“Hair” Premieres at The Pantages Theater

Theater — By Buddy Sampson on January 10, 2011 at 10:39 pm

“Hair came out in the 70’s when there was a cultural explosion,” said actor and comedian, Tommy Davidson, who has a movie coming soon with Cedric the Entertainer called “Chicago Jones.” “It took place after the Civil Rights movement and the loss of MLK and Robert and John Kennedy, so it was a very,very, tough time. But it gave rise to this period in America, where Blacks, Whites and people of all colors started living together and sharing each other’s cultural values.” “Hair is an iconic musical,” said music legend Melissa Manchester, a lady considered to be quite an icon herself. “The context of it had to do with the Vietnam war, and it had to do with personal freedom and choices. The score is titanic. ‘Let The Sunshine In’ will never be out of date.” Manchester, who is working on a new album, has a song in Tyler Perry’s movie, “For Colored Girls.” Visit her website at www.melissa-manchester.com. “Hair is naturally a glove to make us aware of what’s happening,” said singer/performer Ben Vereen.”Then (in the sixties) we were active.Now we’re listening. Now is the time to listen and be active and make a change. We voted for change, and nobody’s changing. We’re blaming this man in Washington (President Barack Obama) because in fact he’s trying to make change, but nobody’s changing. Because change is scary. It’s time to do things differently.” Actress and singer Dawnn Lewis feels strongly about the epic theater production. “We’re still at war, in a place that a lot of people feel we should not be,” said Lewis, who does voices for “The Cleveland Show” and “Futurama.” “And there’s a lot of people that have very mixed feelings about whether or not to support it. And so the story and the premise of the show back then, when it was first done in the 60’s, is still valid today and music speaks louder than most things that we can communicate in our lives and in our culture.”  

Among the stars seen at the event was Joseph Julian Soria, an actor who has been seen in TV productions such as The Shield and CSI:Miami, who is currently in production in a film with Edward James Olmos and Lou Diamond Phillips; Eden Sher of “The Middle,” Tracie Thoms of the TV show “Cold Case,” funny man Patrick Warburton, seen in such TV series as “Rules of Engagement,” and “The Tick,” Actress Kate Linder of “The Young And The Restless,” and several other stars and celebrities.