The Age of Aquarius

Being an Aquarian, I have always had an affinity for that song, even if the rest of "Hair" never did much for me.

But there's a fascinating article in the Observer this weekend about a revival of the groundbreaking musical in London by an American Director named Daniel Kramer updated to include modern references.

Kramer sent him (Hair's original writer) a draft of his updates, which included references to 11 September, the war in Iraq and the Kyoto Protocol, and bit-parts for Bush and Blair. The writer liked enough of it to keep talking to him, and Rado soon provided new suggestions. 'Jim said that he really didn't want me to hold back on it,' Kramer says. 'He thought that if we were going to do this at all, we may as well be as radical as we could possibly be.' Rehearsals began four days after the London bombings, which were immediately incorporated into the script.

Kramer is understandably reluctant to reveal too much detail about the transformation. The text updates I have seen are quite modest - the Hare Krishna be-in is now specifically a vigil for peace in the Middle East, while Claude's attack on his parents' interest in collecting S&H Green Stamps and King Korn coupons has been changed to Doritos stamps. But it is clear that the whole mood of the musical has shifted and darkened. The action takes place in today's New York, although Kramer talks about creating a heightened reality and a scene transformation that may remind the audience of watching MTV (and perhaps also the adverts, where 'Aquarius' now promotes the Ford Focus Zetec).