Muriel Kauffman Theatre Presents HAIR, Now thru 2/10

The Muriel Kauffman Theatre, a subsect of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, is set to welcome the national tour of the original rock musical, HAIR. HAIR is slated to perform from tonight, February 5th through the 10th, 2013.

HAIR, The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a social-political show with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and pacifist revolution of the 1960s, many of the show's songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement. The musical's profanity and hot issues have caused much comment and controversy since its inception in 1967. The musical broke new ground in musical theatre by defining the genre of "rock musical", using a racially integrated cast, and inviting the audience onstage for a "Be-In" finale. Many of the most beloved musicals of today, including RENT and SPRING AWAKENING, are said to have not been possible without the daring ingenuity of HAIR.

HAIR tells the story of the "tribe", a group of politically active hippies of the "Age of Aquarius" living a bohemian life in New York City and fighting against conscription into the Vietnam War. Claude, his good friend Berger, their roommate Sheila and their friends struggle to balance their young lives, loves and the sexual revolution with their rebellion against the war and their conservative parents and society.

After an Off-Broadway debut in October 1967 at Joseph Papp's Public Theater and a subsequent run in a midtown discothèque space, the show opened on Broadway in April 1968 and ran for 1,750 performances. Simultaneous productions in cities across the United States and Europe followed shortly thereafter, including a successful London production that ran for 1,997 performances. Since then, numerous productions have been staged around the world, spawning dozens of recordings of the musical, including the million-selling original Broadway cast recording. Some of the songs from its score became Top 10 hits, and a feature film adaptation was released in 1979. A Broadway revival opened on March 31, 2009, earning strong reviews and winning the Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for best revival of a musical.

For tickets to HAIR's Kansas City stop, visit www.kauffmancenter.org.

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