By Kerry Clawson
Beacon Journal arts writer
Steel Burkhardt became a member of the “tribe” in 2007, and we’re not talking about the Indians.
Paris Remillard and Matt DeAngelis with the company in the Hair National Tour (photo by Joan Marcus)
Since then, Burkhardt has done numerous incarnations of the “American tribal love-rock musical,” including playing Berger in the national tour, which will make its final stop at PlayhouseSquare on Tuesday through Jan. 29.
Northeast Ohio audiences may remember the dashing Burkhardt and his rich baritone from 2005 and 2006, when he starred as Judas in Porthouse Theatre’s production of Jesus Christ Superstar and as Fred/Petruchio in Cain Park’s Kiss Me Kate. The Union, N.J., native also played the sheriff in Porthouse’s The Spitfire Grill.
He did Hair his freshman year at B-W in 2003. But the Central Park concert version and a fully staged production at the same outdoor Delacorte Theater were where Steel really got his feet wet as a full-fledged member of the tribe, right down to the famous nude scene.
The Central Park show transferred to Broadway in 2009, where Burkhardt first understudied the role of Berger, who is main character Claude’s best friend. The show garnered a Tony Award for best musical revival.
This loose story, whose main characters are the autobiographical creations of actors James Rado and Gerome Ragni, focuses on Claude and the “tribe,” a group of politically active hippies in New York fighting against conscription in the Vietnam War. Themes include protests against racism, sexual repression, poverty and war. Claude is the leader, and his buddy Berger is an unpredictable extrovert.
“The freedom of the role definitely attracts me to it. I get to be as goofy and crazy as I want to,” Burkhardt said.
“Claude is the hope of the show, he’s the kind of arc of the show. Berger is the engine that runs the show,” he said. Berger’s girlfriend, Sheila, a student protester, is the heart.
Burkhardt, 27, has some longevity with Hair: Most of the Broadway cast transferred to London’s West End in 2010 and then returned for the U.S. national tour, which kicked off in October of that year. That tour was punctuated last summer by another two-month run on Broadway.
“That was like our summer of love stint that we did as part of our tour,” Burkhardt said. “The tour had a couple of months open, and the producers had always wanted to do a second summer on Broadway.”
When Hair debuted Off-Broadway in 1967 and on Broadway in 1968, it was considered groundbreaking for its nonbook format and bold anti-establishment messages that reflected the spirit in the streets of New York’s East Village. The show was highly controversial then for its political message and its nude scene. But does that spirit of protest resonate in today’s society?
“It is very relevant today. Not only are we still involved in an unpopular war … it seems like there’s no end to it, which is what Vietnam was for that generation,” Burkhardt said of the conflicts in the Middle East.
The actor also compared today’s movement for marriage equality to the 1960s antiwar protests. One of the highlights of Burkhardt’s Hair tenure was marching on Washington in 2009 with the cast and members of the activist group Broadway Impact in support of marriage equality.
“There’s also still a lot of civil liberties that aren’t being granted, similar to like it was back then,” Burkhardt said.
The performer said he couldn’t have sung this show for more than four years if Galt MacDermot’s music weren’t so great. The musical’s most famous tunes include Aquarius, Good Morning Starshine and Let the Sunshine In.
One of Burkhardt’s favorite moments in the show is during the number Walking in Space, in which Claude is on a drug-induced hallucinatory trip. Burkhardt said he enjoys the many rapid changes in this extended song.
In the 1960s, growing long hair was a revolutionary act that was considered shocking. Creator Rado called it a reaction against the restrictions of civilization and a preference for naturalism.
In Cleveland, audience members should expect the cast to be engaging with them, sitting on their laps or groping their hair, as Burkhardt does in the title song. He might even end up braiding some hair.
Burkhardt breaks the fourth wall in his opening monologue, where he does a call-and-response to get the audience involved. The show, which doesn’t follow a traditional book format, has been described as a theatrical sit-in, with the actors staging a small protest — or “be-in,” as the show calls it — with the audience. Director Diane Paulus’ goal was to make the audience feel like they’re part of the tribe.
There’s a dance party at the end where audience members are pulled up onto the stage and encouraged to be as crazy as they want to be. One of the parties during the curtain call at the Delacorte Theater will always be Burkhardt’s favorite show memory.
“This one woman felt so free that she decided to strip down and get naked, and we all applauded her,” Burkhardt said. “She felt comfortable enough that she could bare all.”
So why does the cast bare it all at the end of Act I? Claude is singing Where Do I Go? as the characters burn their draft cards. Stripping is an expression of their freedom, inspired by a real-life 1960s protest in Central Park.
Burkhardt said the lighting for the moment of nudity is very soft and cool, with the whole thing is over in less than a minute. “It’s totally just a part of me now,” he said of the scene.
Cleveland, the last stop on the musical tour, is a Hair swan song for Burkhardt.
“I feel like this is a great way to go out. I’m coming back to Cleveland, I’m coming back to my alma mater,” he said. “I loved spending four years in Cleveland, Ohio, and Berea, Ohio.”
ALSO SEE:
Rich Heldenfels: Growing up in the era of ‘Hair’
Local history: Hippie rock musical ‘Hair’ clipped in Akron in early 1970s
DETAILS:
Musical: Hair.
When: Tuesday through Jan. 29, 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays.
Where: Palace Theatre, 1615 Euclid Ave., PlayhouseSquare, Cleveland.
Onstage: Starring Paris Remillard, Steel Burkhardt, Sara King.
Offstage: Gerome Ragni and James Rado, book and lyrics; Galt MacDermot, music; Diane Paulus, director; Karole Armitage, choreographer.
Tickets: $10-$75.
Information: 216-241-6000, www.playhousesquare.org.
Tour information: www.HairOnTour.com.
Arts writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.
