Farewell to HAIR!

Last night we went to the final performance of 'Hair' at the Gielgud Theatre and, since it's already closed on Broadway, this was the final show of the production, and what a show! Every time I've seen it, the cast has put their all into the performance and no less tonight, despite tears and sad smiles at times, the entire cast should be proud of what they gave us last night.

I was looking in the booklet to the cast recording this afternoon, the record that I bought in New York in February this year, and I was pleased to see how many faces I recognised from last night. There have been a number of changes, but the bulk of the cast seems to be the same and that's good for us since these people know each other so well. The main change last night was Kevin Kern as Claude (since Gavin Creel left the show on Wednesday) and he filled some big shoes very well indeed.

Caissie Levy plays Sheila, Democracy's Daughter and a Protester, with a lovely powerful voice singing 'I Believe In Love', 'Easy To Be Hard' and 'Good Morning Starshine'. I love 'Easy To Be Hard' and, clearly, last night so did everyone else due to the standing ovation that sent Cassie off stage with tears in her eyes at the appreciation. She has a great voice and a lovely presence and I'd love to see her again.

Allison Case plays Crissy, the lovelorn hippy who misses the love of her life, 'Frank Mills', a song that sets Chris off crying and, last night, sent Allison from the stage in tears as she received her ovation. She is so in role, a gentle young woman, happy with almost anything, smiling and supportive but missing the love of her life.I love seeing Allison on stage - she is never out of character, even when in the background behind the mass of the Tribe, she is still Crissy and that's lovely. We met Allison a few visits ago and Chris had his photo taken with her so the task last night to find her and get her to sign the photo - which we did and she did, quite gladly. Allison seems quite lovely and I can't wait to see what she does next.

Kacie Sheik plays Jeannie who loves Claude but who is knocked up by some random speed freak on the Lower East Side. Kacie's big song is 'Air' during which she holds a gas-mask to her pregnancy bump and she commented that she was *still* pregnant. That was her ovation time at which she tried to calm us down to move on to the next scene. I always like Kacie's random inputs, like, at the start of the big drug-induced dream sequence in the second half she shouts out, 'As Mary Magdalen once said, Jesus, I am getting stoned!'. Classic lines delivered so well.

The fourth female lead is Sasha Allen as Dione, who opens the show with the magnificent 'Aquarius', with Sasha fronting the triangle of the Tribe behind her, a very powerful image and a great sonic wall of sound. Sasha also takes the lead for 'White Boys' and 'Walking In Space' and her voice and presence are always an asset. All she has to do is to open her mouth and you know you're in the presence of a singer. And it's Sasha's voice that echoes the show to a close with 'Let The Sun Shine In' as the hippies leave the stage with the the body of Claude being coated in snow... such a touching end.

Of the male hippies we have Steel Burkhardt at Berger, the hedonistic leader of the Tribe with his mane of hair, our host for the evening who leads us down the road to ad libs, sex and drugs. Berger loves Berger and wants to stay high forever, the archetypal hippy. His sheer naivety is part of his attractiveness - I'd like to have him as friend once a week, but that's about it.

Kevin Kern played Claude who pretends he's from Manchester when he's actually from Queens. He's Aquarius, destined for either madness or greatness and, in the end, death. Claude is the central character of the show and it's his journey we follow - we need a strong actor to take us through the rest of the show and Kevin did that perfectly well. He's clearly following in Gavin Creel's footsteps rather then creating his own, but it was a great performance for the final night.

Darius Nichols plays Hud, the sex-driven black power character with great presence whether it be his one-liner interjections or something more challenging. You can't help but notice when he's front and centre stage, playing his own game with the hippies, enjoying himself with Big Daddy or Little Daddy, rubbing his nipples trying to attract people to the Be-In and announcing a 'suck-in'. He crawled out over the seats to row J during 'Hair', right in front of Chris and, when he turned to move towards the aisle, he rested a hand on my shoulder and I put a hand up to steady him, touching his back through his tasseled waistcoat - I've touched Hud-flesh. He's a great creation and excellently played by Darius - I loved the 'Yes I's Finished On Y'All's Farmlands' and 'Abie Baby' sections, where one moment he's threatening with a spear and the next he's The Temptations. Excellent stuff!

Of course, we also have Matt De'Angelis as Woof, the perfectly straight hippy who wants to go to bed with Micky Mick, Mick Jagger. He's the third Woof I've seen but I liked him - he's got nothing to lose so he threw himself into it wholeheartedly. He's been in every other London performance of the show I've seen so he's a familiar face on stage and has a nice voice. He fit in perfectly with the rest of the Tribe, great presence and great howls.

We were ready at the end to help invade the stage when we noticed people from the back of the stalls already queuing to run up there so joined them - hey, I'm not going to be polite about it on the last night. And on to the stage we clambered to jump about, sing along and clap to the music from the Hair Band. It seemed so much busier up there than previously, but I didn't care. Then we had to track down Allison Case to autograph the photo I'd taken of her and Chris a few visits ago and, luckily we did so. She seems such a nice person, signing the photo and having a brief chat, me saying I'm looking forward to seeing what she does next.

And then we got down from the stage, exhilaration ebbing away as we went through the old corridors of the Gielgud and out into the fresh air of Shaftesbury Avenue to take a last look at the front of the theatre. Whatever's on next, it'll be a duller sight than 'Hair'. The lights, the posters, the smiles, the joy... it'll all be different.

I don't know how best to sum up the closure of this great production of 'Hair'. It has touched me in places I didn't know were available for touching. I love the joy it's brought into my life, the optimism, the hope for the future and the uplifting possibilities of having the right actors on stage in front of me with the right script and songs. *This* was the right cast for 'Hair' and I am so lucky to have seen them enjoy themselves and give so much to me on stage. I will treasure the memories and always think twice about cutting my hair - let it grow, man....

Bye bye hippies and thank you for the joy. Good luck in whatever you do next - I'll be looking out for you. Let the sun shine in!

And here's some footage of the last stage invasion - you might just be able to see my arm up in the air on the left behind Darius ...