2004 Year in Review

Don't miss Hair at TLP

I’ve decided in my next life I want to come back as a Hippie. After watching Timber Lake Playhouse’s presentation of Hair, I realized how much fun they had. The first half of the play was just plain fun. The actors had fun, the play was fun, and the audience was having fun too. One of my favorite things about TLP is their use of the audience. We sat right down in front and were sometimes less than 5 feet away from the actors. The front row and row ends became part of the play when they were given beads, flowers, and protest posters for their “Be-In”

Hair begins with the average family in the 60’s watching the world, and life, though their television and contrasts the energized life of the Hippies. I remember my Dad telling my brother to “get a haircut” in the late 60’s. This father thinks his teenage son should “get a job and a haircut”.

The three main characters: Berger, Claude, and Sheila, played by Kyle Post, Jeff Ashworth, and Priscilla Parchia were awesome. Berger is the “id” according to Sigmund Freud who divides the human mind into two parts. Berger is interested in the pleasures of life. His counterpart, Claude, is the “superego”, or the intellect. Together they make a healthy human being. Post played the guy every guy wants to be near and most women avoid but are intrigued by. There were times I had to see what he would do next. His face showed so much energy. Ashworth, on the hand, played a Jesus-like character with his long brown hair and serene persona. He was an easy character to fall in love with, especially with his angelic voice. Parchia (Sheila) loves both Berger and Claude but is the strongest character of them all. Her solo rendition of “Easy to be Hard” near the end of the first act was wonderful and very emotional.

“The Tribe” is a very talented group of Hippies that move, sing, and entertain throughout the entire performance. “The Tribe” and stars were energized from the beginning to the end. This is a very hard working cast that energizes the audience with their liveliness to make this a potent and powerful performance. There were many other very talented singers within “The Tribe”, though I’m not sure of all their names.

Evan Enderle’s performance as Margaret Mead (a guy playing a lady) isn’t as good as his performance in Cats but he is supposed to be more of a comical character in Hair and he is funny.

I thoroughly enjoyed “The Trip” experienced by Claude and induced by hallucinogenic drugs given by Berger. They introduced characters from George Washington to Abe Lincoln in a dreamlike sequence performed by the Tribe.

Director, Brad Lyons, use of historical slides, in the background was inspirational. He wanted to tie the history of the time with the musical numbers and it worked great. It gave a real sense of the 60’s.

The second half of Hair is very “powerful”. A word I had decided to use to describe Hair and the first word I heard after the play from behind me was “powerful”. The character of Claude who we loved in the first half changed completely in the second half so that I could hardly tell it was played by the same character.

Watch for Tyler Smith, from Morrison, in a blond wig and tie-die shirt. He had a minor role in “The Tribe” but it’s fun to see a local in such a talented cast.

Forget your hearing aid with this performance. Lyons used wired and wireless microphones to make sure almost all the lines and music were easily heard. At times the strong amplified voices vibrated through me.

This is the best play we’ve seen this season and I’ve thought they were all excellent. My husband put it best when he said, “I could easily see that again tomorrow.” Which is saying a lot for a man watching a musical but this is “a must see play”. Don’t miss it!

That said, this play is not for everyone. Some more mature or younger audience members may be offended by the language and sexual content. But my older teen loved it.

by Barb Benson, theCity1.com
July 4, 2004