warmly over
the 40th anniversary of Woodstock.
Trust me, kids, the '60s were more fun, more complicated, more
significant and much more interesting than either of these two
overrated events suggest.
But they both offer easy nostalgia, so they'll probably both be with
us for a while, and anyhow, this documentary - this is its U.S.
television premiere - focuses mostly on the culture and the world in
which "Hair" emerged.
On that score, it does pretty well, noting how the anti-war and civil
rights movements were at critical junctures around the time "Hair"
premiered in 1967.
It doesn't acknowledge specifically that the anti-war movement was
still reviled by much of the country then, or that the civil rights
movement was in the middle of its great splintering. It does note
that both were integral parts of the concept and message in "Hair,"
which did, in fact, have its sentiments in the right place.
Through extensive interviews with co-creator James Rado, early stars
like Ben Vereen and Melba Moore, director Tom O'Horgan and others,
this documentary paints "Hair" as a response to its times, which it
was. It also paints "Hair" as hip and profound cutting-edge political
theater, which is more arguable.
In contrast to what was happening inside the actual anti-war and
civil rights movements, plus the women's rights movement, "Hair,"
even at the time, was pretty lightweight.
A quick look at who recorded "Hair" songs, passing popsters like the
Cowsills and Oliver, puts much of the music in its proper place.
On the other hand, it's also true that no Broadway producer was going
to mount a show with legitimate anti-war songs like Bob Dylan's
"Masters of War" or "Chimes of Freedom," so this kind of lite pop,
built on gossamer phrases like "the mind's true liberation," was
about as radical as any mainstream production was going to get in 1967.
The documentary shifts periodically to protests 40 years later
against the Iraq War, making a good case for a connection between two
generations of anti-war protests and a less compelling case for
"Hair" as a link between them.
But, whatever the political merit and power of "Hair," it obviously
carved a theatrical niche and reached an audience. If this
documentary occasionally overstates its profundity, hey, we never
reached the Age of Aquarius, either.
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