I miss hair. I didn’t make it into the cast of our production, but i wound up running props for all of the performances. After getting used to the format of the show i came to have my favourite moments and songs, where i’d peek out of the curtain to watch the action; and then there were the points where i knew to get onto the headset because our stage manager was likely to be dishing in between lighting cues.

“Hair” got progressively more and more sizzling night after night until finally for the penultimate performance it just exploded from the mouths of the cast like some sort of audio dynamite. After the last chorus there had to have been a second of awed silence before the audience began their applause. I grabbed for the headset and switched it on to hear Kate say “Oh my god, that was amazing.” All of us just *knew* we’d seen the cast fall into a totally synergetic state to produce an amazing work of art.

By the end of the second act all the props were gone and i’d just get to stand in the wings and listen to the last few songs. I don’t think anything i’ll ever do in my life will compare the awe of watching my darling cast sing the refrain of “Let the Sunshine In” with my friend Tom lying dead in the middle of the stage as Claude Bukowski. “Let the Sunshine In” is at once the most depressing and uplifting song you’ll ever hear in theatre next to Annie‘s “Tomorrow,” if you have the right kind of cast at the end it turns into some sort of magical rock opera gospel choir with all of the members swaying and clapping and crying and… God, what a great musical… if you like Rent at all you need to find a production of Hair to go see. Or, at least buy the soundtrack.