Joe's Pub to Serve a Berger in Central Park; Hair Concert Planned
By Kenneth Jones
21 May 2007
It'll be the Summer of Love all over again come September when Hair, the groundbreaking "American Tribal Love Rock Musical" launched at The Public Theater 40 years ago, gets a concert staging in Central Park.
Joe's Pub in the Park, a creative arm of The Public, will present the three-performance revival at the outdoor Delacorte Theatre on September dates to be announced, confirmed a spokesman for the not-for-profit widely known for free summer Shakespeare in the Park.
No Hair director or creatives have been announced yet. The performances are expected to fall sometime between Sept. 17-30.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the show's original Off-Broadway production (it was the first show to play the Public's current home off Astor Place). This is also the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love, the cultural earthquake that brought the free-loving, liberal-thinking, anti-establishment counter culture to the fore.
Public founder Joseph Papp produced the original production of the shaggy show by James Rado (book/lyrics), Gerome Ragni (book/lyrics) and Galt MacDermot (music).
It ran 49 performances (Oct. 29-Dec. 10, 1967) at the Joseph Papp Public Theater at 425 Lafayette (the former Astor Library) before moving to the Cheetah and then enjoyed a production (with a new production team) at Broadway's Biltmore Theatre. Tom O'Horgan directed the Broadway staging, which lasted 1,750 performances. It was nominated as Best Musical and for Best Direction of a Musical in the 1969 Tony Awards.
Gerald Freedman directed the original Public staging, which had John Morris as musical director, Ming Cho Lee as set designer, Theoni V. Aldredge as costume designer and Martin Aronstein as lighting designer.
The famous pop-rock score, performed by characters who comprise a "tribe" of New York City hippies ruled by ringleader Berger, includes "Aquarius," "Ain't Got No," "Air," "I Got Life," "Hair," "My Conviction," "Frank Mills," "Where Do Go?," "Abie Baby," "What a Piece of Work Is Man," "Good Morning Starshine," "The Flesh Failures (Let The Sun Shine In)" and more.
As previously announced, the summer Shakespeare in the Park will be Romeo and Juliet, directed by Michael Greif.
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Since 1962, The Public Theater has staged productions of Shakespeare in the Park at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park. These performances are offered free of charge and are seen by approximately 80,000 New Yorkers and visitors each summer. Since its inception over 80 free productions have been presented and have been seen by more than four million people.
Joe's Pub is the lauded, intimate venue off the lobby of The Public's downtown home on Lafayette.
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