It’s the Summer of Love in Dillon, where “Hair” is rocking Summit County’s 60-something ’60s survivors right back to the Stoned Age.
The suddenly kind of awesome Lake Dillon Theatre Company is brazenly rejuvenating the iconic trippy-hippie tribal love musical in rep with its bohemian sibling “Rent,” which in some ways is really just “Aquarians: The Next Generation.”
With America mired in its longest war, a recent revival revived the music and the message of “Hair” on Broadway. But in Dillon, this is a “Hair” that’s as close as the hair on your chinny chin chin. It’s performed on and around you, with the same kind of confrontational intimacy that shook audiences to the core in 1967.
Shaking the risers with their dancing while freely moving through this 65-seat shoebox theater, this “Hair” is a love-in — in your lap.
You will be touched. And, turns out — the actors will be touched back.
What’s surprising isn’t the proliferation of bandannas in the crowd, the tie-dye, arm-waving and singing along. It’s the shock-white hair. These are the kids who lived through the most volcanic of years — the assassinations, Manson family, the war, the Chicago riots, the civil rights protests. . . . And they’re old!
And all living, apparently, in the Colorado mountains.
There are meaningful parallels to Afghanistan, but the differences are profound. Ten times more Americans died in Vietnam. And, of course, we have no draft. The closest thing “Hair” has to a plot is following whether tribal leader Claude will burn his draft card. Can today’s youths fully understand being asked to kill or be killed for a war they don’t believe in? And the stakes for refusing — five years of hard labor, by federal statute?
In retrospect, “Hair” is a necessarily naive (and at times laugh-out-loud stupid) theatrical orgy that was put together by passionate, smart, open-minded kids who really thought free love could change the world. They couldn’t have foretold how their own hedonism, fueled by governmental indifference, would lead with tragic directness to the AIDS epidemic of Jonathan Larson’s “Rent.”
The youths of 1968, 1988 and 2010 did not share a common jeopardy. Just the common disenfranchisement of a world not in harmony. Peace still does not guide the planet, and love does not steer the stars. But the mutual culprit is an ambivalent U.S. government.
That’s what this fully committed, immeasurably gifted and racially diverse ensemble of 16 seems to be tapping into. They leap back in full mind, spirit and body into a contradictory philosophy that imagined a raceless, classless world that espoused omnisexuality and mind-expanding drugs. It was a generation doomed to fail, but at least they set aside the narcissistic pursuit of corporal pleasures long enough to stand up and scare the hell out of America.
No, it’s no longer shocking to see numbers like “Sodomy,” or the once groundbreaking group nude scene, or Claude’s second-act acid dream, or even the flag desecration — the very things that got the wives and children of two touring-company members killed in an arsonist’s Cleveland hotel fire in 1971. It’s just not new enough to elicit that same kind of hateful antipathy.
I mean, the major sponsor of this production is a local pot dispensary.
But Christopher Alleman’s superb production is beautiful in its conviction, passion and execution. This tribe of age-appropriate young pros, most imported from New York, have known one another for less than a month, and yet they are, unmistakably, a tribe. Their leader is Chatfield High grad Travis Slavin as an easygoing, charismatic Claude. He’s backed by Priscilla Fernandez’s mood-setting “Aquarius,” a Spicoli-like Berger and a vocally ferocious Sheila (Northern Colorado grad Rhianna Pfannenstiel). This is an ensemble without a weak link.
Their work is enhanced by hilariously spot-on costumes, haunting sound and light effects and complex choreography by Juliana Black that, given the smallness of the stage, is miraculous.
It’s charming. It’s funny. It’s jarring. It gets under your skin.
And it doesn’t change a thing.
But even so, the world feels a bit more in harmony just knowing that kids are dreaming again of the age of Aquarius. And daring the world to give peace a chance.
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
“Hair” **** (out of four stars)
Tribal musical. Lake Dillon Theatre Company, 176 Lake Dillon Drive. By Gerome Ragni, James Rado and Galt MacDermot. Directed by Christopher Alleman. Through Aug. 27. 2 hours, 20 minutes. 7:30 p.m. most Wednesday through Fridays, and 2 p.m. or 2:30 p.m. Sunday matinees (call to confirm). $12-$22. 970-513-9386,
Best bet: Opening of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival
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The big news at the 53rd Colorado Shakespeare Festival is that Denver Center Theatre Company stalwart John Hutton will be guest-starring as King Lear in an outdoor production opening tonight (more on that coming up in the Sunday Denver Post). But there’s much more going on, including innovative indoor stagings of “The Fantasticks” and “Measure for Measure” that will be performed in the round, with some seating for audience members on stage. Both sets are designed by the University of Colorado’s Bruce Bergner. “Bruce found a way to honor our hope that some of the action might be staged more or less in the midst of the audience, who can choose to be seated in what might be considered a “usual” place for an audience in a theater — which won’t be usual at all, as you will see as soon as you enter the auditorium — or who can choose to sit onstage, said director Scott Williams, visiting from his native Britain. “Wherever you are, the view and the experience will be beguiling.” “The Fantasticks” opens Saturday, July 3 (indoors), “The Taming of the Shrew” July 10 (outdoors); “Measure for Measure” July 16 (indoors) and “Our Town” July 17 (outdoors). $10-$54. 303-492-0554 or .
Pictured: Emily Van Fleet as Luisa and Nick Henderson as Matt. Photo by Glenn Asakawa for CU Communications.
This weekend’s other theater openings
“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” Vintage Theatre presents one of Broadway’s biggest musicals on one of Denver’s smallest stages. See how it goes there for the Roman slave who wins his freedom by helping his young master charm the girl next door. Through Aug. 8. 2119 E. 17th Ave., 303-839-1361 or
“The Marvelous Wonderettes” A fast-paced musical filled with iconic ’50s and ’60s pop music, including “Heatwave,” “Mr. Sandman” and “Leader of the Pack.” Stars returning Colorado favorite Beth Malone, from the original New York cast. Through Aug. 21. Theatre Aspen, 400 Rio Grande Place, 970-925-9313 or
“Nunsense” Can you believe those five zany nuns from Hoboken are still trying to raise money to bury their felled fellow sisters, done in by tainted soup? Through Aug. 14. Presented by the Southern Colorado Repertory Theatre at the Massari Performing Arts Center at Trinidad State Junior College, 719-846-4765 or
“Steel Magnolias” Megan Van De Hey stars in Robert Harling’s ubiquitous weeper about Southern gals who come to Truvy’s Beauty Salon to chat, counsel, criticize and comfort one another. Through July 22. Little Theatre of the Rockies, Norton Theatre, on the University of Northern Colorado campus (Gray Hall, Eighth Avenue and 19th Street), Greeley, 970-351-2200 or
“Thoroughly Modern Millie” High-spirited 1922 musical romp focusing on young Millie Dillmount’s search for a new life in New York. Based on the popular movie, the stage version includes a full score of new songs and big dance numbers. Through Aug. 14. Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre, 1025 Grand Ave., Grand Lake, 970-627-3421 or
Complete theater listings
Go to our complete list of in Colorado, including summaries, run dates, addresses, phones and links to every company’s home page. Or check out our listings or
The Running Lines blog
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