When I heard that the revival of “Hair” was getting a cast recording, I could hardly contain my excitement. Not only is “Hair” the best thing I have seen this year, but it’s easily one of the best productions that I have ever seen of any show period. The recording is as good as I expected, with parts of it even sounding better than the original recording of “Hair,” which is one of my favorite Broadway cast recordings of all time.
For those of you unaware with the storyline of “Hair,” it follows a group of hippies in the 60’s in New York City. The Vietnam draft has started and the tribe of hippies- through two acts- describe their ideals of peace, freedom, free love, happiness, and loudly profess their anti-war stance.
As in the original production, “Aquarius” opens the recording. While the entire cast sounds stellar, it is Sasha Allen (who plays Dionne in the show) who truly shines here. Ms. Allen delivers a brilliant vocal performance on the track, making this number surpass the original in quality and emotion. I would go as far as to say that this recording of “Aquarius” would be the definitive one, even better than the version made famous in the 70’s by The Fifth Dimension. It is clear from this track alone that Allen has a brilliant career ahead of her.
“I Got Life” is one of the many highlights of the first act. Gavin Creel (playing Claude)- who, in my opinion, was robbed of the Tony for Best Actor (and yes, I saw “Billy Elliot”)- brilliantly breathes as much spirit into this number as the original recording of it had. Hearing this track makes the listener connect to one of the many themes in “Hair”; feeling alive in a time when it is not easy to do so.
“Hair,” the title track, is another first act winner. Will Swenson (who plays Berger) and Creel (along with the rest of the cast supporting them) sing their hearts out and the rest of the cast sounds great behind them. My only gripe with this song is that it’s so well done in the theater (with the cast running through the audience, grabbing your hair, dancing on your seat, etc) that hearing it makes me miss seeing it done live. “Easy To Be Hard” is another example of where this recording is better than the original. While the original recording of this song is amazing, Cassie Levy (playing Sheila) gives such a stellar performance that, like Allen with “Aquarius,” she truly makes this the definitive version of this song.
“Walking In Space” is one of the highlights of the second act. I find it particularly interesting how politically-tinged lyrics from over 40 years ago are still exceedingly relevant today, especially when the cast sings (about the Government) “pretending it’s a chore to ship us off to war… our eyes are open.” With the senselessness that is the Iraqi War, this song still has a deep emotional impact on the listener.
No review of “Hair” would be complete without mentioning “The Flesh Failures/Let The Sunshine In.” This song was easily one of the definitive musical moments of the 60’s, and with this new version, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be one of the definitive musical moments of the 2000’s. This version- especially at the end, when the cast sings it a capella- reinvents the original version and manages- yet again- to exceed it. This is easily the most heartfelt number in the entire show, and Allen belting out “Let it in, let it in” at the end only helps to bolster how brilliantly moving this number is. After hearing this number on the CD, it is easy to understand why the audience feels so compelled to rush the stage after it ends.
Other highlights on the “Hair” recording include “Ain’t Got No,” where the cast gets the audience involved in protesting with them, “Electric Blues,” which brilliantly opens the second act, and “Frank Mills,” which brilliantly captures how, during the draft, people just seemed to disappear and never be seen again.
One concern people may have had about the new “Hair” recording is that it would sound dated and lose its authenticity. Even though I have had the original cast recording for years, I don’t see this one leaving my CD player anytime soon. The recording is as authentic, as beautiful, as new, and most importantly as relevant as the original was.
Kudos to the entire cast and creative team of the new production of “Hair”; this may just turn out to be the most important Broadway show (and recording)- revival or otherwise- of the decade.
