Kokandy’s HAIR at Chopin Theatre through September 13th

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“Kokandy’s ‘Hair’ Turns Counterculture Into Current Day Urgency” - Review By: Paul Lisnek

****/4

“Kokandy’s ‘Hair’ Turns Counterculture Into Current Day Urgency”

I have to state up front: I’m a sucker for a Kokandy production. I go in with the highest of expectations and I universally leave with those expectations exceeded. The production company is just that good (just check out Jekyll & Hyde returning but to the BIC Broadway Playhouse Stage soon) and this flawless production of Hair is no exception to my experience.

“Hair” is a 1960s rock musical about a tribe of hippies in New York City who rebel together against the Vietnam War and beyond that, challenge mainstream America’s seeming conformity with the politics of the day. Simultaneously, they grapple amongst themselves over love, sex, race, and personal freedom. Centered on Claude (strongly portrayed by Gavin Rhys) and his friends Berger (played with a perfect blend of humor and seriousness by Zac Richey) and Sheila (forcibly played by Catherine Rodriguez O’Connor), the show follows Claude’s struggle between joining the army and staying true to the anti war ideals of his community. The ensemble plays the cast of characters perfectly attired to perfection.

Kokandy’s revival of Hair at the Chopin Theatre is part nostalgia for those who lived through (or like me was a child during) the 1960’s living, breathing act of resistance and protest. But for Kokandy, the 1960’s message has become a modern and current call for action. It now calls out to modern day issues like the fight with ICE and protection of trans rights. You’d be hard pressed not to sense the connection even without the signs of protest that arrive around intermission time, but the message is made quite clear just in case you missed it. 

I have seen Hair several times over the years, but in this production, the musical’s themes of protest, identity, and generational fracture feel renewed and immediate. Kokandy’s production strips away the memories and distance of the decades now passed and delivers Hair as something raw and with a current urgency.

Director Brennan Urbi found the immersive possibilities of Chopin’s upstairs compact space and creatively collapsed the divide between audience and cast. The result is a kind of communal experience for all; the actors don’t perform at us so much as with us through eye contact and proximity, sharing their joy and anger that serve to define the piece. The closeness pays off: moments that might feel like observation in a larger space, land here with a powerful emotional impact.

Musically, the production is as vibrant as one expects from Kokandy and includes the score’s iconic numbers—“Aquarius,” “Good Morning Starshine,” and the captivating “Let the Sunshine In”—all performed with force and precision, both in the ensemble moments and with the strength of individual performances. This ensemble functions less like a chorus and more a collective of distinct voices which blend into a perfect harmonic tribe. That collective sense delivers on a strong blend of individual personal freedom and a united communal belonging.

What distinguishes this Hair most, however, is its tonal balance. There is joy, playfulness, sensuality, and electricity all coexisting with an ever-present undercurrent of dread that at that time in our history, cannot be avoided. The disaster that was Vietnam is felt strongly inevitable here that will ultimately destroy many lives.

Ultimately, Kokandy’s Hair is not a mere recreation of a bygone era or counterculture but about interrogating what that culture promised—and what remains unfinished. It is a production that trusts the material with a sharp political and emotional stake. The result is a Hair that feels both relevant and necessary.

Hair plays at the Chopin Theatre through September 13th. Tickets at: www.Kokandyproductions.com or bit.ly/HairChicago