If you want a little music while you read, click on the title above!
I just read on Playbill.com that the line was wrapped around the block twice for a Hair audition in New York City. The first one got on line at 1 am. 963 people were on line by 8:30.
Ah, auditions in NYC. Glamorous. Oh, how I remember getting on line during the trash strike at 5:30 on steamy spring mornings. The smell of rotting something in the air, as I sat on the urine stained sidewalk until the doors opened at 9:30. Good times, good times.
But, this isn’t about auditions. This is about Hair. Back in, oh I think it was 1997 or 1998, I was on that line. Yes people… I auditioned for Hair. I had an audition that morning and didn’t feel like schlepping back to Brooklyn yet and read about the audition for the European tour of Hair. On a fluke, I went. There I was in my flowered dress with my hair curled and shiny, standing next to a “flower-child” wanna be. There were kids there in wigs, in costumes, in drag. There were kids with face paint, playing instruments. It was a tad surreal and I could not have felt more out of place. But, damn it…I was going to audition.
In I go to sing my standard audition piece at that time…Ice Cream. Yes, I know it is overdone. But, I was brilliant at it. On the spot, they ask if I would be willing to fly to Paris by the end of the week to join the cast in Bonn, Germany. They were in desperate need of a soprano. They had wanted an African American girl, but I would do. I was flabbergasted and said I would and could! People, I didn’t even have a passport. I had never been out of the country in my life. Canada doesn’t count.
The rest of the week was insane. I had to pack, get a passport, and (which should have been a huge red flag) book 3 flights to Paris. You see, I would be flying over with James Rado and friend. I didn’t pay for it, but I had to book it. And book transportation for the two of them to JFK. They still had smoking on international flights then. Crazy.
I have so many amazing stories from that tour. Meeting a French man on the plane who wanted to make out, going on strike in Rome, jumping in a strangers car to get back to our hotel and passports before we were kept from leaving, having to wash my costume in the sink (jeans and all), watching our lead (who was high on something) slap his co-stars on stage, deciding not to do the nude scene…there are just so many.
Here is one of my favorites:
Once I got there, I had to start performing or not get paid. So the first night, I sang the show on an off- stage mic. By show three, the dance captain asks if I am ready to be in the opening number, Aquarius. See, they would teach you a number each night. By the end of two weeks you were in the whole show. I was ready. I had my costume and I knew what I was doing. He tells me that there is pre-show business. I could go into the house and pass out flowers to the audience, jam with the band in the corner, or join in on the circle center stage. I felt that I needed to bond with these ragamuffins and voted for the circle. Plus, I wanted to keep the choreography in my head. I was nervous. I had about 10 minutes of rehearsal time and was about to go on stage.
We were playing this old circus tent in Germany somewhere. The show was packed. It would always be packed. In fact, the first 10 rows would be standing room only. The kids would know every word. They would throw joints on stage. A few would pass out during the rock like fever of the show.
Anyway, I sit down in the circle and a pipe gets passed to me. So, like any good actor, I say yes. I take a hit. 3 times. Two notes in to Aquarius, I am as high as a kite. Hash, people. Hash. I was so angry. I was so stupid. Of course, it was going to be real! I floated through the number and was so angry. I had never been on stage altered before. It was a wild feeling. I am sure the audience could tell. Paranoid much?
Hair was 5 months of my life and a lifetime in my heart. Good times people, good times.
