Who saw 'Hair' live?

[canetoad]

Saw it twice on first run. First time I was just under 18 and had to lie to get in, because of the nude scene. Second time was maybe 18 months later. Still the same magic.

Attended a stage revival in mid 90s. Small, funky company but well funded. Music was great but it didn't have the grimy, desperado feel of the original. It was a Gen X tribute to the 60s but with Gen X sensibilities.

[flor-de-jasmim]

1. My parents took me to the live production in Boston when I was about 17.

I remember sitting next to my dad, and don't remember who was more embarrassed, but I loved the energy of the musical numbers.

It was the same time that we also went to the Fox Hollow Folk and Arts Festival ijust over the Mass. border in NY for two or three years running. Was anyone else there? I had such a crush on Michael Cooney!!

[secondwind]

4. I was a young secretary back then, my boss gave me two

orchestra seats. He was a kind older man. He knew what to expect.

[TexasTowelie]

2. I saw a theater-in-the-round version in 2004 (35th anniversary) at my college alma mater

with one of my younger friends. He went to a commuter college with not much of a fine arts department so I wanted to introduce him to what he was missing at a university with a residential campus and fine arts. At the end, one of the girls in the production made a beeline to him to get up and dance since he was a handsome dude.

We had a great time and enjoyed the music. Nice road trip from Dallas to Georgetown, Texas. I also was friends with two of the performers in the production.

[secondwind]

3. I did. When it first came out. NYC. Unforgettable!!!

I’m 73, that was a looooooong time ago!

[PJMcK]

5. I saw the Broadway revival in 2009

I was on 10 or 11 when the show debuted but I grew up knowing the music and the story.

When I saw the revival in 2009 (the production won the Tony award for Best Revival), I was disappointed. The production was excellent, the cast was terrific and the music was powerfully performed. But the show felt terribly dated. Many of the references were of events and people from the 1960s and the struggles the characters experienced seemed rather trite compared to contemporary issues. Still, the show was entertaining and I'm glad I saw it live.

I had a similar reaction to A CHORUS LINE when it was revived in 2006. I had seen the original when I first moved to NYC in 1976. The original knocked me out so I was eager to see the revival. The producer was a colleague of mine and he gave me opening night seats. I was disappointed for similar reasons since the struggles of the young dancers were mostly of that earlier era. I was also surprised by the score because I didn't remember how truncated the songs felt; they were almost all set-ups for a dance number, of course.

Both shows are remarkable accomplishments and they deserve all the success (and money!) they've earned. But my very personal opinion is that they both felt like museum pieces that dealt with subjects that were removed from our present. In other words, the characters struggles' didn't strike me as universal.

Obviously, many others held different views!

In any event:

Gliddy glup gloopy
Nibby nabby noopy la la la lo lo
Sabba sibby sabba
Nooby abba nabba le le lo lo
Tooby ooby walla nooby abba nabba
Early morning singing song.

The song reached No. 3 on the Billboard charts in 1969, so what do I know?

[femmocrat]

6. I did.

I t was around 1970? Great music.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. I did, in March of 1969 in NYC.

[DFW]

8. In Boston

Spring of 1970.

Just wonderful!

[BarbaRosa]

9. I saw it in Sydney, NSW, '68or'69.

I still have the handout for the "Be In".

[Golden Raisin]

10. Original Broadway run. With my mother,

who was an inveterate theatre and Broadway musical aficionado and dragged me along. As a child and young teen I got to see many original cast Broadway "golden age" musicals: SOUND OF MUSIC, WEST SIDE STORY, GYPSY, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, MUSIC MAN and many more. Seems like the Jurassic Era now!

[Thunderbeast]

11. Saw it live in Portland in early 70s.

[3catwoman3]

12. I saw it when I was a senior in high school - 1968/69.

My parents took us to Toronto, from Rochester NY. It must have been my mother’s idea. I remember my father scowling and shaking his head during the nude scene. My high school boyfriend, who turned out to be a possessive, controlling jerk when we went off to the same college, was very unhappy that I was going to see male genitals.

I liked the music. The play itself, meh.

[LakeArenal]

13. Saw it Madison WI. 1970

[tblue37]

14. I saw it live in London in the early 1970s, maybe 1974. nt

[msongs]

15. original run had a sense of urgency as the audience was personally invested in the situations nt

[SharonAnn]

16. Yes Summer of '69 or '70. Can't remember which.

[elleng]

17. I did, a 'few' years ago in Chicago!

Thanks for the memory!

[PufPuf23]

18. Saw Hair on a high school field trip to ACT in San Francisco.

Probably was 1969 but may have been 1970 (sophomore year or junior year).