HAIR

CLAUDE – The show’s protagonist and moral center, a smart, working class, conflicted hippie facing the decision whether to go to Vietnam or burn his draft card. Claude is the Superego to Berger as Id. Claude is compared more than once to Hamlet. (Rock Tenor, A2–F4)

BERGER – The wild, amoral, id-driven tribe leader, irreverent, sarcastic, free-spirited, utterly without boundaries. Berger is Id personified, against Claude as Superego. Only together do Claude and Berger make one healthy man. (Rock Tenor, A2–B4) COSTUME NOTE: As the show opens, Berger is wearing only jeans with a loincloth over them; then early in the show, he takes off the jeans, so he's wearing only the loincloth for the rest of Act I.

SHEILA – An NYU student, upper-middle-class, activist, and the political conscience of the group. (Mezzo-Soprano/Alto, G3–C5)

WOOF – The tribe shaman, an androgynous, gentle soul, who knows every natural drug on the planet. And he might on all of them. (Tenor/Baritone, D3–G4)

HUD – An aggressive, confrontational, proud, militant African American who loves to show off his body and to intimidate white people. (Baritone, B2–F4)

JEANIE – the tribe’s incredibly empathetic, pregnant “earth mother,” who studies astral projection and might just be psychic (Alto, G3–F4)

CRISSY – among the more innocent among the tribe, very childlike, very empathetic, very connected. She sings the sweet but funny song “Frank Mills.” (Mezzo-Soprano, A3–C5)

TOURIST COUPLE – two very square but curious tourists, played by two men, including one in drag who sings “My Conviction” (E4-A5, largely in falsetto).

THE TRIBE – Everyone is part of the Tribe. The Tribe is not a traditional chorus, but instead a community, very playful, very intense, very confrontational, very counterculture. They never leave the stage during the show. The tribe also plays many roles in the “skits” they present to the audience, including moms, dads, police, soldiers, and lots more. Hair is meant to feel very loose, very spontaneous, almost “dangerous” in a way, and never polished or “Broadway” at all. We do not want a trained singing sound.

   ● A NOTE ABOUT THE NUDITY – As HAIR is written,there is one 10-15-second moment of dimly-lit nudity at the end of the first act, under the final chord at the end of “Where Do I Go?” when the tribe sings “Freedom!” As it was in the original production, the nudity is TOTALLY OPTIONAL, full, partial, or not at all. This moment is not at all meant to be sexy or erotic; it’s meant to communicate freedom and escape from the unthinking rules of mainstream society. It connects directly to a foundational idea to the hippies – our bodies are not dirty or shameful; instead they should be celebrated.

   ● FYI, The cast of each production of Hair takes on the name of the Native American tribe that lived in that geographic area. The casts of Hair at New Line (in 2000, 2001, and 2008) are the Osage Tribe.

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