HAIR
Kokandy Productions
7/2 - 9/13 @ Chopin Mainstage
7p Thursday - Saturday, 5p Sundays
$25-35, Previews (thru 7/17)
$50-$60, Regular Run
Run time: 2h, 30m
For more information about the play, Scot@KokandyProductions.com
7/23/26 - Kerry Reid, Chicago Reader - Recommended
“Kokandy’s Hair elevates the best moments of the material without allowing the more dated ones to overstay their welcome”.
7/22/26 - Bonnie Kenaz-Mara, ChilLLiveShows.com – Highly recommended
“An intimate, excellent, and sexy as hell production that encapsulates the fierce communal energy
of a generation of teens facing mortality far too young.. What more can I say. Don’t miss this!”
7/22/26 - Mary Wisniewski, NewCity Chicago - Recommended
“A sparkling, humorous and furious version of the 1967 ‘tribal love-rock musical’ that celebrates
the 1960s counterculture...”
7/22/26 - Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune - 2.5 Stars
“Stacked with talented young singers.. intense, committed new staging of the iconic 1968 musical
‘Hair’ is not so much an exploration of the Age of Aquarius as a manifestation of an age of anxiety”
7/21/26 - Emily Werner, ThirdCoastReview.com - 3.5 Stars
“An energetic and visually engaging revival… Eleanor Kahn's scenic design is breathtaking”
7/20/26 - Steve Oxman, Chicago Sun Times - 3 Stars
“The protest-as-performance concept with fierce conviction…the band and singing sound
strong and confident”
7/20/26 - Lauren Emily Whalen, OneMinuteCrtitic.com - 5 Stars
“Kokandy’s Hair is unmissable...from joyful beginning to heart wrenching conclusion“
7/20/26 - Paul Lisnek, Curtain Call Chicago - 4 Stars
“Something raw and with a current urgency...the musicals themes of protest, identity and
generational fracture feel renewed and immediate”
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7/2 - 9/13
"Kokandy Productions brings the famous counterculture, peace-loving musical, created at the height of the anti-Vietnam War movement. (A show full of bangers, the score includes chart-topping, Grammy-winning songs like "Aquarius" and "Let the Sun Shine In.")
7/6/26 – OneMinuteCritic - Five regional theater productions worth the trip this Summer
"Kokandy Productions lets the sun shine in at the Chopin Theatre mainstage, illuminating the lives and loves of 1960s flower children and the looming war that threatens their peaceful bubble-if infighting and angst don't destroy it first. The Age of Aquarius is dawning soon"
7/9/26 – Newcity Chicago - Top 5 Shows this Summer
#1 Hair "The shooting-star musical storefront kicks off the follow-up to its landmark season with this celebration of sixties counterculture"
7/23/26 - Kerry Reid, Chicago Reader - Recommended
Kokandy's Hair connects the 60s to the present
"Nearly 60 years after its off-Broadway premiere, Hair (featuring book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado and music by Galt MacDermot) remains one of the most enduring artifacts of the yippie/hippie era. Even if you've never seen the "tribal love-rock musical" onstage or in the 1979 film version directed by Miloš Forman, songs like "Let the Sunshine In" and "Good Morning, Starshine" have probably wormed their way into your ears from time to time. At the time it was first staged, Hair's frank depictions of sex, nudity, drugs, and other counterculture shibboleths (including, of course, the protests against the Vietnam war and the draft) marked a turning point in musical theater history.
Now the problem with staging the show is how to dust off the hippie-dippie cobwebs without removing it too much from the cultural milieu in which it was birthed. For the most part, Kokandy Productions's current revival, directed and choreographed by Brennan Urbi, manages the task. This isn't the sunshiniest version you'll ever see, but these aren't sunny times, and pretending that the Age of Aquarius is still at hand would be grotesque in this moment.
