August 1, 2008
Lake Worth Playhouse's "Hair" Is a Trip, But It Skimps on the Nudity
This has been a very good summer for the 1960s. Dream a Little Dream, the Mamas and The Papas saga continues at Florida Stage and, not to be outdone, The Lake Worth Playhouse has a worthy production of Hair, the ground-breaking "American tribal love-rock musical," on through Sat., Aug. 9.
Director-choreographer Rob Dawson deserves much of the credit for assembling the show and teaching his too-young-to-be-around-then cast what the hippie revolution was about. And you’ve got to love lighting designer Josh Gumbinner's kaleidoscopic acid backdrop.
Standouts in the cast are Shane Blanford as Claude Hooper Bukowski, who also carried last summer's Rocky Horror Show as cross-dressing Frank N. Furter. Emily Riedel (Crissy) does a nice job with the plaintive Frank Mills and Gina Nespoli (Sheila) gives a powerful rendition of Easy to be Hard. (Nespoli's number is probably the most dramatic song in the show, though I've never understood why it is so weakly motivated by Claude's rejection of a yellow shirt she made him.)
Anyway, there are weak links in the ensemble (The Tribe), but you would probably get a time-travel trip back to the '60s if you caught one of the show's final performances.
The only department that the Playhouse's production comes up short is in the infamous nude scene at the end of the first act. If that is why you're going, you might as well stay home. At last Saturday evening's performance, few of the cast members participated in the voluntary doffing of their duds. I asked artistic director Jodie Dixon-Mears if it was an off-night nudity-wise and she noted that a few cast members' parents were in the audience that night, which definitely affected the performers' inhibitions.
Call the Lake Worth Playhouse's box office for last minutes tickets, (561) 586-6410.
It was a great show!
There was one performer during a Saturday matinee who removed his clothing, however, he was way in the back climbing the scaffolding and then placed his discarded clothing in an appropriate place while exiting the stage. He was a long haired guy..look for him!
It was fun to try and predict which performer would take it off.
Posted by: Viewer at August 6, 2008 8:58 AMMy wife, 10 of our friends and I went to the opening weekend Gala performance of "Hair." WE HAD A BALL! The performance was equal to, or better than, any live performance I had seen in years past.
If all anyone wanted was the nude scene, they were probably satisfied with that performance. In defense of the actors and actresses, they are ALL UNPAID VOLUNTEERS, who perform for the love of the theater. Nudity in the performances of "Hair" has always been voluntary and is done for the artistic value of the production, not for the benifit of the voyuers in the audience.
As a multi-year season ticket holder at the Playhouse, I commend the VOLUNTEER PERFORMERS, and put my money where my mouth is.
Posted by: Jim DeLand at August 4, 2008 11:50 AMMy wife, 10 of our friends and myself went to the Gala performance on the opening weekend of "Hair". WE HAD A BALL! The trip back in time was well worth the price of admission; and the performances were equal to, or better than, any I live performances I had seen in the past. If all anyone wanted was the nude scenes, then they were probably satisfied with the opening weekend performances. Giving credit where credit is due, the actors and actresses are ALL VOLUNTEER, UNPAID PERFORMERS who perform for the LOVE OF THEATER, not for the voyeurs in the audience.
As a multi-year season ticket holder at the Playhouse, I can offer no better praise than putting my money where my mouth is.
Posted by: Jim DeLand at August 4, 2008 11:38 AM
