Show: Hair
Date: 9/16/09
Cast: Steel as Berger, Briana as Crissy, Matt as Hubert, Guinn as Mom, plus a ton of swings in the tribe
Type: Audio
I’ve got a good deal to say about Steel’s Berger so I’m just going to skip straight to it, because you know what I think about the rest.
Saying that the role of Berger was made for Will wouldn’t be right, because that’s not the case. But there’s something about the way he interprets it that feels right. His voice fits it in that he just sounds kind of goofy. I mean that what’s it is; his voice makes the character understandable and therefore tolerable (or maybe the other way around) But Steel. Well, Steel has a more normal voice. In the beginning, he seems like a regular guy chatting. He even speaks the audience like “Hey!” as in, “Ooooh, let’s talk.” Will is a comedian in the way that comedians interact the audience, he’s funny and he’s personal but there’s something about it that isn’t as scary. Not that I’m saying Steel’s is scary. His singing voice was great and impressive and pretty strong. I found that he fell a little flat in Karma Sutra/Stone Age and Don’t Put it Down. The voices he was using seemed a little odd and didn’t entirely work.
The part that I found the worst for him is when he’s being a goof or a jerk. Like the scene where Claude is asking for his help and the scene with the Satin shirt. Because he just sounds like a jerk. While Will’s Berger is just an epic goof who can’t seem to realize when he needs to be serious, Steel’s Berger is an ass. It’s very difficult to listen to, someone actually told me that he made them want to knock his teeth out.
Oh wow, I forgot that Briana was on as Crissy! She’s fantastic. Her Frank Mills is honestly amazing, it’s not as strong (meaning force in her singing) but I think it’s the prettiest out of all of them.
You may be saying to yourself (although I doubt that you are) “Why is she listening to Hair for the second day in a row, she doesn’t have that many audios and she loves it so shouldn’t she be smart and pace herself” well your answer is that I totally would pace myself and I had actually begun listening to a Spring Awakening audio. But then my teacher was presenting our assignment on Archetypes in a Hero’s journey and we were supposed to pick a story/movie/whatever and write how it fit into the different stages. She was going to the presentation and I didn’t know what to do when she said something (I was going to paste exactly what she said, but I can’t find the presentation) and I thought “Claude!” So my assignment ended up being this:
This should be obvious, but you are not welcome to take this for your own project, thesis, essay, or whatever.
Miraculous Birth: “The moon is in the 7th house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars…the dawning of the Age of Aquarius” Claude is the Aquarius who is destined for greatness or madness. He says that he’s just another human being with a number: #1005963297. An anti-hero of sorts, as he is a hippie who dropped out of High School, pretends to be from Manchester, and dream in life is to be invisible.
Call to Adventure: Claude’s draft notice comes in the mail. It is given to him by his parents who he looks at as what he doesn’t want to become. His dad claims that the army will make a man out of him.
Refusal: Claude rips up the draft notice and rejoices that he’s got life, along with his friends. Many other tribe members also face being drafted and hold the same outlook as Claude initially does.
Supernatural Aid: Jeanie gives Claude a guide on how to astro-project. He sees this as his answer.
Temptress and Temptor: Sheila and Berger. They both make it difficult for Claude to make a decision as he loves both of them dearly. They stray him and entice him with the idea of staying with the tribe. They agree to help him sneak out of the country.
Atonement with Father: Claude’s father says that Claude doesn’t like him, and says it with remorse. He then says that in a few months when/if Claude goes to fight, he’d be proud.
Crossing First Threshold: Claude does not burn his draft card at the Be-in like everybody else does. He then distances himself from the tribe as he contemplates, and then goes off on himself.
Belly of Whale: Claude has been missing for days and the tribe fears that something bad has happened to him.
Road of Trials: Claude tells the tribe that he went to the Army Induction center and tried to convince them against drafting him. He reenacts a sequence of being over enthusiastic so they would fear that he’d be unsafe in war areas. In truth, he did not do any of this. Instead he was meditating (part of the supernatural aid) He then gives his possessions away to the other members. The others were filled with joy from his generosity but also fear that his decision was made.
Meeting the Goddess: The joint that Berger gives him could be seen as an inanimate goddess. It should have been a regular joint, but it was actually laced with hallucinogen and Berger told him “You’ll see the light.” The human form could be seen as Jeanie, who proclaims herself as the “slum goddess of the lower east side” she also tells Claude he should be against the killing of people, but she says he’s a good guy whatever he does. The inanimate and the living goddesses intertwine when Jeanie smokes from her joint.
Apotheosis: Claude is overcome by the hallucinogen that is in the joint as he begins a painful trip.
The Ultimate Boon: The trip begins with Claude in a war outfit over his regular clothes and he is jumping out of a plane into Vietnam. Later in the trip, he appears to be invisible when people are unaware of his presence.
Magic Flight: Faced by a soldier with a gun, Claude embraces his peace loving side and puts a flower into the barrel of the gun. Chaos ensues as all the people he has encountered (African Americans, Indians, John Wilkes Booth, etc) begin attacking one and another. Within the madness, everybody tells of the pain, fear, and other bad aspects of the war as well as celebrating the murder of 3,500 Vietcong within one month. Claude is frightened and screams for Berger to get him out.
Rescue from Without: The phantoms of Claude’s trip “die” and fade away and the tribe wakes Claude up.
Crossing the Return Threshold: Claude explains to his friends that he doesn’t want to do anything other than be invisible. Because they cannot make that happen they plan to protest the draft although they are unable to give him advice, aid, or comfort.
Master of Two Worlds: Claude mysteriously disappears and then appears during the protest. He is dressed in military uniform with his hair cut short. The tribe cannot see him, but he is invisible and is happy because he can perform miracle which is the only thing he wanted to do.
Freedom to Live: In the end, Claude is revealed as dead, but he succeeded in what he wanted (in a way). He does not have to live a boring life as a pointless human being. As previously shown, he is invisible and can watch his friends live.
No comments:
Post a Comment