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Hair
Original Broadway Cast Recording
RCA, 1968
REVIEW BY: David Bowling
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 02/07/2008
On April 29th, 1968, the line “When the moon is in the seventh house” from the song “Aquarius” was sung for the first time, starting Hair’s five plus year, 1,750 performance run on Broadway. The musical’s also signaled a change in American theatre; Broadway was no longer found in Oklahoma or the South Pacific, but had entered the era of hippie protest and rock and roll.
Woodstock in 1969 and the San Francisco music scene of the mid-60s are considered to be focal points for a generation of love, protest and change. Hair can rightfully be added to these two cultural events. It can be considered the first Broadway rock musical, with a beat, rhythms and song structures that were straight out of rock and roll and were unheard of on Broadway up until its release. Thousands of young people made their first journey to Broadway to see Hair, and they would return.
It was the content, however, that set Hair apart from any Broadway play that had preceded it. While protest and anti-cultural values had entered the American consciousness, these values had never been expressed so forcefully or clearly or with such popularity as they were in Hair. With a plot revolving around anti-Vietnam and psychedelic drug themes, the show presented songs covering such topics as the desecration of the American flag, obscene language, air pollution, racial tension, hashish, and sodomy. Added to all this was Broadway’s first complete nude scene.
Many of Hair’s songs are still remembered as are the performers contained in this original 1968 cast album. “Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In,” “Good Morning Starshine,” “Hair,” and “Easy To Be Hard” would all become pop hits by various artists, while cast members Diane Keaton, Ron Dyson, Melba Moore, Paul Jabara and Leata Galloway would go on to successful acting and singing careers.
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