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Hair sweeps audience into story By K.J. Bar The College at Brockport’s Department of Theatre and the Harlequins presented Hair, the tribal rock musical. Hair was directed by Michael Krickmire the past two weekends at the Tower Fine Arts Mainstage, with musical direction by Carol Brown and choreography by Gaelyn Walker. As the opening night crowd filed into the theater, cast members wandered around in character to set the mood for the performance. Because it began with a ritual that intrigued the audience, anticipation for the show increased. The first song of the show, “Aquarius,” sung by Kenneth Byrd as Ronny, was entertaining, if a little strained. The rest of the show fluctuated in terms of talent. The first time the audience saw George Berger, the leader of the tribe, was during the song “Donna.” Kevin Miner, who played Berger, had a cringe-worthy performance at best. Throughout the entire performance, Miner was straining to hit notes that were out of his range. His character was contrived and had no real depth. Unfortunately, it seemed that Miner was cast solely because he looked the part. From the other side of the spectrum was Matt Wegman, who played Claude. Wegman’s voice filled the theater with ease and left many audience members with dropped jaws. His character portrayal was spot on and the audience formed an attachment to Claude and what he went through. Wegman’s interaction with the other tribe members was enjoyable to watch. Claude and Berger’s love interest, Sheila Franklin, was played by Arielle Rosenfeld. Rosenfeld’s Sheila was boring and the strain in her voice was noticeable in several songs. Her opening number “Believe in Love” was pitchy and went downhill from there. The main problem with her character was that she was not believable. She rarely found a true connection with other tribe members, which made it difficult for the audience to have a connection with her. Her connection with Claude was the most apparent, although the plot called for a stronger connection to Berger. Chorally, the show got stronger and stronger as it went on. There were other strong performances, most notably Elizabeth Ann Trupia (Chrissy), Michael Sheehan (Woof), Ashley Hyjeck (Jeanie) and Joshua Jedediah (Hud). Trupia and Hyjeck’s performance during the song, “Dead End,” was entertaining. Both portrayed strong characters and gave vocally powerful performances. Sheehan’s characterization of Woof was humorous and displayed his comedic ability. Another strong comedic actor was Joshua Jedidiah, whose performance as Black Panther member, Hud, was impressive. He disappeared into his character and gave an unrivaled, energetic performance. All in all, Hair was a thoroughly enjoyable show. There were a few spots that were not as strong as others, but they were few and far between in terms of the chorus and most of the leads. By the end of the show, even the few mistakes were easily forgiven, and the audience was swept up in the story. |
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