'Hair's' new hippies aren't so hip; adopting 'The Kid'
Kyle Riabko, Diana DeGarmo and Ace Young in the Broadway revival of "Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical" directed by Diane Paulus and choreographed by Karole Armitage. Credit: Handout
It hurts to have to say this. But "Hair" has been allowed to deteriorate into the packaged '60s theme park that this revival had so smartly avoided.
What changed? For starters, everybody. You see, the entire tribe went to London, where the Tony-winning revival has been embraced with all the affection and admiration it found here.
Delightful.
In recasting, alas, someone - I assume busy director Diane Paulus - lost the spontaneity and the innocence so essential to this achingly timely period piece. Two of the leads are from "American Idol," which isn't necessarily a problem. (See Fantasia in "The Color Purple.") But Ace Young copies every exaggerated gesture that Will Swenson was able to pull off, but without the wisdom that made it charming. Diana DeGarmo, as Sheila, cannot sing a simple line without embellishing it with the fussy riffs and blasts so beloved on TV talent contests.
Everything feels calculated - overstudied but not understood. Leads and supporting players wear the style as if guests at a flower-power costume party. If you can get over the clueless lack of authenticity, this remains an important, lovable and moving show.
WHAT "Hair"
WHERE Hirschfeld Theatre, 302 W. 45th St.
INFO $37-$122; 212-239-6200; hairbroadway .com
BOTTOM LINE Newly packaged and clueless
So adopt the baby, already
If you are tired of stories about heterosexual couples trying to have or adopt the world's first baby, you're not likely to find the situation more fascinating when gay men try to adopt one. "The Kid," an amiable bundle of banalities set to jaunty music, has been adapted from a book by Dan Savage, who writes an outspoken and amusing syndicated sex column.
Christopher Sieber, so quirky and funny in "Shrek" and "Spamalot," is quirky and funny in a merely pleasant role about a sleepy-looking fellow who happens to write a raunchy column. Lucas Steele is amusingly "more than just a blond" as his young boyfriend. Jill Eikenberry is underutilized as the mom yearning to be a granny (a familiar category in plays today). The birth mother is a homeless waif. They worry about fetal alcohol syndrome. Nobody mentions a possibility of AIDS. Would this have been too big a bummer for a desperately feel-good show?
WHAT "The Kid"
WHERE The New Group, 410 W. 42nd St.
INFO $61.25; 212-279-4200; thenewgroup.org
BOTTOM LINE Pablum
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