Urbi's staging turns the Chopin Theatre mainstage into an in-the-round, near-immersive experience. When we enter, a set of crude wooden bleachers faces both the playing area and the usual seating in the auditorium, but other bleachers and chairs around the stage put the story of a group of New York youths searching for peace, love, and understanding right in our laps.
Curiously, before the show opens, there's a platform at the center of the stage with an armchair, lamp, and an old record player, which momentarily made me wonder if we were going to get a framing device lifted from The Drowsy Chaperone—perhaps with an aged Berger reminiscing about the band of friends and lovers (and sometimes both) at the center of Hair. That's not the case, though I do kinda think it would be an interesting approach. (Eleanor Kahn designed the clever and flexible scenic environment.)
Instead, Urbi's cast of young and highly energetic performers bridges the show's time and our own through anachronistic use of signs on issues relevant to our own fucked-up era (Stop ICE, Free Palestine, etc.). Audiences are handed markers at intermission and encouraged to write their own graffiti on the wooden bleachers. That makes some sense, especially since we're engaged in another quagmire of a foreign conflict in Iran. But at least nobody's being drafted—yet.
Yet the elements of the show's own time are clearly present in the vibrant costumes by Rachel Sypniewski, makeup by Syd Genco, and wig and hair design by Keith Ryan. It's also present in most of the performances.
The show doesn't shy away from the less savory elements, particularly in Zac Richey's Berger, the swaggering trickster still hung up on a 16-year-old (never-seen Donna) who also treats Sheila (Catherine Rodriguez O'Connor), an NYU student and activist who lives with Berger and Claude (Gavin Rhys) with callow indifference from time to time. Pregnant Jeanie (Nicki Rossi), who carries a torch for Claude (who is not the father of her baby), sums up some of the romantic confusion: "I'm hung up on Claude, Sheila's hung up on Berger, Berger is hung up everywhere. Claude is hung up on a cross over Sheila and Berger."
It's a succinct reminder that a lot of the counterculture was still about young people as confused about love, sex, and commitment as people before them had been. Tossing out the rule book doesn't mean that people are going to lose their hang-ups and longings overnight. Rhys's Claude faces the biggest existential crisis when his draft card shows up (represented here by a red card with a garish picture of Uncle Sam dangling from the ceiling). His performance subtly but effectively captures the persona of a guy who isn't at all sure about what the right thing to do is, and who is beginning to realize that playtime is gonna be over, one way or another, for himself and his comrades.
he tricky part of Hair for me is figuring out how much the characters represent political rebellion and how much they represent libertinism for its own sake. The two can be linked, but it's easy to imagine that Richey's Berger, for example, who has more than a whiff of self-interest about him, could eventually take the Jerry Rubin path to Wall Street. (His attitudes toward women would fit right in with a lot of corporate offices, honestly.) And we all know that marketing rebellion is as American as apple pie, which is one reason Hair became a hit in the first place.
Tom Morello and Zayd Ayers Dohrn's Revolution(s) at the Goodman last year took a grimmer look at the long-term effects of living for the cause. Hair was never meant to be that, and I'm not sure all of Urbi's attempts to tie the musical's time into our own age of dystopia work.
But that doesn't mean the attempt isn't worth it. Especially given the talent on tap here. The somewhat cavernous space and the brick walls in the Chopin mainstage make some of the lyrics a little hard to hear in the group numbers (though Kara Olander's music direction and the six piece-band is strong throughout). The songs for the women characters come across particularly well. In addition to Rossi and O'Connor, Amy Yesom Kim as Crissy and Chosen Mitchell as Dionne are standouts. (Jeanie, Crissy, and Dionne singing "Air" hit particularly hard during a week when Chicago had the worst air quality in the nation. "Welcome, sulfur dioxide. Hello, carbon monoxide.")
