Interview: Adelaide bares all about ‘HAIR’

For those who aren’t very familiar with it… What’s ‘HAIR’ all about?

The story follows a tribe of hippies hanging out in Central Park in the sixties who have taken over a theatre to put on a show. It centers on what these young American kids cared about at that time: The Vietnam War, Free Love, freedom of speech, religion, and how they dress. It’s about self-expression and fighting for what you believe in – and figuring out what that is.

How are rehearsals coming along?                                                       

It’s intense because we don’t have much time. We were lucky to get a slot at The Byre because it’s the best place to put on a musical – but still, we’re pretty crunched. In the course of rehearsals we not only have to get through the show but also have a cast of people who need to bond together really intensely; more so than in any show I’ve ever worked on or been in. I don’t call them actors, they are “The Tribe”.

In the original Broadway performance of ‘HAIR’, a third of The Tribe were African-Americans. I imagine that was quite difficult for you to emulate in St Andrews.

That was one of our biggest concerns. I mean, you couldn’t put something like ‘Hairspray’ on in St Andrews because of the very same issue: there just isn’t enough ethnic diversity here. And certain roles in ‘HAIR’ couldn’t be cross-racially cast. But were lucky because we had a diverse range of people audition. The traditionally male, black character of Hud is played by Ku [Boane] and so we’ve changed the character of Hud into a ‘butch’ female. We have a good mix of people aesthetically, but the casting focused on personality and acting diversity than race.

What made you choose this musical?

Brendan (‘HAIR’s musical director) and I wanted to find a musical that we really cared about. Brendan had been in ‘HAIR’ before and its music is just gorgeous. But besides the fact that it is a thought-provoking show, I find it fascinating that a musical that is almost 50-years-old is still so controversial, and I wanted to put on something that had a deeper purpose. ‘HAIR’ is not just a musical, it’s a piece of performance art whose message is that you can’t be apathetic about everything.

What are your plans for the costumes? Will the men be wearing wigs? Will there be a lot of tie-dye?

It’s not going to be a stereotypical, 10-year-old hippie birthday party. I want the hippies to look quite dirty. They didn’t shower that often, so I want it to be more realistic in that sense. We are going to have to use wigs for some of the characters. (A lot of the guys don’t have hair that’s long enough.) For the most part, we’re trying to get each of the actors to come up with their own interpretation of their characters.

Are you going to include the infamous scene at the end of the first act, where the cast come on the stage completely naked?

The famous nude scene. We are. We have permission from the Byre and Just So. Everybody’s over eighteen and we went through the audition process with an open dialogue about it. It was also on the audition form. But we’re not going to force anybody to do anything they’re uncomfortable with. It’s also probably about 20 seconds long and it’s not bright spotlights on all the characters – it’s done tastefully.

One last question. What would you like to say to convince people to come see ‘HAIR’?

Besides the fact that it’s going to be incredibly fun, people need to hear the music. My mother had it on vinyl when she was 12 years old and would listen to it for entire summers on-end, so I’ve talked about it with her a lot. The music is what really speaks to the audience. So give the music a listen. It’s not just a musical about hippies with a nude scene in it – it’s so much more. Keep an open mind and come see it for yourself!

For all information on the event please see here, and to purchase tickets online please click here.

‘HAIR’ goes up at the Byre at 8pm on November 1^st, and 2pm and 8pm on November 2^nd, and tickets are £7 for students.