The full title is \u201cHair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical.\u201d<\/p>\n
Being the language nerd that I am, the function of the hyphen in \u201cLove-Rock\u201d in the musical\u2019s title is fascinating.<\/p>\n
Although I am no grammarian, I have been a journalist and newspaper editor for some 58 years, going back to when I was editor of the Southern Lehigh \u201cSpotlight\u201d student newspaper.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the connection?<\/p>\n
I was a student newspaper editor in 1968.<\/p>\n
\u201cHair\u201d opened on Broadway in 1968.<\/p>\n
I was very much of the era when the musical takes place, knew a few hippies back in the day, and have seen numerous productions of \u201cHair\u201d over the decades, including legendary Guthsville Playhouse productions in 1974 and 1975 at Cedar Crest College, Allentown.<\/p>\n
\u201cHair\u201d is back at Civic Theatre of Allentown, June 19 through July 5, Main Stage, Nineteenth Street Theatre, Allentown.<\/p>\n
The June 19 opening night performance was seen for this review.<\/p>\n
Civic\u2019s \u201cHair,\u201d directed by Civic Theatre of Allentown Artistic Director William Sanders, has a big cast: 26 in all (27 if you count the baby in a lovely, visibly pregnant cast member), including nine lead actors in the cast and 17 in the ensemble, or \u201cThe Tribe,\u201d as they are described in the playbill.<\/p>\n
Sanders brings to the stage a terrific young cast whose parents may not even have been born in 1968. The cast \u201cgets it\u201d and performs with the glee, abandon and ferocity emblematic of the hippie generation that is the basis of the play.<\/p>\n
Sanders, assistant director Tracy Ceschin, choreographers Rose Fortkamp and Sarai Misic, Music Director Steve Reisteter and the cast present a wonderful version of \u201cHair\u201d that time-travels a half-a-century and more back to New York City\u2019s East Village when everything seemed shiny and new and the possibilities were endless.<\/p>\n
The production\u2019s technical staff is top-notch: Costume Designer Rigby Maiatico, Wig Designer Kim Danish, Props Designer Jason Daniel Sizemore, Lighting Designer Sarah Goldstein, Sound Designer Carl Link, Technical Director-Set Designer Josephine Genuardi and Scenic Artists Colleen Algeo and Bill Algeo.<\/p>\n
The costumes are hippie authentic with headbands, flowers, bell-bottom jeans, flowing skirts, fringe vests and sandals. You can almost smell the patchouli.<\/p>\n
The minimalist stage represents crash pads, streets and the mind of one of the play\u2019s characters during a hallucination. A walkway extends from the stage to over seats in the front row. Actors dance and sing up and down the aisles. Some actors cajole the audience. You feel as if you are part of the show. Indeed, audience attendees are invited on stage for the finale.<\/p>\n
The seven-person orchestra conducted by Reisteter, who is on reeds (I suspect that\u2019s his flute trilling wonderfully during the closing \u201cLet The Sun Shine In\u201d) with two keyboards, two guitars, bass and drums, puts the rock in the rock musical.<\/p>\n
At first, as the cast meanders around the stage, so do the musicians meander around the music, with lovely sitar-like flourishes and crisp cymbal splashes. The show doesn\u2019t so much open as sneaks up on you.<\/p>\n
The loosey-goosey vibe is what makes Civic\u2019s \u201cHair\u201d so entertaining. Sanders gives the actors free range to be themselves, to be real, as they cavort, stomp, twirl, raise their arms in the air, laugh and smile, filling the stage with a free-flowing style that is a joy to behold. Individual solo vocal performances are stunning, the cast\u2019s harmonies are fine and the choral work is robust.<\/p>\n
\u201cHair,\u201d with a 20-song first act and eight-song second act during an approximate two- hour performance, has several signature songs which have entered the pop music lexicon. The book and lyrics are by Gerome Ragni and James Rado. The music is by Galt MacDermot.<\/p>\n
Makenna Copeland (Dionne) is in astounding voice for \u201cAquarius\u201d at the start of the show, backed by the terrific vocals of the Company.<\/p>\n
August Fegley (Sheila) shines in the wistful solo, \u201cEasy To Be Hard,\u201d and the romp, \u201dGood Morning Starshine,\u201d backed by the exuberant vocals of the Company.<\/p>\n
Melody Portnoy (Chrissy) is charming in the pop-flavored \u201cFrank Mills.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachel Kemmerer (Jeanie) is memorable, with Copeland and Portnoy, in \u201cAir,\u201d all the more poignant with Kemmerer\u2019s pregnancy.<\/p>\n
Liam Thompson (Claude) and Anthony Rizzuto (Berger) make an impression with the title song, \u201cHair,\u201d backed by the Company.<\/p>\n
Tanner Sheridan (Margaret Mead) adds surprising hilarity to \u201dMy Conviction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also making impressions in The Cast are Andy Van Antwerp (Woof) and Dylan Miller (Hud).<\/p>\n
Civic Theatre of Allentown\u2019s cast of \u201cHair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical\u201d brings love to the show and makes it rock. The actors, singers and dancers are triple threats. They are the hyphenates.<\/p>\n
\u201cHair,\u201d 7:30 p.m. June 19, 20, 26, July 2, 3; 2 p.m., 7:30 p.m. June 27; 3 p.m. June 28, July 5; 2 p.m. July 4, Civic Theatre of Allentown, 527 N. 19th St., Allentown. 610-433-8903, https:\/\/civictheatre.com\/<\/p>\n
PHOTO BY BILL BASTAThe cast of \u201cHair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical,\u201d Main Stage, Nineteenth Street Theatre, Civic Theatre of Allentown.<\/p>\n
PHOTO BY BILL BASTAFrom left: Makenna Copeland (Dionne), Melody Portnoy (Chrissy), Rachel Kemmerer (Jeanie), \u201cHair,\u201d Civic Theatre of Allentown.<\/p>\n
PHOTO BY BILL BASTAFrom left: Anthony Rizzuto (Berger), Liam Thompson (Claude), \u201cHair,\u201d Civic Theatre of Allentown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The full title is \u201cHair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical.\u201d Being the language nerd that I am, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-224138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}