The nude scene that was so controversial all those years ago is gone, probably as a sign that mere nudity no longer shocks us. The ending is also darker than I've seen in previous productions. Kokandy's production doesn't offer a 60s theme park take on this material. They're not trafficking in nostalgia for its own sake, which is a blessing. Ultimately, despite some awkwardly self-conscious moments here and there—and what youth rebellion isn't about self-consciousness, in all fairness—Kokandy's Hair
7/22/26 - Bonnie Kenaz-Mara, ChilLLiveShows.com – Highly Recommended
REVIEW: Kokandy's Hair Kills It With Ritual to Remember, Debauchery to Forget
"Hair... the hippy love musical of 60s counterculture. It's infamous for big, beautiful afros, pushing PC boundaries, over the top costumes, and an iconic score. If you've come looking for the summer of love, Kokandy's extravaganza at Chopin Theatre does not disappoint, pushing back against the mores of banal suburban sprawl with a bacchanal of sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
But Hair has deep, dark roots and multilayered storytelling as well. Kokandy Productions has mounted an intimate, excellent, and sexy as hell production that encapsulates the fierce communal energy of a generation of teens facing mortality far too young. We sat in a pillow pile, left with baby's breath flowers in our hair, and graffitied the space at intermission. It was more of a happening we were active participants in than a spectacle. We loved this love-in! ChiIL Live Shows on our radar.
This production embraces the DIY hippy aesthetic, providing markers and inviting the audience to graffiti the space at intermission. I added a quote I made up years ago, and still believe are word to live by: Prevent Perfection -- Prefer a Perceptive Perspective. My Greek born friend, Flo added the Greek word for HAIR. Whether intentionally or inadvertently, the interactive elements bridge generations, and decades to bring a good dose of 2026 into this period piece. Amid general calls for peace and vintage poster quotes, graffiti with anti ICE and anti Trump sentiments fit right in.
Our world is on fire, and 60 years later we're still fighting back against political and religious institutions bent on eliminating personal freedom and bodily autonomy. Women still fight misogyny, racism is rampant, single moms still face the impending time bomb of an unwanted pregnancy without society's support, and found family fills the gaps.
Hair gives us archetypes, and iconic characters born to war widows and soldiers with PTSD, in the post WW11 baby boom. Kokandy gives us the unique, authentic casting they're legendary for, with a brilliant range of types, for a powerhouse cast brimming with talent.
Come ready to party and mourn, rage and remember. Shout out to the set design that gives us the powerful visuals of lockers to coffins and scaffolding to climb, as well as the costume design that seamlessly melds flower child with Gen Z thrift chic. In fact, chef's kiss to all the show's cast and creatives, who have combined talents to bring to life a magnificently moving piece in true Kokandy style.
Our country is again forcing a mandatory draft, gassing and arresting protestors, and causing environmental destruction. The US is once again spending billions in an unpopular, unjustified war, and the young pay the highest price. Hair is more than a fashion statement, it's a rallying cry, as true now as it was in 1967.
As the characters gather around a bonfire to burn the American flag and their draft cards, as well as to celebrate life, I'm reminded of the bonfire that is Kokandy Productions. They began with a spark in 2010, and we've caught every production since. We've watched their work smolder, smoke, and grow to a blaze. We've seen their humble beginnings, their ambitious undertakings in Chopin's basement space, and we've watched their rise to the Chopin's Main Stage upstairs with admiration. Now they're on the cusp of running Hair as well as their impending remount of Sunday in the Park With George in Chopin's basement space beginning in mid August.
This fall, Kokandy's bonfire burns brighter still, as the critically acclaimed revival of their 10-time 2025 Jeff Award-nominated musical JEKYLL & HYDE will make its Broadway In Chicago debut at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place! I caught it last Halloween night and was blown away by their talent and aesthetic. I can't wait to see it again in the Broadway footlights. Despite their increasing fame and acclaim, Kokandy's dedication to casting up and coming local artists and telling complex stories through musical theatre has never wavered.
