T Minus 90 Days: A Gathering in New York (Part Two)

After our moment at Ellen's, we continued our trek towards uptown. We were really early and decided to continue on to Columbus Circle.

Barb got to see Central Park for the first time and was mesmerized! We took a one-hour pedicab ride around the park and saw many of the places where the movie HAiR was filmed (the opening scenes at the fountain, the horse riding scenes on the streets of the Park, and the lake scene where John Savage and Beverly D'Angelo go skinny-dipping - the "nude" scene in the movie! :-) We also got to walk by the Strawberry Fields memorial and the Imagine plaque for John Lennon (very moving) and we saw the Dakota hotel where he was murdered (sigh).

After a little more walking, we arrived at Bricco's restaurant just before 7:30 and went in. The rest of the evening is a bit of a blur, but to say we had an astounding time would be an understatement.

Besides our gracious host Michael Butler, who presided over the gathering, there were a number of HAiR tribe members from the New York production, including: Natalie Mosco (in the original Broadway production on the day it opened in 1968), Marjorie LiPari (also in the original Broadway tribe on opening night and often appearing as Crissy as Shelley Plimpton's understudy). Debbie Andrews (Crissy in Detroit, Washington and later in the last few years of the Broadway run) and Dale Soules (Jeanie for the last couple of years on Broadway).

In addition, there were many other HAiR tribe members from other productions, both cast and others, including Bill Swiggard (Claude in a number of productions), Robert Camuto (Woof in several of the touring companies), Marsia Holzer (costume designer for several productions of HAiR), Matt Schicker (producer of a recent production of HAiR in New York and a director of the National Alliance for Musical Theater) and Kathy Nixon DelRosso (Sheila in the Boston production).

I also want to single out Nina Machlin Dayton. Nina not only played Crissy and Sheila in several post-Broadway productions, she also was in the last performance on Broadway and she worked most of the original Broadway run at the concession stand at the Biltmore. I know that somehow I probably purchased candy from her one of the times I saw the show in New York in 1969/70. Nina now curates the Hair Archives, and has been an advocate for helping us with our San Jose production, including putting me in touch with Michael and arranging several meetings including this exciting one in New York. She was at the gathering with her marvelous husband Trevor and daughter Annie.

In many ways, it was like any other dinner party, a lot of discussion of old times, current events and catching up on people's lives, and in other ways, it was truly remarkable. What was so enlightening was to be able to listen to (and talk with!) these incredible people who had helped to create this amazing show, and who have now moved on to other endeavors (Debbie and her husband Mike have a rock band and play and record in NYC, Dale is currently the standby/understudy for Mary Louise Wilson in Grey Gardens on Broadway, etc.) and yet to also realize how important HAiR has been to their lives.

Politics was definitely in play last night. We talked about the Bush administration, conspiracy theories about 9/11, the disaster in Iraq, etc. I got to show Michael our ad that we had run in the San Jose Rep's program for Nixon's Nixon and of course the totally "small world" event that the show was directed by Michael Butler (the director, not the producer ;-) who happens to be married to Timothy Near (artistic director of the San Jose Rep) who happens to be the sister of Holly Near who appeared in the Broadway production of Hair! Michael (the producer!) mentioned that he had been on Nixon's enemy list, which seemed to connect everything :-)

Michael also talked at length about one of his great loves, polo, and that really thrilled Barb (she once had considered playing polo in a club many years ago, but hadn't been able to afford it, but she loves the game).

Marsia helped Barb solve the problem of the White Boys' dress, telling her to go to the House of Spandex in New York to get the material, and how to put it together. Barb had been puzzling that out for a few weeks and was thrilled to come up with the answer right from the source.

After over three hours, the gathering finally dispersed and we walked back to our car... no, I guess it would be better to say we floated back to our car :-) As we drove back to New Jersey, with the skyline of Manhattan in the distance, we both agreed that we would continue to do anything and everything necessary to put on a worthy production in San Jose.

We feel we owe that much not only to our tribe and our audience, but also to the extended tribe all over the world that has made this show what it is. It is a legacy that we have chosen to take on and we will indeed carry that forward.

LET THE SUN SHINE IN!