I'm just going to throw it out there, just toss it on out there... My night was better than yours. Well... my late afternoon. Why, may you ask, was my afternoon better than yours?

Maybe because i saw

and you didn't.

And not just HAIR: THE AMERICAN TRIBAL LOVE-ROCK MUSICAL, but the last night that this cast Tribe would be in the States. They're going across the pond and we're getting a new tribe starting on Tuesday.

So I went to the show, and it wasn't just good, it wasn't just pretty damn good, it was FANFUCKINGTASTIC. Excuse my language. I'll start at the beginning.

I bought a ticket yesterday. I figured it would be too difficult to get 1/2 off so I coughed up the money for an Orchestra ticket: Row E Seat 6. Slight Stage Right and all kinds of perfect. I went by myself, I was a bit nervous, but I shouldn't have been. The girl next to me also was there alone. The rest of the replacement Tribe surrounded me, as well as some of the original Tribe members who had left earlier. To my left was Alan Arkin. One of the writers of the show was in the audience and there were a number of other stage and film actors in the audience. And Super Fans. Hardcore superfans.

Anyway, I was in the perfect spot. In hindsight, it would have been even more awesome to be on he aisle, and we all know how I feel about audience participation. But, I can't complain. I was after all 5 rows in and 3 rows from center.

Before the show started you could already feel how excited everyone was. I don't think I've felt that kind of energy in a long, long time. And as soon as the tribe tumbled out onto the stage with "Aquarius" there was a standing ovation. 5 minutes long, I'm guessing. And the entire tribe was crying, a good section of the audience as well. Will Swenson channeled Burger and told us to all shut up, but not before saying "fuck it" when he fumbled his speech. He managed to almost make it through his monologue, giving someone his pants and then asking another well placed person for some change. Conveniently enough, it was a quid. That led a few of the tribe members to start crying again.

We managed to make it through "Donna" and "Hashish" without delay, though as soon as Woof appeared there was another standing ovation. The Tribe cried, I cried, the girl I didn't know who sat next to me cried. It was a crying fest. "Sodomy" was sung, more applause. It was a free-for-all, people were breaking character and just running free. It was amazing. Hud got a standing ovation, that "I'm Black/Colored Spade".

And then Gavin Creel appeared and the entire audience more or less exploded. It didn't help when he sang "Manchester, England" everyone was flipping out. That Union Jack on the seat of Claude's pants was amazingly appropriate. I wonder if this is what the first tribe felt like when they went over to London. I frankly have no idea how they managed to not totally break down (though a few times they did).

Of course, I already love the musical and it holds a special place in my heart because it was the last musical I worked on back home (and before graduating), but it was just so great that the entire audience could more or less sing along. It was just insane.

ANYWAY, Sheila got a standing ovation, and her monologue got some tears. The tribe was more or less on the brink all night, they continued on through to when Claude gets the draft notice and sings "I Got Life." --I'd like to interject here and say that he pointed directly at me when he said "I got life, my daughter." I died a little inside. But in a good way. Especially since I ran smack into Gavin Creel a few weeks ago. I'm going to miss running into cast members. Not like I know them or they know me, but it's just nice to see theatre people moseying all over the place. END TANGENT--

"Going Down" Went over fantastically, which is good because it's one of my favorite songs. And then Margaret Mead appeared, and her husband cried throughout the entire scene. And then they sang "Hair" and I swear, if you could bottle the energy and enthusiasm and emotion that was running through the theatre you would make bank. It was phenomenal.

Will Swenson was amazing during the "yellow shirt" scene. I love the way his hippie has that sort of bridge between what the hippies wanted to be and what they became. Mainly, terrifying speed freaks who would freak out at a moments notice.

When Crissy came out to sing "Frank Mills" she was crying, which made Jeanie cry, which made everyone cry, but it really set up for the Be-In.

