Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...The physical production, created by Keith Pitts, is a real stunner. You feel very much like you are in some appropriated East Village warehouse. If you know the old industrial space this company occupies, you'll find yourself confused as to where you are in the building. Better yet, Pitts has created an externality to the design, a real rarity with "Hair." People can leave the tribal nest and go out in the wide world, or watch from the street outside. And Sheila - the costume designer Brittney Dee Bodley dresses the actress Ella Raymont in a three-way combination of business suit, love-in attire and combat gear - now can actually arrive from somewhere (Washington, where she was met with tear gas), all fired up. Once Sheila is back with her friends, the forces of antagonism can peer at the goings on through frosted glass, threatening to attack at any moment."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...American Theater Company’s production of “Hair” is neither your grandparents’ original 1968 Broadway version, nor your parents’ variously updated takes on the James Rado-Galt MacDermott musical that defined the 1960s — that turbulent era of social change in which sex, drugs and rock and roll paired with nation-splitting protests against the war in Vietnam, and the massive shifts brought about by the civil rights movement."
Chicago Reader - Recommended
"...And American Theater Company has brought back Hair with a vengeance. Certainly, the "American tribal love-rock musical" has been sufficiently codified and commodified over the years that the mere fact of a new staging doesn't necessarily signify. There've been three major revivals since the show first hit Broadway in 1968, and a jolly touring version caravanned through Chicago three years ago. ATC artistic director PJ Paparelli has bypassed the standard-issue Hairs, however, reaching back to the original iteration that Joseph Papp produced off-Broadway in 1967 and working it over with the help of surviving coauthor James Rado."
Chicagoist - Recommended
"...This new concept, however, does come at a price: The lengthy show lags at times, especially during the Claude's far-too-long hallucination scene. And "Let the Sunshine In," the show's fun-loving closing number, isn't the catchy, light-filled familiar tuner that we know it to be. The song has darker overtones under Austin Cook's musical direction, in line with this new production. But if you're coming to Hair and you're not game for a frank exploration of love, sex, and now fear, then Hair-reimagined or otherwise-is not the show for you. But for the rest of us, ATC's reinterpretation brings to light a hippie counterculture that shows us more than just free love and naïve, would-be revolutionaries-it's a slice of American history, served with a hefty side of truth."
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Kenney’s beatific Claude, Christian Libonati’s earnest Woof, Mary Hollis Inboden’s effortlessly charming Jeanie, Aaron Holland’s robust Hud and Camille Robinson’s transcendent Dionne are among those feathering this tribe’s nest. As Claude’s sort-of co-leader, Berger, Sky Seals could stand to rein his efforts in just a bit; it’s almost as though he’s trying to project his charisma past a non-existent proscenium, while the rest of the cast understands they need only let us be in on their be-in. And what a smartly frayed, not-so-safe be-in it is."
ChicagoCritic - Somewhat Recommended
"...But the present ATC production does have the spirit and spontaneity of the Broadway Hair but unfortunately it suffer from a cast of weak singers and over staging that made the show drag in the second act especially in the drug induced hallucination scene. Sound problems and the girls slurring their lyrics and some off key on their tunes didn't help. The show is slowly paced and begs for some generous cuts. They drastically tamed down the nude scene having only some cast members only removing their tops or bottoms with no one getting fully nude as often happens in most productions of Hair."
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"...Mikey Rioux is the choreographer in this production which in fact is more choreographed then directed and the fight choreography is by Paul Dennhardt. The cast was body miked ( or at least some) and there were spurts of extra sound as solos were started. Other wise, the band ( Greg Woods, John Lauler,Sam Brownson and Matt Roberts, never over powered the voices of the ensemble members who truly made the music seem almost new ( even though I remember it from the time)."
Chicago Theatre Review - Recommended
"...On the upside, Mikey Rioux’s choreography is terrific, as are Brittany Dee Bodley’s costumes that truly resemble clothing worn during the late ’60’s, rather flashy hippie garb fashioned for the stage. This cast earnestly conveys the feeling of community, present in everything they say or do. While this group of young performers may only be drawing from their own research of the era they’ve captured the immediacy and reality of that time as a flash from the past."
Chicagoland Theater Reviews - Highly Recommended
"...“Hair” is so loaded with attitude and preaching and colorful characters that it’s possible to lose sight of the show’s chief virtue, a superior score by Gerome Ragni and James Rado. A few of the numbers actually made the pop music charts, like “Good Morning, Sunshine” and “The Age of Aquarius,” but the score is loaded with powerful ballads, funny novelty songs, and satirical hymns. The ATC presentation of the musical numbers departs considerably from the versions in the original production and on the cast recording. The ATC arrangements are more dramatic and sometimes darker, in keeping with the sense of disillusionment and frustration that form the show’s subtext. There are plenty of jovial moments, but there is also bitterness, fear, and hostility."
