User:MusicMaker5376/sandbox WPMT

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[edit] Social change

Lyrics from the title number, "Hair": I let it fly in the breeze and get caught in the trees, Give a home to the fleas in my hair. A home for fleas, a hive for bees A nest for birds, there ain't no words For the beauty, the splendor, the wonder of my Hair.... Flow it, show it, long as God can grow it, my hair.... Oh say, can you see my eyes? If you can Then my hair's too short.... They'll be ga ga at the go go when they see me in my toga, My toga made of blond, brilliantined, biblical hair. My hair like Jesus wore it, Hallelujah, I adore it....

Hair challenged many of the norms held by Western society in 1968. The name itself was a reaction to civilization and a preference for naturalism.^[1] The musical caused controversy when it was first staged, and much publicity was provoked by the Act I finale which included male and female nudity, the first time a Broadway show had seen totally naked actors and actresses.^[2] The show was also charged with the desecration of the American flag and the use of obscene language.^[3][4] These controversies, in addition to the anti-Vietnam War theme, attracted occasional threats and acts of violence during the show's early years and became the basis for legal actions both when the show opened in other cities and when the show left New York on tour. Two cases eventually went to the U.S. Supreme Court.

[edit] Legal challenges and violent reactions

Hair met with resistance from various groups across the United States. In South Bend, Indiana, the Morris Civic Auditorium refused booking,^[5] and in Evansville, the production was picketed by several church groups.^[6] In the capital of Indianapolis, the authorities insisted that the cast wear body stockings during the nude scene, and the local theater pulled out of the production.^[5] Productions were frequently confronted with the closure of theaters by the Fire Marshall, as in Gladewater, Texas.^[7] Chattanooga's 1972 refusal to allow the play to be shown at the city-owned Memorial Auditorium^[8][9] was later found by the U.S. Supreme Court to be an unlawful prior restraint.^[10]

In Boston, the Chief of the Licensing Bureau took exception to the portrayal of the American flag in the piece,^[11] saying, "anyone who descrecates the flag should be whipped on Boston Common."^[12] While the scene was removed before opening, the District Attorney's office began plans to have the show stopped based on "lewd and lascivious" actions taking place onstage. The Hair legal team sought and received an injunction against criminal prosecution from the Superior Court.^[13] The D.A. appealed to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and, at the request of both parties, five of the justices viewed the production. The justices, appalled at what they saw, ruled that "each member of the cast [must] be clothed to a reasonable extent," and the cast defiantly played the scene nude later that night.^[12] The the next day, April 10, 1970, the production closed, and movie houses, fearing the ruling on nudity, began excising scenes from films in their exhibition. After three Federal appellate judges upheld Hair's appeal, the D.A. brought the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a 4-4 decision, the Court upheld the lower court's ruling, allowing Hair to re-open on February 22.^[14]

On April 26, 1971, the New York Times reported that a bomb was thrown at the exterior of Cleveland's Hanna Theater, bouncing off the marquee and shattering windows in the Hanna building and nearby storefronts.^[15] That same month, the families of cast member Jonathan Johnson and stage manager Rusty Carlson died in a suspicious fire in the Cleveland hotel, where 33 members of the show's troupe had been staying.^[16][17] The Sydney, Australia production's opening night was interrupted by a bomb scare in June 1969.^[18]

[edit] Worldwide reactions

Local reactions to the controversial material varied greatly. A Mexican production of Hair, directed by Castelli,^[19] opened in 1969 for one performance. The show, whose theater was located across the street from a popular local bordello, was shut down by the government who said the production was "detrimental to the morals of youth."^[20] The cast members were forced to leave Mexico to avoid arrest.^[21]

Hair effectively marked the end of stage censorship in the United Kingdom.^[22] London's stage censor, the Lord Chamberlain, originally refused to license the musical, but the opening was held until Parliament passed a bill stripping him of his licensing power. In Munich, authorities threatened to close the production if the nude scene remained; however, when a local Hair spokesman declared that his relatives had been marched nude into Auschwitz the authorities eventually relented.^[19] In Stockholm, Sweden, where the show opened in 1968, choreographer Julie Arenal found the cast very reluctant to shed their clothes for the nude scene. In Bergen, Norway, local citizens formed a human barricade to try to prevent the performance.

Conversely, in Copenhagen, the Danish cast thought the nudity too tame and decided to walk naked up and down the aisle during the show's prelude.^[19] The Parisian production encountered little controversy, and the cast disrobed for the nude scene "almost religiously" according to Castelli, nudity being no stranger to the stage in Paris.^[23] There was still occasional opposition, such as when a member of the local Salvation Army used a portable loud speaker to exhort the audience to halt the presentation.^[19][24]