With the run of “Hair” starting Tuesday (Feb. 18), I thought why not get more scoop on this exciting play straight from the director’s mouth? After all, the original show co-creator James Rado collaborated with the director, Charles Roy, on the new version of the production coming to Little Rock and there are two new songs that haven’t been included in the more recent Broadway versions. Talk about cool!
Roy is a director, writer and producer and currently directs the majority of productions produced by the Classical Theatre Project. Through CTP, his productions have garnered Dora Award Nominations, North American tours and a total audience of more than a million people. One of Canada’s leading young theatre artists, he had directed more than 100 productions for companies across the country, including Pleiades Theatre, the World Stage Festival and many others.
I spoke with Roy on the phone recently about his initial interest in “Hair,” how it paints an accurate picture of the ’60s, his favorite songs and more.
What piqued your interest in the play?
I was put in touch with one of the original co-creators, James Rado, who mentioned to me that he had been considering some minor revisions to the book and would I be open to discussing that. I said ‘absolutely.’ I went to New York to meet with him and hadn’t gotten through the script yet when he pulled out an enormous yellow shopping bag of clippings, Post-It notes and cocktail napkin scribbles from 40 or 50 years ago when they’re were initially conceiving the film. He walked me through the show’s origin before we even got the script revisions at all, so I was keenly interested in where the show came from, but it occurred to me that that ethnography for the show has deviated from its set original show where before it was quite a provocative piece– very defiant, very desperate, but still with an amazing energetic rock ‘n’ roll youth culture feel. It became interesting to us as a production where we could return the show back to its original [form] and build from there a new and exciting production with some modern elements.
How do you think ‘Hair’ paints an accurate picture of life in the ‘60s?
We haven’t changed anything in terms of its specific references– it’s still Vietnam, it’s still L.B.J., it’s still the characters of the day and the actors, their physical resemblance in terms of the clothing choices and the prop choices and the set choices, still have the same style from the day. But, in an effort to make this thing relevant and in an effort to bring this story back to its original properties, we focus on the desperation that they felt. They were all kids caught between a rock and a hard place. On one hand they could stay and be a party to the system or allow themselves to be shipped off in the war that would likely kill them. It was an extremely high stakes game and in many ways, this show brings us back to the desperation that they were facing to an absolute fear and the choices that this desperation led to. For us, it was a culture of protest and second, it’s a choice of love, not as a cultural movement but love as a weapon. What we’re hoping to do with this production is reinvigorate memories of that and offer that as a concept to the new audience. In that way, bring them back to the emotional core of the piece, as opposed to layering tie-dye and tie-dye because it’s pushed the show away from original set of principles.
How would you describe the play to someone who has never seen it before?
What they can expect is a rockin’ good time. The show, if nothing else, has a huge amount of entertainment value, the show is unbelievably cast, the dancing is phenomenal and beyond that, the political dimension of it rides very high and I think that they’ll be ignited and really inspired and wowed by the energy and commitment that these people had for particular political movement of this day. It’s true that the war in Vietnam has ended but the greater cultural war has not and I think if nothing else, people will attach themselves to that and they’ll relate with those ideas.
We heard that there is a new element to the show this time. Could you explain what that is?
We decided to do a stylistic innovation where the actors, themselves, play all of the instruments in the play. It has this feel of a rock concert and a play all at the exact same time. The music is front and center in this production, leading to so many high-energy, high-impact, visceral experiences that is very uncommon for the show that audiences can relate to and have a great time with.
What is your favorite song from production?
There is so many. I love “Hair”; I love “Aquarius (Let the Sun Shine In)”– it still brings me to tears. I love “Dead End”– it’s got such an aggressive, rousing quality to it I think that people will really attach to and then I love this song called “Frank Mills”, which is a beautiful ballad at the end of the first half.
What do you enjoy most about directing ‘Hair’?
This has been the extraordinary collaboration that I found with the co-creator Drato. Also, the cast of actors from Toronto, Chicago and New York are some of the top-flight young undiscovered talent who have evolved in bringing this unique perspective to something that is really extraordinary. In the musical theater, we call actors who can act, sing and dance a triple threat, but in this production, because they also play instruments, they’re quadruple threats– everyone can act, sing, dance and can play instruments. Working with these new arrangements and working with these sounds has been a really exciting process.
For more information about the performances, click here.