Let The Sunshine…

Let the sunshine in!

No, really, it’s freaking cold and gloomy out there.

But HAIR was fun!

I only threatened to get naked and sing along once! The almost but not quite 18 year old FREAKED!

“Don’t even joke” she threatened as I began to pull at my shirt, hands criss-crossed at the hem already.

“But they probably want audience participation!” I cried above the singing.

She shrank in her seat and sat as far away as she could from me, hand at her brow.

The nekkid part (not mine, the cast’s) was very brief and lit with ridiculously low lighting. These were the buffest, cuttest, trimmest, eight-pack-est 20 year olds on the planet. It felt like I was looking at defiant gymnasts as they stood and faced the audience for ten seconds. Not an ugly one in the crowd. We recognized one of the performers as a past instructor at the Toronto dance studio the eighteen year old bopped around in as a child. Its the same place where Mike Meyers learned musical theatre and dance as a kid. We recognized Cleo BEFORE she was naked in spite of the way I structured those sentences. She seems still to be as snobby and as unsmiling as she was as a teen.

The 18 year old, her friend and even the husband were not familiar with the music and the references were mostly foreign except for what is made fun of in commercials. Personally, I liked the trip back in time even though I was just a *cough* baby *cough* in the ‘60’s (we used to sing these songs in elementary school)! The talent was impressive even though the sound was difficult to discern- soloists were drowned out by chorus- the words are most important and you couldn’t make them out. The band was excellent and surprisingly quiet but the show used smoke more than once so those poor singers and musicians’ lungs were probably chafed by the end of the show.

Consolation Champ, James and the lovely Brook attended as well and even though Brook and I figured the husbands wouldn’t necessarily enjoy it, they seemed to. James commented on the Broadway-ese of the singers and how unnatural they all sounded. I guess I didn’t notice the Andrea McArdle (Annie) School of Singing until he mentioned it. To me it’s normal but he’s right - in the ‘60’s actors were cast for their different approach to singing -they didn’t all sound the same. In spite of everything that could be criticized the 18 year olds only had eyes for the cowboy and Indian characters (very cute) so much so they did not care to know what team they played on. (“But he has no hair on his body and he’s completely chiseled, check out the body language!” I tried to reason)

The girls seemed to love the evening and looked like they enjoyed the alternative era experience. In fact I know they felt inspired by the theme and the music so much because they listened to ‘RENT’ on the ipod all the way home.

Where do I go? Follow the children. Where do I go? Follow their smiles.
Is there a place, is there a someone that tells me why I live and die?

Discuss.