HAIR: The Tribal Love-Rock Musical Review
By Jake Freeman
It felt more like a 1960s themed costume party than a normal theatre show, when HAIR: The Tribal Love-Rock Musical held its opening night at The Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne last Friday evening.
Theatre goers arrived, many dressed in bright colours, flared denim, peace sign necklaces and daisy chains. Famous hits from the era by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and Jim Morrison played on the house speakers as the audience members took to their seats. A screen above the stage played iconic black and white news footage of the decade; The Beatles, Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, the JFK inauguration, Woodstock, the Moon Landing, The Cuban Missile Crisis, the anti-Vietnam War and civil rights protests.
HAIR follows a group of politically active, long-haired hippies living a bohemian life in New York City in the late 1960s. United in their rejection of war, conformity, and repression, they champion a world of peace, free love, and radical self-expression. When it first debuted in 1968, HAIR broke new ground in musical theatre – blending rock music with raw emotion, political commentary, and boundary-pushing storytelling.
It was the first Broadway show to feature full nudity, depictions of drug use and sexuality, and a cast that spoke directly to its audience with urgent relevance. The show attracted plenty of controversy from the beginning. It was charged with desecration of the American flag, the use of obscene language and an anti-Vietnam War theme. During the early run of the show, it received occasional threats and violence and legal action. Some theatres outright refused to play Hair and when it did, was picketed by church groups.
Just after 7:30 PM, the house lights were dimmed and the audience was transported to 1968. We were introduced to the “tribe,” a free-spirited commune of hippies celebrating the dawning Age of Aquarius. What follows is a series of loose, musical vignettes that blend, protest, and personal confession against the backdrop of the Vietnam War and the radical cultural revolution of the time.
At the heart of the story of HAIR is Claude, (Alex Cooper) a young man torn between the expectations of his conservative parents and the pull of the counterculture. As he grapples with whether to resist the draft or serve in Vietnam, Claude is swept up in a psychedelic, passionate world of friends, protests, music, and personal discovery. Along the journey, he is joined by his friend Berger (Maxwell Simon), their roommate Sheila (Elizabeth Brennan) and a host of others.
HAIR had a cast of 12 people but it was hard to pin down who was the best performer. The show does not rush, giving time for each character to the have their moment. Each member of the cast does a fabulous job bringing their characters’ individual personalities to life amongst the tribe. Stand outs included Rosie Meader as Jeanie and Elizabeth Brennan as Sheila who both demonstrated amazing vocal talent stage presence.
One of the highlights of the show is the music. There are the high energy hits like “Aquarius,” “Let the Sunshine In,” and “I Got Life” to the more sombre songs like “Three-Five-Zero-Zero”, about the horrors of the Vietnam War and “Where Do I Go?” which explores Claude’s internal conflict and pressure of his military draft.
HAIR: The Tribal Love-Rock Musical is set to entertain a whole new generation of theatregoers whilst being a nostalgic experience for the people who were actually there. For the flower children of the 1960s, this revival made them believe, if only for a night, that peace, love and music can still change the world.
HAIR: The Tribal Love-Rock Musical is produced by the Australian Shakespeare Company. The Australian version of the show is directed by Glenn Elston and is based on the lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado and music by Galt MacDermot.
Hair is playing at The Athenaeum Theatre, 188 Collins St, Melbourne until 30 November 2025.
The running time for this show is approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes including a 20-minute interval. This production contains frequent coarse language, sexual content, drug and alcohol use, strobe lighting and haze effects as well as wartime and adult themes. It is only suitable for mature audiences. To learn more about HAIR: The Tribal Love-Rock Musical and purchase tickets, go to www.hairthemusical.com.au
