Hair Tickets | Schedule for 2024/2025 Events

Hair

Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is based on hippie culture in the 1960s. It was a radical musical that sparked controversy for depicting illegal drugs, a nude scene, disrespect for the American flag, profanity, etc. A few songs from the musical later became the anthems for the anti-Vietnam War peace movement. The musical has music by Galt MacDermot and a book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado.

Hair had a racially integrated cast and invited the audience onto the stage for the finale.

The musical is the story of a group of politically active hippies with long hair. They live a bohemian life in New York and fight against the Vietnam War.

Claude, Berger, and Sheila are roommates. The premise is how the trio and their friends handle issues like sexual revolution, love, conservative parents, societal rules, etc.

Background Information

Hair debuted Off-Broadway in 1967. It was first performed at Joseph Papp's Public Theater and Cheetah nightclub from December 1967 to January 1968. The musical opened on Broadway in April 1968 and ran for 1750 performances. It was performed at the West End the same year and ran for 1997 performances.

The musical was revived on Broadway in 1977 and 2009 and at the West End in 1993 and 2010. In addition, Hair was adapted as a feature film in 1979. The 2009 Broadway revival won Best Revival of a Musical at the Tony Awards and Drama Desk Award in 2009.

Hair had nineteen musical numbers in the first act and thirteen in the second. However, it was rewritten multiple times, new songs were added, a few original numbers were removed and replaced, and a few songs from the premiere were deleted from the Broadway performances. The numbers were recorded by multiple artists. A few tracks had multiple versions. Hair has also helped launch careers in the industry.

The musical had performances in other countries like Germany, France, Japan, Israel, Sweden, Netherlands, Australia, and several other countries.

The original Broadway version was well received, though there were a few critics. This version also won Grammy Awards for Best Score From an Original Cast Show Album in 1969.

That said, the musical also faced resistance on its US tours.

Reactions from around the world varied and oscillated between praise and criticism. Either way, no one seemed to be able to ignore Hair the musical.