There is an aggressive, at times militaristic tone that wafts through the current production of Hair at the Victoria Theatre. A quartet of marching-style bass drums is periodically wheeled onstage for cast members to pound accompaniment, or to hit the sides of the drums, creating sounds akin to snapping whips. It's an odd choice for a musical that opens with a celebration of "The Age of Aquarius."
While some of the musical staging has a do-your-own-thing looseness, other moments have the cast in confrontational moves aimed at the audience. Perhaps this is all part of director Jon Tracy's vision for the show, a harsher Hair for a harsher world. After all, when Hair first debuted on Broadway in 1968, it seemed the difference between worldwide peace or war was all focused on Vietnam. Memories of the musical, more likely sustained by its songs than any first-hand encounters of the original production, are probably rooted in a tie-dyed land of free-spirited hippies spreading the gospel of love.
At times, Hair can almost seem like a jukebox musical, as familiar tunes regularly arrive before much of a plot has kicked in. When a Broadway revival was tried in 1977, it was a quick flop, and the 1979 movie version didn't seem to know what it wanted to evoke. Other than the sanitized version offered up to high schools, Hair seemed little more than a dated parody about freaky hippies and their drug-fueled rebellion. But along came director Diane Paulus, with perhaps enough distance from the flower-powered past, and she recaptured what Hair is all about in a hit Broadway revival and a subsequent tour that played San Francisco in 2011.
Hair is the second production from the newly formed Bay Area Musicals, which made its debut last fall with a shaky staging of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. This production of Hair has a stylistic unity that its predecessor lacked, even though that style misses many opportunities that need to be carefully mined. In the Paulus production, she was able to clarify the spotty plot, putting emphases on specific relationships among the tribe, and to acknowledge that the creators of the show, lyricist-librettists James Rado and Gerome Ragni and composer Galt MacDermot, were both celebrating and poking fun at their subjects while moving toward a bittersweet conclusion.
The production at the Victoria runs roughshod over most of the subtleties, and that also depletes the power of the songs by reducing their contexts. Add in a four-piece band producing a surprisingly thin sound, and the audience at a recent performance often didn't know when a song was over, creating moments of silence before realizing it was time to applaud. Clumsy amplification further hurts matters, with vocals emerging from speakers on opposite sides of the stage. In many scenes where there are groups, it can require scanning the stage to see whose lips are moving to create a sync with what is coming out of the faraway speakers.
Among the cast, there is a missing warmth and commitment to the material that should be its cornerstone. While good buddies Berger and Claude are the leading characters, with Berger more spontaneously rambunctious than the conflicted Claude, Jepoy Ramos' performance as Berger can fade into the background. But Jeffrey Brian Adams does provide depth in a strong performance as Claude, who is torn between dodging the draft or facing a likely deployment to Vietnam. When Adams sings "I Got Life" midway through the first act, the production finally shows some signs of exuberant life. Unfortunately, that moment is short-lived.
Hair will run at the Victoria Theatre through March 12. Tickets are $35-$60. Call (415) 340-2207 or go to bamsf.org.
Jeffrey Brian Adams leads the company of Hair in a rousing rendition of I Got Life at the Victoria Theatre. Photo: Ben Krantz