It's a new millennium and we're still near the dawning of The Age of Aquarius, as each age lasts over 2,000 years. Many debate whether we have even begun it yet. If we have any hope of moving from "me to we" as we collectively claw our way up from The Age of Pisces, with its focus on hierarchy, religion, and structured belief systems, my money's on the Gen Z theatre kids to show us the way.
As we left the theatre on opening night of Hair, my friend said, "I need to see this 2 or 3 more times!" and someone behind us said "I know, right?! This is our second time already." What more can I say. Don't miss this!
Uniting for an exhilarating summer of peace, love and fury, HAIR features Gavin Rhys as Claude, Catherine Rodriguez O'Connor as Sheila, Zac Richey as Berger, Amy Yesom Kim as Crissy, Chosen Mitchell as Dionne, Stone TeSelle as Woof, Nicki Rossi as Jeannie and Joshua Emmanuel as Hud with an ensemble including Diana Marilyn Alvarez, Caitlin Dobbins, Shayla Florence, Isadora Coco Gonzalez, Wolfie J, Mateo Palm, Quinn Simmons and Kijani X.
Swings include Justin Aponte, Morgan Barber, Kevin Chlapecka, Allyriane Huq, Víctór López, Kenny Miller, Jack Saunders and Maliha Sayed. About the Production
The American tribal love rock musical HAIR celebrates the sixties counterculture in all its barefoot, long-haired, bell-bottomed, beaded and fringed glory. To an infectiously energetic rock beat, the show wows audiences with songs like "Aquarius," "Good Morning, Starshine," "Hair," "I Got Life" and "Let The Sunshine In." Exploring ideas of identity, community, global responsibility and peace, HAIR remains relevant as ever as it examines what it means to be a young person in a changing world. Director and choreographer Brennan Urbi comments, "This is a show about chosen family and active community, exploring how we can build support and fight for each other – no matter the generation, place or time. We have a knockout cast who are ready to rock! By building today's versions of these well-known characters, we're going to find out how this iconic '60s score reverberates all the way to Summer 2026." The production team includes Eleanor Kahn (Scenic Design), Rachel Sypniewski (Costume Design), G "Max" Maxin IV (Lighting Design), Matt Reich (Sound Design), Lauren Ramos (Properties Design), Syd Genco (Makeup Design), Keith Ryan (Wig Design), Kirsten Baity (Intimacy Director), Chels Morgan (Cultural Competency Specialist), Shane Roberie(Casting Director), Nicholas Reinhart (Production Manager), Kendyl Meyer (Associate Production Manager), David Moreland (Technical Director), Lynsy Folckomer (A1), Alfonso Moreno (A2), Shelby Burgus (Stage Manager),Yasmeen "Yaz" Abiad (Assistant Stage Manager), Michael Coppola (Stage Management Intern), Scot Kokandy(Executive Producer) and Derek Van Barham (Producing Artistic Director).
Tickets: Previews $28.52* general admission, $39.19* reserved seating. Regular run $55.20* general admission, $65.87* reserved seating. Students/seniors $44.52*. There will be a limited number of lower-priced tickets (with code ARTIST) available to artists for each performance. Tickets are on sale now at kokandyproductions.com or bit.ly/HairChicago. *Ticket prices include processing fees
HAIR is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Tams-Witmark LLC. - www.concordtheatricals.com"
7/22/26 - Mary Wisniewski, NewCity Chicago - Recommended
"Hair" Is More Relevant Than Ever
Kokandy Productions revives the "tribal love-rock musical" at Chopin Theatre.
"Kokandy Productions keeps knocking it out of the park.
In its last season, the Non-Equity musical theater company produced award-winning runs of "Jekyll & Hyde" and "Amélie." Its haunting 2024 staging of "Into the Woods" got five Jeff awards.
And now here's "Hair—a sparkling, humorous and furious version of the 1967 "tribal love-rock musical" that celebrates the 1960s counterculture. The music, composed by Galt MacDermot with book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado, is so great that it's hard to say that it's ever a bad time to revive the show. But now is a particularly good time, with the country again in a dubious war and tragically polarized. The Kokandy production, directed and choreographed by Brennan Urbi, keeps the sixties costumes and plot while updating it with protest signs and audience-generated graffiti about modern concerns, like immigrant and trans rights.
