London Musicals 2005-2009.pub - Over The Footlights

Photo by Tristram Kenton
HAIR (3 rd
Revival)
London run: Gate, September 22 nd – October 29th
Music: Galt MacDermot
Lyrics & Book: Gerome Ragni and James Rado
Director: Daniel Kramer
Choreographer: Ann Yee
Musical Director: Steve Hill
2005
Cast: Charles Aitken (Claude), Kevin Wathen (Berger), Gary Amers (Woof), Golda Rosheuvel (Hud),
Joanna Ampil (Sheila), Robyn Isaac (Jeannie), Nancy Wei-George (Crissy)
Notes: This was an updated production, moving the setting from Vietnam in the 1960s to the current Iraq War,
and updating LBJ to George Bush, etc. A second nude scene reproduced the notorious human pyramid photos of
Abu Ghraib. However, this updating made no real sense: a musical about the lost “love and peace” generation
became one about brash layabouts refusing to grow up; Claude was no longer the hapless victim of a policy
forcing young men into the killing fields, rather he now volunteers for the army. It was generally felt that “Hair”
was truly a period piece
which belonged in the
1960s, and this attempt at
updating it did not really
work. However, it was
agreed the show still has one
of the best musical scores to
come out of that decade,
well worth hearing again.
14
Original London production,
Shaftesbury Theatre,
September 1968.
First revival:
Queen’s Theatre. June 1974;
Second Revival:
Old Vic, September 1993
HIGH SOCIETY (2 nd
Revival)
London run: Shaftesbury Theatre, October 10 th (120 performances)
Music & Lyrics: Cole Porter
Book: Arthur Kopit
Additional lyrics: Susan Birkenhead
Director: Ian Talbot
Choreographer: Gillian Gregory
Musical Director: James Dunsmore
Producer: New Shakespeare Company/Churchill Bromley, etc.
Cast: Graham Bickley (Dexter), Paul Robinson (Mike), Ria Jones (Liz),
Katherine Kinglsey (Tracy), Royston Kean (Uncle Willie),
Jerry Hall (Mother Lord), Claire Redcliffe, Bryan Torfeh, David Alder
Notes: This was a revival of the 2003 Open-Air Theatre production.
According to the Independent: “In Regent’s Park this was just the
summertime ticket. . .inside the Shaftesbury, badly microphoned,
desperately choreographed and tinnily accompanied by a band of just six Jerry Hall as Mother Lord
musicians, it looks a bit cheap. . .”. Top billing was given to Jerry Hall,
in the small and somewhat insignificant role of the mother of the bride. However, just eleven days after the Press
Night Jerry Hall withdrew from the show, suffering from glandular fever. (Exactly one year earlier Jerry Hall
had left the cast of “My Darlin’ Janey” at the King’s Head, again suffering from glandular fever.) Her role was
taken over by her understudy, Ali McInnes. Originally announced for a six-month run, the show closed on
January 21st 2006 after just 15 weeks.
Original London production: Victoria Palace, February 1987
First revival: Open Air Theatre, July 2003
Photo by PhotographersDirect.com