𝘼𝘿 | Hair the Musical with SeatPlan

Photo Credit: Johan Persson

Hair The Musical
The Alexandra, Birmingham 

★★★★ 

Hair is regarded as the musical that “really shocked and changed the world of theatre forever” says Annabel Leventon who played Sheila in the original London cast. Hair thrusted bisexuality, open relationships and the rejection of monogamy in front of an audience for the first time and allowed more shows to play with more risque topics. The musical shocked audiences and some people even walked out of the theatre when it first premiered in September 1968. Hair is a product of the hippie counterculture and the sexual revolution of the late 1960s, hippies supported peace, drugs and love and disdained war, inequality, materialism and the US government. In fact, several of the songs in the musical became anthems of the anti-Vietnam war peace movement.

Hair the Musical focuses on a tribe of youngsters in the East Village of New York. They are desperate to change the world they are living in and questioning authority and the American flag. The eccentric, colourful, sexually liberated and free individuals are united in protest and song under the shadow of the Vietnam War.

The exuberant 50th-anniversary production of the rock musical, brought to you by the thrilling production company behind new musicals, Aria Productions is currently touring across the UK. Hair won a 2018 WhatsOnStage Award and direct from its sell-out London - it’s time to see what the fuss is all about!

Photo Credit: Johan Persson

In Hair, we follow the main protagonist Claude as he lives a life characterised by the pursuit of love, peace and sexual revolution. It’s not that easy as he faces a battle with his family who desire for him to fight in Vietnam as well as his own sense of duty to defend his country, or at least the people he cares for the most. He becomes influenced by the euphoric individuals within the tribe and immersed by all of their desires, there’s a real emphasis on freedom and love.

The musical’s storyline is quite weak as it’s mainly a sung-through musical - it’s those musical numbers that really tell us the story. At times it was really difficult to hear clear dictation because of where we were sat so I felt this was why we couldn’t connect with the musical as I would have liked to. This production integrates some fantastic elements of immersive theatre making it great fun for the audience who felt as though they had a foot in the action.

The company is strong and they hold an impressive standard for a touring production, there’s real genuine passion behind their performance. Dancing On Ice winner Jake Quickenden has a camp and flirty portrayal of Berger. A dropout and dominating male tribe member who leads the impromptu anti-establishment demonstration. He’s eccentric character rips off his trousers within the opening scenes. His character is outrageously bonkers and he does a fantastic job of navigating us through the story.

Daisy Wood-Davis takes on the role of Sheila, a passionate protester from NYU who lives with Berger and Claude and aspires to spread love. Her vocals are undeniably beautiful in her number 'Easy To Be Hard'. Wood-Davis has created a fantastic to the vulnerability and fierce characteristics Sheila possesses.

Marcus Collins and Aiesha Page have a fantastic range against the thumping rock anthems of Hair’s score. With over 40 shows in the show and the exploration of a broad field of music genres, these two amongst the strong cast are excellent at creating a thunderous chorus that leaves you with goosebumps.

Hair is a fantastic musical for embracing each individual and each of them was given their moment to tell their story. This production, however, is defined by its flawless set and lighting design.

Hair the Musical is one for those wanting to have a good time!

[AD] SeatPlan offered me complimentary tickets for Hair in return for a review of the show & to chat about their company/my experience.

SeatPlan is a fantastic place to help theatre fans choose and book the best tickets in 20 cities across the UK, including Birmingham! We know that buying tickets can be difficult, especially if you’ve never been there before and you aren’t too sure where the restricted view seats are or if there is enough rake between rows. It can be quite a difficult thing to organise but SeatPlan make it easy!

The company answers these questions for you by collating over 70,000 audience seat reviews and 35,000 photos making it an easy to use interactive seating plan. There’s opportunities to see the view from where you may want to seat - helping you to make the decision for a great night at the theatre.  

Our seats were in the Dress Circle on row A and although they provided us with a great view of the stage, we weren’t able to hear the diction in the songs. I think if we were to book using SeatPlan again I’d go for something a bit further towards the middle in the Dress Circle where hopefully we would be able to hear it clearer. However, SeatPlan has a fantastic interactive seating plan that I’ll definitely be using for future visits to the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham.

You can find out more about SeatPlan and whether it's available in your city here.