A tribe of hippies has taken over the Civic Center Little Theater, where they are spreading love and sunshine all over the place.
The Broadway musical "Hair," staged by Nina Denton Pasinetti for the Charleston Light Opera Guild, was way more fun for me at this time in my life.
The energy that the actors brought to the stage was spectacular. The show opened last weekend and continues its run Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoon.
Music director Bobby Hodges has assembled his eight-piece rock and soul band on a riser on stage, where musicians are an integral part of the action.
Nearly 40 musical numbers take place in this kaleidoscope of color and light, and the band and singers were rock solid.
I was mightily impressed by the quality of acting and singing in this production.
Opening with "Aquarius" and Beth Winkler Bowden as Ronnie, the show moved rapidly to offerings by Jeff Hanson as Berger, Eli Chambers as Claude and the beautiful "Easy to Be Hard" featuring Michelle E. Melton as Sheila.
Chambers was believable as a young man on the horns of a dilemma: whether to take up the sword and shield or to truly turn his back on a way of living that the previous generation had ingrained in him.
Of course, Ted Brightwell as Claude's mother stole the show in his frumpy nightgown and curlers. And where did he get those cat's-eye glasses?
A tribe of hippies has taken over the Civic Center Little Theater, where they are spreading love and sunshine all over the place.
The Broadway musical "Hair," staged by Nina Denton Pasinetti for the Charleston Light Opera Guild, was way more fun for me at this time in my life.
The energy that the actors brought to the stage was spectacular. The show opened last weekend and continues its run Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoon.
Music director Bobby Hodges has assembled his eight-piece rock and soul band on a riser on stage, where musicians are an integral part of the action.
Nearly 40 musical numbers take place in this kaleidoscope of color and light, and the band and singers were rock solid.
I was mightily impressed by the quality of acting and singing in this production.
Opening with "Aquarius" and Beth Winkler Bowden as Ronnie, the show moved rapidly to offerings by Jeff Hanson as Berger, Eli Chambers as Claude and the beautiful "Easy to Be Hard" featuring Michelle E. Melton as Sheila.
Chambers was believable as a young man on the horns of a dilemma: whether to take up the sword and shield or to truly turn his back on a way of living that the previous generation had ingrained in him.
Of course, Ted Brightwell as Claude's mother stole the show in his frumpy nightgown and curlers. And where did he get those cat's-eye glasses?
For most of this show there were 27 microphones on stage, not counting the band and the ambient microphones around the stage and room. Tom Pasinetti and sound whiz Doug Litton had them zeroed in for a field of sound that was full but not cluttered, energized with volume but not overloaded.
In short, I was amazed.
This is such a great show with its short catchy numbers that use the language of George Carlin. While that's no biggie today, in its time it was very bold.
The stage itself was aglitter with lights and color centered around someone's Volkswagen Bug.
At one time, the emotions and thoughts expressed by this show were a part of my life - they were my religion.
Now I can just sing along and have fun in a dark theater where they can't see the tear on my cheek as I recall the reality of those times.
This show is a great, rousing, rocking extravaganza.
