Seminal rock musical Hair is at Milton Keynes Theatre this week.
The show which was famously first staged in the West End when theatre censorship laws were abolished 50 years ago, has returned with an updated version which opens with clips of Donald Trump announcing air strikes to put the show's message of peace and love in a modern day context, writes Chris Gregg.
Apart from the opening, though, the show remains true to the original production which was inspired by peace rallys against the Vietnam war and captured the spirit of a generation who rebelled against the establishment with a new spirit of free love and peace and introduced theatre audiences to bisexuality, inter-racial relationships and nudity.
Hair follows a group of young hippys in the East Village of New York as they protest against the war and attempt to avoid being drafted to join the troops.
But the plot is secondary, and sketchy at best with the beginning part of the second half mostly a series of hallucinations caused by the mind-altering substances the gang are taking.
The show takes the audience on a virtual reality trip which is as close as you can get to experiencing life as a hippy on a temporary basis. With a psychadelic set covered in rainbow coloured strips, lots of smoke and coloured lights it's beyond being a feast for the senses.
More of a sensory gluttony which combines with virtually continuous music played by a live band on stage.
The barefoot cast perform some great songs - I Got Life, Good Morning Starshine, Aquarius and Let the Sunshine In, as well as about 40 other, less memorable songs, and at times it's difficult to know exactly where the story is going but Hair's original Director, Tom O'Horgan once said it was "like life - you just absorb what you can, you miss a lot but you don't question it".
Perhaps the best way to enjoy this show is to just experience it without trying to understand everything you see.
The cast are fantastic, Hollyoaks’ Kim Butterfield, Daisy Wood-Davis is outstanding as Sheila. Dancing on Ice winner Jake Quickenden is a brilliant Berger and X Factor runner-up Marcus Collins stars as Hud, although on press night he was replaced by his understudy Spin who gave a confident and strong performance.
Hair is perhaps as shocking and alien to audiences now as it was fifty years ago but its message is just as important today. By the end of the show, you'll feel like you've lived through a Summer in a New Age commune and might even find yourself joining the cast on stage for the final curtain call.
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