http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20100715/AE/100719897/1077%26ParentProfile=1058
Stewart Oksenhorn
July 15, 2010
BASALT In consideration of the age of her cast 14 to 18 Jayne
Gottlieb removed several songs from the version of the musical "Hair"
that she is directing this weekend in Basalt. Gone are "Hashish,"
"Sodomy" and "I'm Black/Colored Spade."
Which still leaves a considerable amount of drugs, sex and race
issues as well as anti-authoritarian protest, intergenerational
conflict, death, the draft and war.
Gottlieb, and her music director Corey Simpson, have brought their
young actors into the adult realm before, in productions of "A Chorus
Line" and "Les Misérables." But never before have the grown-up issues
seemed so close at hand. "Hair," as Simpson put it, "is real life,
and not a fairy tale."
Mindful of the thin line between the stage and the actual lives of
the cast members and the concerns of the actors' parents Gottlieb
and Simpson took pains in how topics like sex, pot and war were
raised. The first day of rehearsal included a circle in which cast
members were encouraged to bring up their most outrageous
experiences. They led a camping trip, that included roughly half the
cast, in which, between rounds of s'mores, they discussed the list of
issues raised by the definitive '60s musical: "The Vietnam War,
Vietnam vets, the draft, war in general, current wars, hippies,
excess, diversity," Simpson said. There have been group meditations,
and a parents meeting no children allowed in which the older
generation voiced their concerns and made suggestions.
Gottlieb and Simpson understand that many parents may not want their
teenagers to explore, as one of the musical's signature songs puts
it, "the age of Aquarius." Gottlieb notes that the cast is smaller in
number than in previous summers, with just 20 members. But the
directors see "Hair" as not only a chance for excellent entertainment
the original Broadway production ran for more than 1,750
performances, and a 2009 revival ran for over a year and earned a
Tony Award but as a way to engage the actors in a conversation
about difficult topics.
"We told the parents, it's your job how you want kids to think about
these issues," Gottlieb said. "But we also said, this show gives you
an opportunity to talk about these things in a way that isn't as
awkward as it usually is. Having this show, the parents can say to
the kids, 'Hey, what do you think about these things?'"
Over the course of preparations, it became clear that these are not
abstract matters for the young actors. At that first rehearsal, when
Gottlieb and Simpson brought up the subject of marijuana, all of the
kids said they had been offered it, or had been in places where it
was being smoked. And one actor 18-year-old Robbie Rittenhouse, who
plays the tribe member Berger had to take time away from rehearsals
to visit a friend, a soldier who is about to be sent into combat.
"He was dealing with giving this friend, potentially, his last hug,"
Gottlieb said.
While they have addressed gingerly the topics of war, drugs and sex,
Gottlieb and Simpson have enthusiastically jumped into other aspects
of "Hair." The two directors both born after the '60s had ended,
and both of whom are not parents have held out the hippies as role
models for political engagement and being part of a community.
"They've gotten a good sense of what the hippies were about peace,
love, togetherness. All those good things. And we've done a lot of
that stuff with the kids, a lot of consciousness stuff," Simpson said.
Gottlieb added that the song "Walking in Space," which in the
original production is an LSD-laced sequence, has been turned into
something very different: "We've taken that and created a sacred
space and we meditate to it, and create a blissful space to explore
consciousness."
Simpson thinks the current generation of young people can use the
messages "Hair" sends. At the center of the story is the draft; with
the draft now gone, he believes civic engagement has ebbed.
"We live in a democracy, and I'm not sure this generation has heard
how important it is for them to say what they believe, and that it
matters," Simpson said. "I think this generation hasn't heard that,
individually, they can make a difference. They haven't seen Kent
State happening; they weren't on the Boulder campus when the school
was taken over. They're not seeing uprisings against the wars we're in."
Gottlieb and Simpson hope and expect that audiences will see more
than controversial topics in their production, which is presented
Friday and Saturday, July 16 and 17, in the Basalt Middle School
auditorium, and Sunday, July 18, in Arbaney Park. To get across the
point that "Hair" is as much about freedom and release and emotional
ecstasy as it is about sex and drugs, Sunday night's performance will
be followed by a concert by the rock band Slightly White (whose
singer-guitarist is Obadiah Jones, who plays the tribe leader Claude
in "Hair"). The directors are encouraging audience members to come
dressed in hippie garb, especially for Sunday's performance.
"It's more about the other stuff peace, love, acceptance,
connecting," Gottlieb said. "And freedom, or joy. Just being free to
be yourself. Act one is a celebration. It's love and happiness and
peace. It's rock music."
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