"Hair" is more of a rock opera than a regular American musical, with much more singing than dialogue. The minimal plot centers on Claude Bukowski (Gavin Rhys) trying to figure out who he is in the world, and whether he can do what is necessary to dodge the draft. He gets into a relationship with both Berger (Zac Richey), a polyamorous prankster, and Sheila (Catherine Rodriguez O'Connor), an activist. They are part of a tribe of young rebels living on the streets of New York City, proclaiming their disdain for authority, convention and America's "dirty little war."
Backed by a terrific off-stage rock band with music direction by Kara Olander, the tribe sings songs about racial injustice ("Colored Spade" and "Abie, Baby"), cultural revolution ("Aquarius"), poverty ("Ain't Got No"), drugs ("Walking in Space" and "Hashish"), pollution (the prescient "Air") and lots of sex ("Sodomy," "Black Boys," "White Boys," etc.). It's both silly and serious, just as the 1960s protests were.
The silliness—with Berger taking off his pants and swinging his tighty-whitied butt at the audience, or Woof (the elven Stone TeSelle) pretending to be a blue-haired sociologist ("My Conviction")—is concentrated in the first act. The second act gets dark fast, with an acid trip and the tribe facing the consequences of war. The message is simple. Life is beautiful; people should live as long as they like as long as they're not hurting anybody; and war is a terrible thing.
The material holds up both because of the quality of the music and because the lyrics are still relevant and occasionally shocking. There's no nudity in this production, though four-letter words are abundant. The ugly racial slurs sung by Black members of the cast in "Colored Spade" were meant to make a satirical point about racism—in fact, a curtain slides across the back of the theater reminding everyone that "This is a satire." But some audience members were noticeably troubled.
There is also recognition in the show that the "free love" ethic wasn't always easy to act out in real life—people got hurt, as O'Connor beautifully expresses in the ballad "Easy to Be Hard." O'Connor is a powerhouse with a big, velvety voice, strong and beautiful.
Other standouts in this young, talented cast include Chosen Mitchell as Dionne, resplendent in a purple afro, leading on "Aquarius" and a beautiful "Walking in Space," along with O'Connor and Nicki Rossi as the pregnant Jeanie. As Berger, Richey resembles a young Brad Pitt and is filled with hilarious antic energy. Also excellent is Joshua Emmanuel as Hud, leading "Colored Spade" and "Don't Put it Down," with Richey and TeSelle. As Crissy, Amy Yesom Kim gives a sweetly earnest, bell-like rendition of "Frank Mills," my favorite song in the show. It's like a Kinks song, not in melody, but in being a perfect short story, a jewel amidst the chaos.
As Claude, Gavin Rhys has wonderful charisma, drawing all eyes. His character is necessarily more restrained than that of the rest of the tribe, since he's still trying to figure out his path. He's the musical's romantic everyman, its Childe Harold. But I wished his performance was a little bigger—I wanted to hear him bust out that fine voice more on "Manchester, England" and "Where Do I Go?" Maybe that will come in future shows.
The choreography is creative and appropriate for the homemade ethic of the counterculture, with dancing that looks loose, spontaneous and easy, when it's not. There was even one performer singing upside down from a scaffold.
In the intermission, audience members are encouraged to take magic markers and add their own opinions to the wooden risers that form the set. The messages include lewd suggestions aimed at Donald Trump, ICE, Elon Musk and AI. It was one of the ways the audience was made to feel they were part of the show, as did the tight quarters of Chopin's small mainstage theater. The show is infectious, and you leave it feeling loopy and swingy, with your hair a little longer."
