Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...As if often the case in touring casts (and this one is much better than average), the real strength is in the character work: Here a superb actor named Josh Lamon, who plays the authority figures, normally a thankless task, nearly walks off with the show. The lead performances don't embody all the emotional complexity of the 2009 Broadway cast, but Paris Remillard, who plays Claude, shows the most vulnerability and only gets better as the show goes on. Caren Lyn Tackett, who plays Sheila, has a remarkably rich voice, but her “Easy to be Hard” didn't plum the emotional depths of a song so simple in message, it is breathtakingly rich. I suspect she could."
Chicago Sun Times - Somewhat Recommended
"...But rather than a celebration, this take on “Hair,” directed by Harvard-based Diane Paulus, is an almost entirely cartoonish version of the 1960s — one that feels more like an “American Idol” interpretation of the show than a vivid portrait of a time whose legacy (good, bad, beautiful, ugly and immensely chaotic) can still be felt. (And I am not speaking in the abstract, either; I was there, living in New York, and witnessed the whole thing first-hand, including the angst of a brother with a less-than-ideal lottery number during the Vietnam War draft era.)"
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...Their attempts to set the audience up as a bunch of squares, so that we can be seduced into liberation by their youth and dance onstage with them in the end, comes across as false--especially since so many audience members are old enough to have worn feathers ourselves. This is disheartening because Gerome Ragni and James Rado's 1968 musical is so important, not only for its influence over subsequent theater but for its often exquisitely articulated message. Was there ever a more succinct and haunting anti-war lyric than "How dare they try to end this beauty"? There must be a way to make it new again."
Chicago Stage Review - Somewhat Recommended
"...Sadly, this Broadway production of HAIR has taken one of the most socio-politically potent plays of the American theatrical cannon and turned it into a shiny happy jukebox musical. If you’ve never seen HAIR, this is an easily digestible and enthusiastically polished production that will leave you delighted with the music; like visiting old hippie friends in their brand new condo decorated with retro posters from Woodstock. If you’ve only seen the movie version of HAIR, this will leave you emotionally empty and illustrate to you what an unmitigated genius film director Milos Forman is. Ultimately, this production of HAIR is unquestionably fun and unquestionably irrelevant."
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...
This terrific touring cast has drunk the tie-dye Kool-Aid. The ebullient Steel Burkhardt, as Berger, embodies extended adolescence, while Paris Remillard’s imminent-draftee Claude manifests fear and longing. Phyre Hawkins opens the show with a soaring “Aquarius,” and Kaitlin Kiyan offers a sweetly unadorned “Frank Mills” that’s one of the show’s few quiet moments. There’s a bit too much American Idol–induced melisma (possibly an incurable infection in musical theater at this point), and these dirty hippies look suspiciously well scrubbed, but those quibbles aren’t enough to stop you from letting the sun shine in."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...I have mixed memories of the show but, indeed, I was moved by the experience of Hair. I was in the Illinois Army National Guard and I didn’t do drugs, nor protest and I was an establishment member working as a sales rep., yet I was totally taken by the message of personal freedom that took me years before I made the decision to march to the beat of my own drummer. That is the message I got from Hair – never just conform – always challenge, do your own thing."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Directed by Diane Paulus and choreographed by Karole Armitage on a stage designed by Scott Pask, this is a bright and fast paced production with audience members getting somewhat involved ( at the end, they bring up as many as want to join the actors )on stage doing “Let The Sun Shine In”. Other cast members run and flow through the audience throughout the production. What a dynamic cast. Berger ( a powerful performance by Steel Burkhardt) and Claude ( Paris Remillard is tremendous) are the two main male characters- Sheila ( Caren Lyn Tackett who has one heck of a voice) and Crissy (Kaitlin Liyan) , the main females with a super-duper performance by Dione ( Phyre Hawkins)."
Chicago Theater Beat - Recommended
"...Billing a show as a revival carries a certain weight, implication and spirit. I’m not confident this latest production lives up to these. But as a fully-produced tribute, it’s at least a good trip."
