Give me Hair, Long Beautiful Hair

"What's in your CD player right now?" you ask. Well, I'll tell you. It's the Actors' Fund Benefit recording of Hair. The album features a Who's Who of current Broadway stars like Gavin Creel, Raul Esparza, Adam Pascal, Lillias White, Sherie Rene Scott, Harvey Fierstein, and Eden Espinosa. Following the September 20 benefit concert performance, there was so much demand for a recording that director Seth Rudetsky and the folks at Sh-K-Boom records got the concert cast into a studio on October 1 to preserve their performances.

The result is stunning. Purists might say something is lost by having different singers perform songs from the same character in the show, but I don't care. The performances on this recording are incredible, and I would hate to miss out on hearing any of them. Despite the large and varied cast, the album still maintains a consistent tone throughout probably owing to Rudetsky and the band.

I saw the Theatre Under the Stars production of Hair back in September, and I was not overly impressed. I could see why the show was important in the development of musical theatre, but I didn't enjoy it as much as many other shows. On stage a lot of the songs and dialogue came across sort of half-baked (pardon the pun). They weren't bad, just slightly lacking. On this recording though, you can really focus on the music and lyrics and the meaning is enhanced.

As an added bonus proceeds from the CD benefit the Actor's Fund, a great cause.

Zack