Hair to Play the Hirschfeld Beginning February 2009
By Andrew Gans
and Adam Hetrick
05 Nov 2008
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Patina Renea Miller in the summer staging of Hair.
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| photo by Michal Daniel | The Public Theater's revival of Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical, directed by Diane Paulus, has found its Broadway home: The Al Hirschfeld Theatre.
The acclaimed production will begin previews at the Hirschfeld — current home of A Tale of Two Cities — Feb. 13, 2009. Opening night is scheduled for March 5. No casting has been announced.
Hair began performances July 22 and officially opened Aug. 7 at the Delacorte Theater. The tribal love-rock musical, written by James Rado, Gerome Ragni and Galt MacDermot, was originally scheduled to run through Aug. 17. However, word of mouth turned Hair into one of the hottest tickets in town, resulting in three extensions of the free production.
The Broadway production will be produced by The Public Theater and Elizabeth Ireland McCann.
In a statement McCann said, "I had been asking myself, 'Why Hair? Why now?' And when you look at how audiences at the Delacorte jumped from their seats to sing and dance with the cast at the end of the show, you realize that Hair's joy and unbridled hope for a better world is in step with where we are today. Those sentiments certainly echoed like a sonic boom when America went to the polls yesterday and elected Barack Obama."
Public Theater artistic director Oskar Eustis added, "Hair was the first play The Public Theater produced indoors. It opened in the fall of 1967, and went on to become the anthemic show of a generation searching for a more just world. Forty years later, the Age of Aquarius is dawning on Broadway again. Hair is coming back just when our country needs it the most. Let the sun shine in!"
The Central Park production featured choreography by Karole Armitage (Passing Strange) and reunited much of the 40th anniversary cast of Hair, which played the outdoor theatre in September 2007.
The creative team comprised Scott Pask (set design), Michael McDonald (costume design), Michael Chybowski (lighting design) and Acme Sound Partners (sound design).
Hair featured Christopher J. Hanke (as Claude, succeeding original star Jonathan Groff), Will Swenson (Berger), Patina Renea Miller (Dionne), Caryn Lyn-Manuel (Sheila), Ato Blankson-Wood (Tribe), Steel Burkhardt (Tribe), Jackie Burns (White Boys Trio/Tribe), Allison Case (Crissy), Lauren Elder (Tribe), Allison Guinn (Tribe), Anthony Hollock (Tribe), Kaitlin Kiyan (Tribe), Andrew Kober (Father/Margaret Mead), Megan Lawrence (Mother), Nicole Lewis (White Boys Trio/Tribe), John M. Moauro (Tribe), Darius Nichols (Hud), Brandon Pearson (Tribe), Megan Reinking (Black Boys Trio/Tribe), Paris Remillard (Tribe), Bryce Ryness (Woof), Saycon Sengbloh (White Boys Trio/Tribe), Maya Sharpe (Tribe), Kacie Sheik (Jeanie), Theo Stockman (Tribe) and Tommar Wilson (Tribe).
The Al Hirschfeld Theatre is located at 302 West 45th Street. Ticket information will be announced shortly.
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