7/22/26 - Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune - 2,5 Stars
Review: A not-so-mellow 'Hair' from Kokandy Productions
"Although stacked with talented young singers, Kokandy Productions' intense, committed new staging of the iconic 1968 musical "Hair" is not so much an exploration of the Age of Aquarius as a manifestation of an age of anxiety.
This is the least chill "Hair" I have ever seen. But that's perhaps not so much a qualitative statement on an intriguing summer show at the Chopin Theatre, as a note on the state of the world as seen now by young artists.
The director and choreographer of the show, Brennan Urbi, notes in his biography that he prefers to "build a process specific to the questions and skill sets of the group." I'm not sure where (or even if) being true to the material fits into that, but it perhaps explains why the show has been removed from its original 1960s milieu, which is difficult to pull off with so time-specific a piece, at least not without some kind of framing explanation. Certainly, Urbi and his young performers have found many useful parallels with the social protests of today (audience members are asked to write their own political slogans on the set with the provided markers). But there is no getting around the obsession of "Hair" with the Vietnam draft, especially in the second act, and so you are left wondering how all of that fits into a world where young progressive activists now generally leave military service out of the conversation.
But that's not the biggest issue. The reason we all are still attracted to "Hair," which is humorously subtitled "The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical," is its vision of mellow idealism, as expressed through the gorgeous music from Galt MacDermot, composed with one foot in folk and the other in funk. Plus a few toes dipped in acid rock.
So you get "Let the Sunshine In," "Aquarius" and "Easy to Be Hard," a trio of hippy-dippy, barefooted classics as well as "Black Boys" and "Walking in Space," not to mention the more challenging "Colored Spade," the performance of which here comes accompanied with printed words on a suddenly appearing cloth backdrop that reads, "This is a satire," as if the show is worried that the audience won't know.
If that is now a reasonable concern — and what do I know? perhaps it is — it surely says something troubling about the company's lack of confidence in the progress of the world. I found that to be melancholy, as I did the production's frequent unwillingness to chill out and luxuriate in this score. And don't get me started on the decision to not let the reprise of "Let the Sunshine In" be an ode to the resilience and joy of youth, never mind adhere to the imperative of Broadway musicals to send the audience out feeling a little better about life, as lived imperfectly but together.
Sex has mostly been shorn from a production that feels like several generations removed from the various Chicago stagings of this title, be they from the original "Hair" producer Michael Butler at the Athenaeum Theatre back in the 1990s (quite the 1996 be-in, I vividly recall) or director Rachel Rockwell's deeply vulnerable staging for the Paramount Theatre in Aurora in 2012. Not only is there no nudity here, but it feels unimaginable and irrelevant in this particularly untrippy take. I didn't believe for a second anyone found much spiritual solace in "Hare Krishna" or while "Walking in Space," moments of Hakuna Matata which the production often views censoriously, it feels.
At this point, a fair reader might be thinking that the reviewer of a certain age appears overly nostalgic for a lost era, and maybe even unwelcoming to the imperative that every company of actors find their way into an old show as a way of bringing it back to life. Guilty as charged, perhaps, although I'd add in my defense that "Hair" is more complex than merely a celebration of radicalism.
The book by Gerome Ragni and James Rado points out that Sheila, here beautifully sung by Catherine Rodríguez O'Connor, is most likely an NYU student trying on a persona that will not last and both Claude and Berger (played respectively by the talented duo of Gavin Rhys and Zac Richey) are not all they seem, to say the least.
At its core, "Hair" is about both the the pleasure of finding a like-minded community and its inevitable capacity to shatter the idealism it promised, but that requires more complicated and inter-connected journeys than we are shown here.
We see a world of intense individuals, for sure, but the majority look and feel to me like islands. These are substantial performances in a purposeful production, don't get me wrong, but they have little room for play. And you still need a sense of humor to do a show with lyrics like "Glibby glub gloopy, Nibby nabby noopy, La la lo lo.".
