April 1, 2009
Critics rave over 'Hair' revival on Broadway stage
 The Central Park-to-Broadway transfer of “Hair” has amped up and perfected the Summer of Love stalwart, according to the critics’ reviews today.
The lone bad review — “It’s dull” — comes from the Boston Globe. Is the Globe a square?
“Hair” has an open-ended run at the Al Hirshfeld Theater, located at 302 W. 45th St., map. Regular tickets are priced from $37 to $122. Premium seats are $252. Box seats ae $25 and sold by lottery at the box office before each show. When a performance is otherwise sold out, standing room tickets will be sold for $22.
The reviews of “Hair” on Broadway:
Variety - “The enhanced production now at the Al Hirschfeld is sharper, fuller and even more emotionally charged. Director Diane Paulus and her prodigiously talented cast connect with the material in ways that cut right to the 1967 rock musical’s heart, generating tremendous energy that radiates to the rafters.”
New York Times - “But what distinguishes “Hair” from other recent shows about being young is the illusion it sustains of rawness and immediacy, an un-self-conscious sense of the most self-conscious chapter in a person’s life.”
Post - “I have zero nostalgia for the 1960s, but I love this “Hair.” “
Boston Globe - “But it has not, to put it mildly, aged well. What may once have seemed winningly ingenuous and gently rebellious now feels unbearably naive and unforgivably glib. The antiwar sentiments of the show are still painfully relevant but uselessly one-dimensional, and beyond that there’s … what? Drug jokes, sex jokes, squares-vs.-hippie jokes, and a lot of other stuff that must have sounded a little corny even the first time around.”
Daily News - “The three new principals who’ve joined the cast are excellent additions. Gavin Creel is superb as the naïve Claude, who wants peace but goes to war, and his moving “Where Do I Go” is an emotional highlight. Sasha Allen heralds the age of “Aquarius” with powerhouse vocals, and Caissie Levy brings sweet earthiness to “Easy to Be Hard” and “Good Morning, Starshine.”“
Hollywood Reporter - “What fuels the evening is the propulsive pop-rock score by Galt MacDermot (music) and Gerome Ragni and James Rado (lyrics) that is given a spectacular treatment in this production. From the opening strains of the psychedelically tinged “Aquarius” to the final heartbreaking cries of “Let the Sunshine In,” it is delivered with unrelieved passion and conviction by the hard-driving onstage band and the dynamic cast.”
USA Today - “On Broadway, the spring season has brought imperfect productions of two transcendent musicals, West Side Story and Guys and Dolls. Now, to redress the balance, there’s a transcendent production of an imperfect musical.”
Brandon Sun, Canada - “The characters may be on the brink of chaos, with a social, political, racial and sexual revolution swirling around them, but Paulus never lets the celebration get incoherent. If anything, she has refined the production’s clarity. Not an easy task when the book by Ragni and Rado is cheerfully anarchic and practically non-existent, and the music determined to spin off into a cornucopia of styles.”
Bloomberg - “Most important, Nadia Digiallonardo’s nonpareil musical direction reveals every strength of Broadway’s first — maybe only — great rock ‘n’ roll score.”
amNewYork - “Ever dream of being a dancer on Broadway? Your day has finally arrived. Seriously. In the finale of the Broadway’s exuberant revival of “Hair,” the audience is invited to dance with the entire cast onstage. It is a communal celebratory conclusion to a theatrical experience you will not soon forget.”
Hartford Courant - “With two major cast changes from the summer revival in Central Park and the restoration of a brief nude be-in at the end of Act I, “Hair” returns to Broadway.”
Related: Hair on Twitter
Earlier: Daily lottery for $25 box seats at ‘Hair’ on Broadway
‘Hair’ extends free Central Park run through Sept. 7 (2008)
‘Hair’ in Central Park for Summer of Love anniversary (2007)
April 1, 2009 6:35 AM in Broadway, Midtown
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