On this day in 1967, the first counterculture musical premiered in New York City

If one were to look for a concise definition of the musical "Hair" at this point in time, it would most accurately be described as "countercultural protest sprinkled with mothballs." All the themes and techniques used in the musical have long since become commonplace in theaters around the world. However, even then, things weren't so straightforward.

For example, in London, the short scene in which the actors enter the stage naked was the first of its kind in the history of British theater, and the Lord Chamberlain, who acted as censor at the time, refused to license the production. But in Copenhagen, where, like Sweden, attitudes toward public erotica were quite different, they decided that the audience would only be impressed if the naked actors walked onto the stage through the auditorium. And in Paris, with its centuries-old cabaret traditions, this scene was considered completely unnecessary.

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Incidentally, this example immediately highlights two of the musical's many unique features. First, "Hair" was like Lego, with new scenes being added and old ones being removed over the years and in different countries, facilitated by the production's loose structure. Second, even old scenes could be interpreted in different ways—for example, while in the original production the actors' nudity symbolized freedom, in the 2005 London production it evoked the Iraqi prison of Abu Ghraib, the brutal photographs of which were widely circulated worldwide.

In fact, if we're talking about the theme of the original production, for 1967 audiences it was, so to speak, an introduction to hippie culture (or rather, counterculture; the term originated then) in the style of a traditional "commune" in the United States at the time. The events of the play take place in precisely such a commune, and their content can be found on Wikipedia, as retelling them here would be long and tedious.

Accordingly, for the first time on the theater stage, so-called free love was discussed (and the song "Sodomy" in the New York production, according to descriptions, was performed against a backdrop of a photograph of Michelangelo's Pietà), prohibited hallucinogens, and so on. Again, today, after, say, "South Park," this wouldn't surprise anyone.

Other features of the New York premiere—the amateurish acting of many actors, the foul language, the interaction with the audience (sometimes aggressive)—were in keeping with the spirit of avant-garde theater of the time, but for a much wider audience.

As for professional critics, their reactions to the musical were extremely polarized. Some loved it, others disliked it completely. For example, the great composer of the last century, Leonard Bernstein, who admired The Beatles, dismissed the musical portion of "Hair."

But by 1970, "Hair" had become a huge financial success, with performances in 19 countries bringing in nearly a million dollars every ten days. However, various versions of the musical are still staged in different countries to this day.

Incidentally, the musical's very title clearly demonstrates why it has become archaic. In the 1960s, short men's haircuts were still fashionable in the United States, and long hair clearly symbolized freedom from social norms. (In Ukraine, among our hippies and their imitators, this was repeated in the early 1970s.) But who would be surprised by long hair these days—or, conversely, no hair at all?

Photo: Norwegian production of the musical Wikipedia