Hair,
it is probably the musical of the 60's that changed the face of
that genre far more than any other, is taken off the shelf and
given a shampoo and set for Fringe 2003.
The
project is an ambitious one, when one considers the 'dating' of
the material, the logistics of the space and that as well as in
the excess of 20 actors, the cast are backed by a seven piece band
who take up half of the stage.
Obviously something had to give, and for
me there were two major things that suffered. Firstly there was
hardly any room for the cast to stand on stage let alone move, and
even when the centre aisle was used it didn't assist noticeably.
It must have been a nightmare for director Nic Saunders in this
respect. And then the other problem, the band was very good, but
the actors were often 'drowned' and the words could barely be
heard. There were a number of good singers and I was particularly
impressed with 'Sheila', however with only 4 stage mikes the
chorus must have really suffered belting out the lyrics, which
seldom passed the front couple of rows.
I
felt that the production did 'have its moments' but unfortunately
there were not enough of these. I am a huge fan of this as a
musical and I’m afraid I did leave the theatre with a sense of
disappointment.
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