7/21/26 - Emily Werner, ThirdCoastReview.com - 3.5 Stars
Hair Speaks Loudly in Kokandy Productions' Vibrant Revival
"Kokandy Productions begins its Season of Color and Light with the American tribal love-rock musical, Hair, at the Chopin Theatre. Premiering on Broadway in 1968, Hair is the first fully realized concept musical centering around the '60s counterculture and the anti-Vietnam war movement. With themes of community, rebellion, peace and identity, Kokandy's performance brings a relevant image of the younger generation resisting societal expectations, though the performance is occasionally hindered by choices in the script and creative execution.
The audience is introduced to the tribe including wacky Berger (Zac Richey), activist Shelia (Catherine Rodriguez O'Connor), melodious Dionne (Chosen Mitchell), gentle Woof (Stone TeSelle), magnetic Hud (Joshua Emmanuel), free-spirited Jeanie (Nicki Rossi) and indecisive Claude (Gavin Rhys). Set in 1960s New York City, this close-knit group embraces the era's counterculture, celebrating love, freedom, and self-expression while resisting the Vietnam War draft. As Claude struggles between loyalty to his friends and the expectations placed upon him, the tribe's ideals are put to the ultimate test. Favorite songs in this musical include "Aquarius," "Ain't Got No," "I Got Life," "Hair," "Be-In (Hare Krishna)" and "Let the Sun Shine In."
Bottom of Form Director and choreographer Brennan Urbi captures the youthful energy and rebellious spirit at the heart of Hair, guiding the cast through a fast-paced, electrifying production that rarely loses momentum. While younger audience members may not be familiar with the historical backdrop of the 1960s and the Vietnam War, the tribe's rejection of societal expectations and fight for personal freedom remain deeply relevant. Zac Richey, Catherine Rodriguez O'Connor, Stone TeSelle, Nicki Rossi, and Joshua Emmanuel deliver performances brimming with passion and vitality, while Chosen Mitchell's soaring soprano is a highlight of the production. Gavin Rhys gives Claude a grounded humanity, convincingly portraying a young man torn between loyalty to his found family, his pacifist beliefs, and the reality of being drafted into service for the Vietnam War. Urbi's choreography is especially exhilarating in "I Got Life," "Going Down," "Hair," and "Be-In," showcasing the ensemble's athleticism and infectious energy.
Eleanor Kahn's scenic design is breathtaking, creating an immersive environment drawing the audience into the world of the tribe. A particularly inspired touch invites patrons to write inspirational and activist messages before the performance, fostering a sense of participation while reinforcing the show's themes of community, self-expression, and social change. Rachel Sypniewski's costumes, Syd Genco's makeup, and Keith Ryan's wig and hair design work seamlessly together to highlight each character's distinct personality and the tribe's vibrant individuality. G "Max" Maxin IV's dynamic lighting design further amplifies the production's exuberant energy. However, audiences should be aware that the strobe effects during the Act II hallucination sequence are particularly intense and may prove uncomfortable to watch, even for those who are not typically sensitive to flashing lights.
Music director Kara Olander does justice to the iconic rock score by Galt MacDermot, Gerome Ragni, and James Rado, bringing its infectious energy and emotional depth to life.
Depending on where patrons are seated, however, some lyrics and dialogue can be difficult to discern. Additionally, audiences expecting a traditional narrative may find Hair's episodic structure unconventional, as the musical prioritizes its themes, music, and historical context over a linear plot. Even so, Kokandy Productions' vibrant staging and company are well worth experiencing, and a second viewing may reveal new layers to this enduring celebration of peace, love, and resistance.
Kokandy Productions delivers an energetic and visually engaging revival of Hair that embraces the musical's enduring message of peace, love, and individuality. Despite a few technical sound difficulties , the production's talented cast, inventive staging, and infectious score make it a worthwhile theatrical experience for longtime fans and newcomers alike".
