Photos: Rock musical Hair reprises "60's at Tiverton High School

By Tom Killin Dalglish
Posted 5/6/16

TIVERTON — Get ready for the ’60's to rock Tiverton High School when the musical "Hair" begins a four-day run Thursday at 7 p.m. in the school auditorium. Powerful music and issues that remain relevant nearly a half century later await THS audiences.

It's a first for any high school in Rhode Island — a premier performance brought to the stage by 60 students on and back stage involved in Tiverton's After School Arts Program, under the direction of Gloria Crist.

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Photos: Rock musical Hair reprises "60's at Tiverton High School

Posted

TIVERTON — Get ready for the ’60's to rock Tiverton High School when the musical "Hair" begins a four-day run Thursday at 7 p.m. in the school auditorium. Powerful music and issues that remain relevant nearly a half century later await THS audiences.

It's a first for any high school in Rhode Island — a premier performance brought to the stage by 60 students on and back stage involved in Tiverton's After School Arts Program, under the direction of Gloria Crist.

"The American tribal love rock musical, Hair, is a stage work in two acts. There are no specific scenes. This is a fluid-abstract world of the 1960's as seen by, for, and about the 'Flower Children' of the time," says Ms. Crist, quoting a description by the play's own writers, James Rado and Gerome Ragni.

The local production is stripped of the nudity that electrified audiences when the musical first debuted in New York in the late 1960's. Still, the show has presented other challenges, such as the portrayal of drug usage, profanity, and the War in Vietnam.

"It's the first thing everyone thinks — 'everybody's naked!' — said Ms. Crist, who came up with some clever work-arounds for a high school audience.

Tams-Witmark Music Library, which holds the licensing rights for the production told us, said Ms. Crist, "you can't cut the scene, but you can be as creative as possible."

"It was wonderful," she said. "I kind of like it. We were given permission to be as creative as possible, and that's what we did. There's a use of glow sticks — I won't go into it more than that, but we ordered 350 of them."

"The musical is powerful," she said. "It deals with war, but we're not having any guns or people getting high on stage."

The flyer posted on bulletin boards at the school and around town contains the disclaimer, "For mature audiences only," which Ms. Crist says she included to anticipate concerns some people might have. "Truthfully, theater is theater, but high school theater has to appeal to a larger core," she said.

"We don't want to offend anybody. We want to invite people in for the experience. That has been my goal taking this on, as each scene is choreographed, to keep it a learning experience," Ms. Crist said. "Hopefully that's what it will be, watching enlightened young people from a different era."

As for language concerns, Ms Crist said, "Believe it or not, there is not that much.” Some words were cut but,”I kept the rest in, with taste of course."

Colby Machado plays the role of Berger, one of the leads.

"I have this really strong connection with Berger," said Colby, " because he's an off-the-wall wild character, and you don't know what he's going to do next. It really feels like a time machine, and a history lesson. You never know; there could be another draft. I'm having a lot of fun, especially with the first act."

"It's been absolutely exhilarating,” said Ms. Crist, of directing students in Hair. "It has been so powerful to watch them get it. But they do. They understand what freedom of choice is, social justice, black/white/yellow/red, it's all one color. There has been little they've not understood. It's feeling now about the same things kids were feeling back then. In some ways, it's the same situation, looking at the human condition, and they're trying to make sense of it."

The musical has been in rehearsal since mid-February, Ms. Crist said. "The school has been incredibly supportive. They [the administration] took the time to watch rehearsals, and they embraced it. We're doing something extremeley powerful," she said.

The show is the first to be performed under the new $17,000 lighting sytem in the auditorium installed by SpectrumLighting inFall River,that features three rows of lights operated wirelessly with an iPad.

"We've gone from nine working lights in 2009, to probably about 30 now," she said.

The cast and crew are numerous.

On stage, the cast includes: Claude (Dante Krystman), Berger (Colby Machado), Sheila (Ava Saurette), Dionne (Sydney Darrow), Jeanie (Aurora Goodland), Crissy (Ashley Dulac and Maya Umehara), Hud (John Bonoan), and Woof (Ryan Maki).

Many of the costumes have been designed by Celeste Ferendo, said Ms. Crist, who has been a "wadrobe designer to the stars" for many years, and for years was a designer for Diana Ross.

Other students who work backstage "really love, and take pride in the work they are doing," said Ms. Crist. They include Sara Young (a sophomore who helped design the poster and graphics and has been assitant production manager); Aidan Furze (a sophomore who is running our new wireless lights and designing cues); Diana Dumond and Grace Camara (a sophomore and freshman, respectively, who also work the lights; two students, Alex Leonard and Paige Elias, who have been photographing the process.

Ms. Crist said about 20 other crew members, from freshmen to seniors, "have been taking on roles such as props, set design and anything else the show has called for during the rehearsal process."  "The wonderful thing about this high school drama group," said Ms. Crist, "apart from the fact they work so well together, is they take ideas and bring them to life. They ask for guidance, are learning along the way, and are able to see the positive effects of their creative thought process."

Performances, in the Tiverton High School Auditorium, 100 No. Brayton Road at 7 p.m., are: Thursday, May 5; Friday, May 6; and Saturday, May 7. There will be a matinee on Sunday, May 8 at 2 p.m.

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