One Last Hair Piece (I promise)

I Google myself. Get over it.

Anyway, I do it whenever I am scraping the bottom of the barrel procrastination-wise. And, with an as-of-yet paper due a few hours from now, tonight was a perfect time for such a distraction.

Usually I just get the same responses I've always gotten, but tonight I was rewarded with something special. Apparently The Observer, a student newspaper from our sister campus Rutgers-Newark, had some pages to fill last week and ran a very nice review of Hair (after the show had closed, but whatever).

Here's a link, but I don't know how long their archive stays up so I'll just post the whole thing here:

Sex and Drugs Alive and Well at Rutgers
New Brunswick delivers an amazing production of "Hair"
ZACHARY HUFF, LIFE & LEISURE EDITOR
Issue date: 3/4/08 Section: Observations

The Cabaret Theatre is a pretty non-descript building on the Livingston campus in New Brunswick. Nothing really stuck out about it aside from some live music (heavy on the drums) filtering out of the windows and a huge sign on the lawn that read "Hair."

Needless to say, I really had no idea what I was getting into. Even as I was sitting in a folding chair, watching as the cast stumbled out of the curtains and into the giant open space inches from me, my thoughts were racing, struggling to try to take it all in.

Maybe it was the fact that it was 11:54 on a Saturday night.

Maybe it was the thick smell of pot that seemed to dance about the air.

Whatever the case was, it was 1968 and I was about to go on a trip. And as I sat there, contemplating my hands and my fingers and why the fuck we were in Vietnam, the performance took off.

Berger (played by Jon Bershad) set the mood of this "American tribal rock musical" rather quickly; his pants were off and he was thrusting at a few lucky ladies in the audience within ten minutes.

The audience was welcomed into their tribe, and we were basically told to sit back and hold on as our minds were about to be blown.

What followed was a collective of thoughts and songs pieced together by themes of love and the Vietnam War. Every cast member had their chance to shine, and boy did they shine.

Several of the players stood out in my humble eyes. Anthony Preuster as Woof was captivating, constantly demanding my attention and making me feel as though his obsession with Mick Jagger could be a matter of life or death.

Dina Graziano (playing Chrissy) persevered through a bit of technical difficulties to deliver "Frank Mills," a heartfelt song of unrequited love. Madeline Orton's portrayal of Sheila eloquently captured the spirit of protesters with shouts and stomps one minute, and the pain of a lover scorned the next.

The entire cast made the performance feel a little more than real to me. They weaved through the audience at all times, touching and feeling (and blowing) whoever they wanted.

I've never felt more involved in a performance; it was a refreshing guerrilla-style show that pretty much raped me of my preconceptions of musicals.After an hour and a half of getting to know the tribe, the first act ended with considerably less clothing and the second act began. The plot line of the second act was much more focused and driven, following Claude (played brilliantly by Ben Regan) as he examined Vietnam and the draft through drug-induced fantasies. While it wasn't as flighty and easy going as the beginning, it really grounded the musical. The resolution was heavy, and I was more than a bit sad to have to leave the tribe.

Unfortunately, by the time you read this, the production run of "Hair" at the Cabaret Theatre will have already wrapped up. Check out www.cabarettheatre.org for other upcoming productions as well as more information on the theatre.

You'd think that I'd be upset that I did not warrant a mention in his "actors that stood out section" however, I'm just glad that now, whenever I Google my name, the phrase "Sex and Drugs Alive and Well at Rutgers" appears prominently.

PS. A longer post of stuff I myself actually wrote is coming soon (I had a fairly exciting weekend filled with sex, violence, and duct tape). Soon after that the entries will slow down for a while while I am in Europe. So, sad for you and yay for me.