麻豆影院

Theatre & Dance Department celebrates 50th anniversary of love-rock musical

The love-rock musical 鈥溾�濃�攁 product of the counterculture and sexual revolution of the late 1960s鈥攊s coming to 麻豆影院, April 13-22. 鈥淗air鈥� tells the story of a group of politically active hippies fighting against conscription into the Vietnam War.

According to听, the 麻豆影院鈥檚 faculty director of 鈥淗air,鈥� the musical 鈥済ives us the opportunity to look back at a pivotal moment in American history.鈥�

Indeed, from Steven Spielberg鈥檚 recent film 鈥淭he Post,鈥� to Ken Burns鈥� epic 18-hour documentary 鈥淭he Vietnam War,鈥� the American public is still motivated in trying to understand this moment in our history: What happened? What does it mean? How did it change us?

鈥淚f we accept Hamlet鈥檚 observation that plays hold a mirror up to nature, then this mirror gives us a chance to look at an era where we are part of the image,鈥� explains Coleman, Roe Green Professor of Theatre at CU 麻豆影院鈥檚 Department of Theatre & Dance. 鈥淗amlet doesn鈥檛 say that plays are a window, rather they are a mirror, which means the viewer is part of the experience.听

鈥淧ut another way, we鈥檙e all shaped by what happened, even if our parents鈥� names weren鈥檛 Cloud and Sage.鈥澨�

While 鈥淗air鈥� was groundbreaking for boldly introducing the genre of rock 鈥榥鈥� roll to Broadway, some of the songs from the score became Top 10 hits and much of the score is now part of the American Songbook.听

鈥淲hen Galt MacDermot, Gerome Ragni and James Rado wrote 鈥楬air鈥� in the late-1960s, they were less concerned with the war itself than trying to capture the turmoil and optimism of being an American teenager at that time,鈥� says Coleman of the work that opened on Broadway in 1968. 鈥淭hink eastern religions, draft cards, sexual experimentation, recreational drug use, unplanned pregnancy, the British Invasion, the Women鈥檚 Movement, Civil Rights Movement and the like.鈥澨�听

So grab your love beads, let your hair down and travel back in time with us to the 鈥淎ge of Aquarius.鈥澨�Advisory: This production includes nudity,