The Be-In. It was intense. I was crying because it made me homesick, they were crying because they're leaving, the audience was crying because... probably for a variety of reasons. But when Gavin Creel sang "Where do I go" and the rest of the tribe had this look of loss and sadness on their faces, oh my God.

Intermission was intermission. They're boring. I was all jittery from adrenaline and texting Greg and telling him that we had to go to London and see the cast. I was texting Catherine because her family was in Greenwich. I was texting Hayley and not getting a response. I was texting Nancy and freaking out because she was in the Mezz. The girl who was sitting next to me and I talked about the famous people in the audience and how much we loved the show. I said it was going to be a tough second act, she asked if that meant it was bad. I just said, "No, but everyone's going to cry." And gave her a bunch of my kleenex.

I was prepared, courtesy of Greg.

Act II started with a standing ovation and more tears. the Tribe was totally in tears, the audience was in tears. It was a mess. Anthony Hollock stood next to my aisle and bawled, I really wanted to just give him a pat on the shoulder. Or my kleenex.
"Black Boys/White Boys" Got a standing o and people singing along. At this point the show was probably 20 minutes late, but no one cared.

When Claude arrived everyone cried. Burger hid with Sheila underneath the soviet flag as Sheila cried, and at this point I think half the blocking went to shit. People were just trying to keep it together. "Walking in Space" resulted in tears, especially during the emotional build up towards the end. Of course the bad trip was high emotion, and everyone sung the hell out of it, like they were never going to be doing it again... And they wouldn't be, at least not on that stage. The wake up from the trip was emotional. Claude was crying on the floor as Sheila attempted to sing "Good Morning Starshine." Her voice cracked a few times, which only made the audience cry. The replacement cast was bawling to my left, and Will Swenson was standing SR at the stairs. Of course the girl next to me is crying and I'm bawling because I miss home and everybody and am an emotional sieve. So I'm crying, and look from Sheila to Burger/ Will Swenson who's holding it together quite admirably. And then his lip quivers, which makes me do the whole scrunched-up-face cry, which makes the girl next to me cry really loudly, which makes him full on burst into tears.

Will Swenson crying will break your heart. And it made the rest of the tribe cry. Claude, Burger, and Sheila basically huddled together sobbing while the rest of did the transition. Blocking was shot to hell, lines were fucked up ("Fucking snow" became some incomprehensible garble). Of course the line about New York and the snow really hit hard because of the recent snow storms, leading everyone to cry even more.

And then "Manchester, England/ Eyes Look your Last" aka Claude dies. And everyone lost it. And when he appeared, invisible, and Will Swenson was in tears. Oh my God. The audience was silent. People weren't so much in character as just trying to keep some semblance of composure.

When they sang "The flesh Failures/ Let the Sun Shine In" I was just a mess. The tribe was a mess. But it was absolutely beautiful. I don't think I've ever been in an audience or worked on a show where there was so much support and love coming out of an audience. And when they left the stage, with Claude lying there and the snow falling, the audience remained silent.


And then curtain call.
Oh My God. I think I've lost my voice. My hands are numb. It was insane, the enthusiasm and the amount of cheering that everyone did. The stage was packed, with actors and friends and families and supporting audience members. They had to shut down the stage but everyone was in the aisles singing along.



They didn't do a closing speech, but the crew all came out and people were hugging and crying, throwing flowers into the audience and on stage. I don't think anyone would have been able to formulate a speech to save their lives.

And then I bought $50 worth of stuff, because why not.

I didn't wait around for the cast to sign stuff, and from what I hear- 2 hours later and they were still out there. The line was insane.



***
This entry went from coherent to rambling in 2 seconds flat, but I don't care. And if you couldn't tell, I flipped between cast members names and the character's names like nobodies business.


PEACE OUT




Edit: Reading all the grammatical mistakes after the fact is only mildly embarrassing; however, I'll just blame adrenaline and enthusiasm and leave it at that. no editing/corrections shall be made to this entry.