The show was first staged in London over 40 years ago; opening one
day after theatre censorship was abolished in September 1968. Before
then the shows scenes of nudity, drug taking, blasphemous and sexually
explicit language would have meant the show could not have gone ahead.
Hair ran for nearly 2,000 performances and although popular, was forced
to close early due to the collapse of the Shaftesbury Theatre ceiling in 1973.
The 1967 rock musical by James Rado and Gerome Ragni's
centres on a group of hippies who promote peace, love and freedom
against the backdrop of the Vietnam war during the 1960s. The story is
set to Galt MacDermot’s score which features the famous songs Aquarius,
Good Morning Starshine and Let The Sunshine In, as well as the title
track.
The current cast will make theatre history when in transfers on the
14th April 2010, becoming the first entire original Broadway cast to
transfer to the West End. The cast includes Gavin Creel, who previously performed in the West End’s Mary Poppins as Bert.
The
current production on Broadway has proved as popular today as it was
back in the 60’s, having extended three times and winning Best Revival
of a Musical at the 2009 Tony Awards.
British producer Cameron Mackintosh, who is bringing the production to
London, said “Little did I think when I was the production runner on
the original production of Hair that 41 years later I would be bringing
the Public Theatre’s acclaimed new production back to London."