The Eve of Aquarius: Hair Cut-Off and Wrap-Up

"Like it or not, they got me."

Well, I finally did it. Today after class I drove to some random Super Cuts in a desolate strip mall on Route 1 and got my hair cut.

While I flipped through the latest issue of Vibe (it was that or a tabloid) waiting for my turn in the chair, a small tinge of doubt began to form in the back of my mind. And then, while Shaggy's imortal song "Boombastic" blasted out of the radio and a woman with an impenetrable Jamaican accent (I simply nodded to everything she said which resulted in my purchase of an expensive hair "relaxing balm") began bringing out her scissors, the doubt turned into a full-fledged panic. Could I do it? Could I have the chapter in my life that was Hair the musical so clearly cut short? Of course, in an instant, it was too late and George Berger had been forcibly severed from me and had fallen to the ground, where he would be left until someone swept him up into a plastic garbage bag.

Hair was over.

Obviously, part of me is relieved. I no longer have to drive to Douglass every day. I get hours upon hours of free time back. And I never again (thank God) have to sing the song "Donna" for the rest of my entire fucking life.

But still, as my hair fell down just like the Hair set came down a day earlier, I was genuinely sad. And I was even more sad then I always am at the end of a play. I think a large part of that has to do with the fact that, unlike the last few plays I've worked on, the people I did Hair with weren't the people I hang out with anyway. I'm not going to see them every day now that the final curtains fallen. And let me say, I've loved working with these people.

Seriously, this was one of the best groups of people I've ever worked with. They were just so much fun and so diverse. I genuinely feel like, had we not been working on an incredibly stressful play the whole time, I'd probably have actually enjoyed spending time with them.

If any of you are reading this, I love you all and I hope to see you sometime soon.

The other reason I was so sad, was that doing this play was so different for me and that was really exciting. I did a lead a musical with pretty much no singing or dancing talent (which is kind of like going to a shooting range with no bullets...or hands) and you know what? I survived. And hell, I even did full frontal nudity. I did everything on stage in this show that I've ever been afraid of doing on stage. And I got through it! It was truly exciting (although it's a little worrying that there's nothing left to do that really scares me except perhaps for sacrificing a Christian virgin on stage).

So, let me give a big thank you to everyone involved. Both to the wonderful cast and crew and to all of the people I knew who came out to see us. I had a wonderful time.

And now, here's a little summary of some of my favorite parts of closing weekend:

• While Thursday night's was definitely our worst performance, the last three were all fantastic (although we did really miss Shannon during the last two)
• The ad libs got stranger and stranger throughout the run. This maaaaaaaaaaaaay have had something to do with the rapidly descending sobriety of the cast.
• I accidentally kneed Danielle in the chin during the "Sodomy" blow job scene on closing night. She was very nice about it.
• Cabaret people filmed a lot of the performances and back stage stuff. I would love to see all of it. One moment I'm especially excited to see is a clip of us during Set Strike performing scenes with all the roles switched around. I'm really glad we hadn't done this until after the show was done because the directors would have definitely fired me and had Ayesha play Berger had they seen the realism and intensity she brought to the role.
• We had a big cast party at my house after Saturday's show. We christened the bong from the set which I had to name the Agora Bong and we even ate some fantastic brownies that Danielle, Ayesha, and I made before the show. Of course, I ended the night a complete mess and had to be helped to my bed in an epic quest that Rachel likened to the end of Return of the King starring me as Frodo and Danielle as Sam, boldly carrying me the last stretch of the way.

I can't believe it's over.

Today, on the way home from my hair cut, I was listening to some music (a Bob Dylan CD no less) and went to bob my head and was surprised to find thatI couldn't feel my hair bob with me.

Sigh. Ka-lookah-koo.