HAIR and Its Effect on the World
Essay by Scott Miller
On February 2, 1962, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn all aligned in the constellation Aquarius. It was the first time in 2,500 years that all seven of these heavenly bodies came together. Many believed it marked the dawning of a new era - the Age of Aquarius - symbolizing a pooling of creativity and an age of communal harmony.
A Psychedelic Revolution
The musical Hair criticizes and satirizes racism, discrimination, war, violence, pollution, sexual repression, and other societal evils. It is a psychedelic musical — in the truest sense of the word — perhaps the only one ever to reach Broadway. The show bombards the audience with surreal and overlapping images, forming a powerful, unified whole. At its best, Hair evokes the kind of euphoria often associated with psychedelic experiences.
Still today, Hair shocks audiences by challenging belief systems, exposing the absurdity and danger of what society calls “normal.” It asks penetrating questions:
Why did we send soldiers to Vietnam to kill strangers when there was no direct threat to our country?
Why can’t we talk openly about sex?
Why are certain words “dirty” and others acceptable?
Why are there so many offensive words for Black people but hardly any for white people?
Why are straight people obsessed with what gay people do in private?
If the Constitution guarantees free speech, why can’t we burn the flag?
Is it right to refuse to follow unjust laws?
Faith, Freedom, and Hypocrisy
LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka), a Black social activist and writer, said in the 1960s:
“God has been replaced, as he has all over the West, with respectability and air conditioning.”
Hair reflects that critique, exposing the dark underbelly of organized religion and its hypocrisies. In “Donna”, it’s ambiguous whether Berger is seeking a girl named Donna or the Virgin Mary — the Madonna. The lyrics suggest a spiritual search, a yearning for true faith amid religious hypocrisy. The “tattooed” Donna might represent a distorted spirituality — an evolved, psychedelic path to enlightenment found outside institutional religion.
Just minutes later, the tribe performs “Sodomy,” a mock religious hymn listing sex acts condemned by organized faith. It satirizes religion’s obsession with sexual morality. Before the song, Woof parodies a priest, humorously blending communion, constitutional oaths, and irreverent worship. The scene mocks blind solemnity, exposes contradictions between church and state, and celebrates openness and truth.
Losing God to Find Spirit
In “Ain’t Got No,” the tribe sings a list of things they “ain’t got.” When the soloist says, “I ain’t got no faith,” the tribe shouts “Catholic” - suggesting institutional religion has lost its way. Later, when he says, “I ain’t got no God,” the tribe replies, “Good!” - not out of atheism, but out of liberation from false gods shaped by man-made ritual. Hair finds spirituality in freedom, in honesty, in nature, in humanity.
The show draws on many traditions. Before “Don’t Put It Down,” the tribe chants “om mane padme hum” - a sacred Buddhist mantra - reflecting an openness to global spirituality.
Rebellion and Self-Expression
The title Hair itself symbolized rebellion. Long hair was the hippies’ flag - their freak flag - representing freedom, nonconformity, and equality between men and women. Nudity, too, was an act of liberation: rejecting repression, celebrating the body, and embracing honesty and naturalism. The hippies saw their bodies and sexuality as beautiful gifts, not as “dirty” secrets.
Ritual and Theatre
Ritual is woven through Hair. The opening number “Aquarius” is a summoning - a ritual gathering of the tribe. The show incorporates mock masses, Be-Ins, joint-passing ceremonies, and chants, blending spirituality with theatrical experimentation. Language itself becomes ritual: in songs like “Ain’t Got No Grass” and “Three-Five-Zero-Zero,” words become rhythm and sound, deconstructing meaning in an impressionistic way. Hair was the first “impressionist” Broadway musical - a sensory experience rather than a linear narrative.
Claude as a Christ Figure
Throughout the show, Claude mirrors Christ. He wrestles with duty and sacrifice, defies authority, and ultimately dies for others. Like Jesus, he is misunderstood by his family and society. The show’s second half becomes his passion story — his death and metaphorical resurrection — reflecting the cost of war and the loss of innocence.
Racism and Representation
Hair’s songs confront racism head-on. In “Colored Spade,” Hud lists every racist slur ever thrown at him - reclaiming them and stripping them of power. The audience is forced to confront the ugliness of prejudice.
At the start of Act II, “Black Boys” and “White Boys” flip traditional gender and racial roles. Three white women sing about their attraction to Black men, and three Black women sing about white men. It’s playful, but in 1968, interracial relationships were still illegal in parts of the U.S. These songs made a radical statement: love transcends color.
War and the Human Condition
Claude’s “trip” sequence spirals into chaos - a hallucinatory blend of war, history, and absurdity. He envisions Vietnam, U.S. presidents, cultural icons, and mythical figures colliding in a violent kaleidoscope. The song “Three-Five-Zero-Zero” (inspired by Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Wichita Vortex Sutra”) juxtaposes government propaganda with the horror of war. The number turns into an absurd dance of death, mocking how the media sanitized violence for public consumption.
As the trip collapses, the haunting “What a Piece of Work Is Man” (from Hamlet) plays over scenes of destruction - an ironic reminder of humanity’s potential and failure.
The Finale: Let the Sunshine In
The finale, “The Flesh Failures,” laments society’s obsession with comfort, consumption, and conformity. It reveals a world too busy with material success to notice suffering, war, or the loss of connection. Claude reappears - dead, invisible to the tribe - a symbol of the soldiers lost and forgotten.
The final plea, “Let the Sunshine In,” is not a song of peace achieved, but of peace demanded. It is a call to action:
Let the sun shine on darkness.
Let the truth be seen.
Let change begin.
Scott Miller is a musical theatre composer, lyricist, book writer, historian, consultant, fanboy, and the founder and artistic director of New Line Theatre, an alternative musical theatre company in St. Louis. founded in 1991. He holds a degree in music and musical theatre from Harvard. He has written eleven musicals, two plays, and more than a dozen books about musical theatre, and he writes the Bad Boy of Musical Theatre blog. He also hosts the theatre podcast Stage Grok, available on iTunes. His latest book is the modern fairy tale, The Wonderful Music of Bozz.
