MASARYK UNIVERSITY BRNO FACULTY OF EDUCATION Department of English Language and Literature The Hair Musical and American Society: Mutual Inspiration Bachelor Thesis Brno 2011 Supervisor: Author: Dr. Rita Chalmers Collins Daniela Frimlová Declaration I hereby declare that I worked on my bachelor thesis on my own and that I used only the sources mentioned in the bibliography section. Brno, 2011 ............................................................. Daniela Frimlová Acknowledgements I would like to express my thanks to Dr. Rita Chalmers Collins for her great patience, kind help and valuable advice that she provided me with, without it the thesis could not come into being. Annotation The bachelor thesis is focused on evolution of the musical “Hair”. It follows its place among other musicals on Broadway and explores general historical background of its origin. The thesis not only deals with basic historical facts, it tries to highlight the social aspects of American life and consequently examine its portrayal in the musical. It also tries to prove that the inspiration by social mood and events was the main reason for the musical‟s creation. Subsequently it shows whether the musical influenced American life in turn, since the link to American society was strong. This is demonstrated by reactions of public audience and professional critics and by further development on the musical field. Keywords Musical, the Hippies, American society, the sixties, Broadway, antiwar movement Table of Content INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 2 1. MUSICAL ORIGIN .................................................................................................................. 3 1.1 DEFINITION OF MUSICAL ..................................................................................................... 3 1.1.2 Characteristic features ................................................................................................... 3 1.2 BROADWAY MUSICAL THEATRE TRADITION ................................................................................ 4 1.2.1 Broadway ......................................................................................................................... 4 1.2.2 Beginnings ....................................................................................................................... 5 1.2.3 The twenties .................................................................................................................... 5 1.2.4 Film and radio ................................................................................................................. 6 1.2.5 Television ......................................................................................................................... 6 1.2.6 The sixties ........................................................................................................................ 7 SUMMARIZING MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND DEVELOPMENT ..................................................... 7 1.3 AMERICAN SOCIETY IN 1960‟S ................................................................................................... 8 1.3.1 Response to the 1950’s ................................................................................................. 8 1.3.2 The sixties’ society characteristics ............................................................................... 9 1.3.3 Historical facts of the sixties .......................................................................................... 9 1.3.4 Social movements of the sixties ................................................................................. 11 1.4 AUTHORS„ INSPIRATIONS, REASONS AND INTENTIONS .............................................................. 13 1.4.1 Authors‘ biography ........................................................................................................ 13 1.4.2 Composer, producer and director .............................................................................. 14 SUMMARIZING HISTORICAL EVENTS OF THE SIXTIES AND AUTHORS„ INTENTIONS ........................... 16 2. MUSICAL CONTENT ................................................................................................................. 16 2.1 SYNOPSIS AND CHARACTERS ..................................................................................................... 16 2.1.1 Characters ..................................................................................................................... 17 2.1.2 Synopsis ......................................................................................................................... 18 2.2 SOCIAL THEMES IN HAIR ........................................................................................................... 19 2.2.1 Pacifism .......................................................................................................................... 20 2.2.2 Racism ........................................................................................................................... 20 2.2.3 Sexual revolution and generation gap ....................................................................... 21 2.2.4 Nudity and sexual freedom ......................................................................................... 21 2.2.5 Drug use......................................................................................................................... 22 2.2.6 Religion .......................................................................................................................... 22 2.2.7 Tribe and anti-consumerism ....................................................................................... 23 2.3 DRAMATIZATION ...................................................................................................................... 24 SUMMARIZING MUSICAL CONTENT ................................................................................................. 25 3. REACTION OF AMERICAN SOCIETY ............................................................................. 26 3.1 PRESENTATION OF MUSICAL ...................................................................................................... 26 3.2 CRITICAL RECEPTION ................................................................................................................ 27 3.2.1 Positive reviews ............................................................................................................ 27 3.2.2 Negative reviews .......................................................................................................... 27 3.3 RECEPTION OF PUBLI C AUDIENCE ............................................................................................. 28 3.3.1 New York ....................................................................................................................... 28 3.3.2 Touring companies ....................................................................................................... 29 3.3.3 Young audience ............................................................................................................ 29 3.3.4 Negative reception ........................................................................................................ 30 3.4 HAIR‟S INFLUENCE .................................................................................................................... 30 3.4.1 Musicals ......................................................................................................................... 30 3.4.2 Social change ................................................................................................................ 31 3.4.3 Hair revivals ................................................................................................................... 32 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................. 33 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................. 34 1 Introduction The musical Hair has always been one of my most favourites. The choreography, music and lyrics have always been breathtaking to me. As a European and coming from post-communist country I was also interested in the phenomenon of the 1960‟s, in American hippie movement, which I could only hear about. That is why I have chosen to handle this part of American history in my bachelor thesis. Its aim is to confirm or disprove the hypothesis which in its first half argues that Hair’s creation was influenced and even provoked by the social situation in U.S. of the sixties. Second half of the hypothesis claims that presentation of the musical had impact on the society in turn and led to some change in it. The first chapter of thesis starts with definition of musicals and their development to prove that there is a connection between the musical and the tradition of society describing it. It then investigates the social and historical events of the U.S. in the sixties to confirm that these were artistically inspiring. Following part handles authors‟ inspirations and intentions to see whether they were motivated to portray American society at all. The second chapter explores which themes were included in the musical and how and their presentation to audience. The last chapter looks at what the reaction