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After the resounding success of the
Camp Pontiac theatre program in 1998, particularly The
Lion King, Andrea and I had to decide what to do for an encore. We
originally planned to follow up Rocky Horror
with another rock musical, The Who’s Tommy, but after camp I
was astonished and dismayed to discover that the sheet music for it had
never been published. Not thinking to look for it on the internet (see the Tommy page for more about how we ultimately
brought Pete Townshend’s quintessential rock opera to the stage the
following year), I had to look for something else for upper camp to do in
’99.
I don’t remember exactly how,
why or when I thought of Hair as a replacement for Tommy;
something must have reminded me of it. Maybe it was hearing the song
“Aquarius” on the Forrest Gump soundtrack, or maybe I
remembered going to see the movie during camp in 1979. What better way, I
thought, to follow up Rocky Horror than with a show about the
‘60s; peace, love and rock-’n-’roll, not as depraved or
tasteless but every bit as edgy. I recall I also had thoughts about Les Misérables at that time; I left Andrea a message suggesting it,
prompting her to call me back and immediately say, "Les Mis? Are you NUTS?" I then
gently told her my idea to do Hair,
thinking she would react the same way, but she simply said, "I love Hair." And that was it.
I’ve always been a big
‘60s fan; I tell people all the time about how I was born 20 years
too late and would have made a great hippie, acoustic guitar and all, so I
was really excited about the opportunity to recreate the flower-child
experience on the Pontiac stage. Like Rocky Horror, however, we would have to tone things down just a bit. I
knew there was no way I could get away with all the explicit drug and
sexual references in the Gerome Ragni/James Rado lyrics, but I thought I
could refocus the piece thematically on ‘60s notions of peace, love
and rock-’n’-roll. I took a look at the 1979 Milos Forman film,
which as it turns out is very different from the original 1968 stage
version, which happily was available in book form at my local library.
Between the two sources, there was more than enough material to work with.
The adaptation was taken primarily from the stage version, with very little
(if anything) from the movie.
Andrea unfortunately did not return
to Pontiac in 1999, but Emily Gallice stepped in and the program
didn’t miss a beat. Emily, it turned out, was also a big ‘60s
fan and had great enthusiasm for the show. We also had a counselor named
Clare Norris, from England, working with us that summer, so again we had three theatre staff.
I had no idea going into camp that
year who the principal actors would be; of the main cast from Rocky Horror, only Jessica Cantor and Ariel
Cowan were back in camp in ‘99. Both auditioned and were cast as
Crissy and Jeanie, respectively; Jessica’s soft, sweet voice was so
perfect for the song “Frank Mills” it was irresistible. Newcomer Jen Smokler was cast
as Dionne and got to sing the well-known opening number,
“Aquarius.” Lindsey Carter, who I think was also new to camp
that year, had an incredible audition and we cast her as Sheila, the NYU
student-activist; she sang “Easy to be Hard” and “Good
Morning Starshine.” This was the only show Lindsey did,
unfortunately, but she was terrific.
As for the boys, we ended up
casting another newcomer, Evan Kotler, as Claude, the central character in
the play’s thin storyline, who has to decide whether to dodge the
draft or go off to Vietnam. Evan was
a senior, had a good voice and stage presence, even though he had never
been in a show before, and Emily and I really liked his audition and wanted
to give him a chance to perform. It wasn’t easy, though; Evan had
some...off-stage difficulties, shall we say, without going into detail. We
weren’t sure if he would be able to stick with it, let alone even
remain in camp long enough to do the show. We took some of the pressure off
him by reassigning the song “I Got Life” to some of the
ensemble actors (Marc Asnis, Dan Vesey, Noah Cantor and Thomas Levine), and
generally being very patient with him. Ultimately he did a very good job,
but this would be his only show and his only year at Pontiac, though I think doing the show
really helped him get through it. Interestingly, I bumped into Evan two years later when I
interviewed at his high school. He had fond memories of the show and thanked me for giving
him the opportunity.
Two other senior boys auditioned
for Hair: Blake Zeitlin, who we cast as
Woof, and Josh Brenner, who couldn’t sing but was perfect for the
speaking role of Dad, one of the two token adults in the show (the other,
Mom, was played by Courtney LaCroix, who played the role to a tee). Keith
Krusel, who had a small part in Damn Yankees, was cast as Berger after a great audition, but had
difficulty learning the song “Donna” and we had to cut it.
Keith had a good voice and it’s a shame he didn’t get to sing,
but he did very well with his dialogue. Brian Sohn, a veteran camper making
his first theatre audition, impressed us so much we cast him as Hud.
Somehow overlooked were Marc Asnis, Dan Vesey and Noah Cantor, but
they’d make their mark later that summer in H.M.S.
Pinafore.
For the backdrop of Hair, I had the idea to hang one of
the camp’s huge American flags, the ones they used to hang on the
tennis court fences on the 4th of July, on the back wall of the stage.
Besides saving me the need to paint a backdrop, the flags themselves were
tattered and faded and had only 48 stars, which I thought would be an
appropriate symbol since the deterioration of American culture is such an
important motif in the play. Back then we still had both of the large
wooden frames, on which we hung some peace signs and slogans
made by the cast on either side of the stage. We also used some homemade
candles (though we didn’t light them), and on the day of the show
gathered flowers from all over camp to spread around the stage.
We only had four wigs for the boys;
Evan (Claude) got the blond one, Keith (Berger) the brown and Blake (Woof)
the black, and we borrowed an Afro wig which was worn by Brian (Hud). We
had the cast make tie-dyed shirts and love beads in Arts & Crafts, and
gathered up as many bandannas, headbands, sandals and bell-bottoms as we
could find. The Arts staff also made us a couple of felt ponchos, one of
which was really elaborate with feathers, beads and peace signs on it; we
gave that to Keith. Ultimately there really weren’t enough hippie
clothes to go around, but we made do and the cast looked great. Even Emily
wore a hippie outfit to the show (I, of course, wore my Mets jersey in
honor of the “Summer of Love,” 1969).
One thing I really hoped for was
that we could get the whole audience singing “Let the Sun Shine
In” at the end, and once the repetitive chorus got going and we sang
it through two or three times, I sent the cast into the audience to get
everyone up and singing. Unfortunately the theatre was much more crowded
than we had thought it would be, particularly near the front, and the
actors had a difficult time getting to their spots, so that didn’t
work out quite as I had hoped. I did, however, see several of the adult
staff (particularly those who grew up in the ‘60s) clapping and
singing along.
_______
Pontiac Players present
HAIR
Book and lyrics by GEROME RAGNI and JAMES RADO
Music by GALT MacDERMOT
Principal Cast
EVAN KOTLER as Claude
LINDSEY CARTER as Sheila
JEN SMOKLER as Dionne
KEITH KRUSEL as Berger
JESSICA CANTOR as Crissy
ARIEL COWAN as Jeanie
BRIAN SOHN as Hud
BLAKE ZEITLIN as Woof
JOSH BRENNER as Dad
COURTNEY LaCROIX as Mom
Directed by JAY BRAIMAN, EMILY GALLICE and CLARE NORRIS
Home | Previous Show: The Lion King | Next show: H.M.S.
Pinafore
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