Miners Alley Playhouse presents a boffo production of the counter-culture musical

It’s been 55 years since Hair debuted off-Broadway, and while some of what was deemed controversial back then may seem quaint by 2022 standards, it remains a pretty good poke in the eye to the establishment. And this new production just stood up at Miners Alley Playhouse in Golden is a damn fun time.

Helmed by director Len Matheo, musical director David Nehls and choreographer Angie Simmons, Miners Alley once again kills it, mounting a complex production on its tiny stage and bringing the opening-night crowd to a standing-O before the cast had even started its curtain calls.

Even if you’ve never seen the show, there are plenty of super-recognizable songs such as the lead-off number “Aquarius,” “Good Morning Starshine,” “Manchester England” and, of course, “Hair.” The cast is a shining tribute to our local talent pool, a wildly diverse dozen actors who are more than up to handling all of the material and who, under Simmons’s direction, turn MAP’s size from a bug into a feature by dancing up every millimeter of stage space and spilling out into the aisles.

Valerie Igoe | Photo: Sarah Roshan

The “tribe” of hippies living in New York City is led by Sheila, Berger and Claude — Valerie Igoe, Brian Bohlender and Alejandro Roldan — all in their MAP debuts. Hot off a great performance in the Denver Center production of The Other Josh Cohen this past year, Igoe is a bit less hippy-dippy than some of the other tribe members and does a nice job centering some of the frenetic action as a voice of reason. As Claude, Roldan has similar duty as he wrestles convincingly with his desire to turn on, tune in and drop out with feelings of responsibility hammered into him by his traditionalist father (Ben Hilzer).

Bohlender is a real find, a ballsy actor who perfectly inhabits the wild-eyed, hedonistic character of Berger. The hairiest of the hairbags on stage, we can’t take our eyes off him as he weaves and bobs throughout the set, spilling into the audience and shaking his thick mane wherever he goes.

Hair provides a lot of opportunity for all members of the cast to show their stuff, and this MAP production has a bounty of powerful performances. Preston Adams brings a huge voice, a towering pile of dreads and a commanding stage presence to the role of Hud. As the happy druggie Woof (and also Berger’s dad), Hilzer is a ton of fun to watch, as is Katie Jackson as Crissy — the always-smiling girl-next-door who seems to never stop enjoying the party. As pregnant flower-child Jeanie, Bussy Gower is quite funny playing the dingbat channeling proto New-Age garbage.

Another standout performance comes from Vi Dang, who plays a variety of characters including a hilarious bit as a camera-toting tourist lady fascinated by the dirty hippies she encounters on the street. Jasmyne Pierce is tremendous as Dionne, and the other members of the tribe — Jade McGee, Ronald McQueen and Daja McLeod — round out the cast nicely.

Jasmyne Pierce, Preston Adams and Daja McLeod | Photo: Sarah Roshan

Having seen this show and the film version numerous times over the years, I feel like I’ve experienced it differently every time. While my younger self was all aboard with the counter-cultural aspects of the story, in 2022 I was wondering along with a friend after the show what it all accomplished. Hair certainly touches on some tough topics like the Vietnam War, the military-industrial complex, drug use, sexual experimentation and more, but the show itself doesn’t offer any solutions other than to go with the flow when it feels good and bitch a lot when it doesn’t. Claude still trots off to Vietnam to die, Berger seems to wish he could return to high school, and the rest of the tribe will no doubt soon join “civilized society” when the party is over.

But Hair is all about capturing a moment in time when idealism trumped reality and it seemed like the fun times would never end. To that end, it’ll always be a musical worth revisiting, and this Miners Alley production is a winner. Despite some COVID setbacks during rehearsal, the company has created a little corner of the Summer of Love in downtown Golden — a fun and faithful remounting of a great American musical that never grows old.

 

*A note on nudity: Hair has a nude scene that theaters have handled differently over the years. In this production, it’s all done in very low light, and there’s not much to see.