7/20/26 - Steve Oxman, Chicago Sun Times - 3 Stars
Review: The young cast of Kokandy Productions' 'Hair' embraces protest as performance with fierce conviction
"The new production of the seminal rock musical "Hair" from rapidly rising Kokandy Productions made me remember a famous quote from Yogi Berra: "The future ain't what it used to be."
I've seen a fair number of productions of "Hair," which first appeared on Broadway in 1968, but this is the first that's an expression from a Gen Z-ish point of view. Director Brennan Urbi and his young, game cast embrace the protest-as-performance concept with fierce conviction. In case you miss that point, they'll indicate it plainly and visibly. "This is a satire," reads the tie-dyed textile unfurled early and left hanging for the rest of the show's duration. "This is a protest, not a play," reads one sign held up during the show's "be-in." But this isn't the Age of Aquarius we're used to. When they talk and sing about anger, injustice and despair, you feel it. But when they talk and sing about love, harmony and understanding, you don't. They may be wearing flowers, but very few come across as flower children.
This is a jaded "Hair," sometimes even a tortured "Hair," filled with confusion and complexity, with a clear, if underlying, skepticism of the idealism that was a central dimension of the show's original vibe.
Urbi's direction and choreography capture the organic and groovy quality of a show whose style came out of the avant-garde theater of the time, privileging in-the-moment authenticity over narrative. It moves freely and engages with the audience. The band and singing, under the musical direction of Kara Olander, sound strong and confident with Gerome Ragni, James Rado and Galt MacDermot's famed score, which includes that opening "Age of Aquarius," "Good Morning Starshine," "Hair" and many more memorable mainstream hits.
It's in the design work and some characterizations where we begin to see our world. The wood risers surrounding the main playing space in Eleanor Kahn's set, as well as some of the walls, have been graffitied with protest aphorisms, including references to Trump, Palestinians, ICE and even artificial intelligence. Audience members can borrow a marker and add their own during intermission.
The costuming has flowy dresses and skirts for both men and women, with barely a bell-bottom in sight. We get a Woof (a likable Stone TeSelle) with red/pink in his hair and moustache, and a Hud (charismatic Joshua Emmanuel) clad in leather, neither of which read hippie. The gender fluid costume choices for the ensemble reflect today's nonconformity to traditional norms, self-consciously comparable to men celebrating long hair. As Berger, a compelling central figure handing out joints and acid tabs, Zac Richey bravely embraces an abrasive, jittery take on the character, less championing freedom than rebelliously rejecting its opposite. Gavin Rhys plays Claude, whose internal battle over whether to burn his draft card provides the show's dominant throughline, as particularly spaced out from the start. It's a passive acting choice, but he sounds great singing songs like "Where Do I Go?" and it anticipates his later expressionistic hallucinations. These two form a love triangle with Sheila, played by Catherine Rodriguez O'Connor, who has among the most polished voices, and feels more convincing than others that this "tribe" is trying to transform the world.
There's passion here, and commitment, although many of the songs, including O'Connor's beautiful "Easy to Be Hard," feel pitched as anthems and targeted into the ether — not the audience, and not their fellow tribe members. These characters feel partial because they don't seem to have believable relationships with each other.
Urbi sometimes digs for complexity where simplicity will do, the most egregious example being a confusing "Frank Mills," with Amy Yesom Kim, who portrays Crissy, summoning the memory from a journal entry.
This show gets the work's seriousness, and plumbs its continuing relevancies with great effectiveness, particularly in its fever dream of Act 2 where we see one example after another of imperial destruction.
But the production doesn't get the show's humor and charm. "Hair" is part protest, part sexual revolution, part comedy from the same era as TV's "Laugh-in." Here, there's little genuine levity. And the choice to ditch the nudity and not replace it with anything that feels thematically freeing, seems … well, uptight. Depending on where you're sitting, the performers will come within inches, but there's also a carefulness — in our era, people ask permission before contact.
This isn't wrong; it's revealing. This production exalts so much of what "Hair" is about. But I'm not sure it's aware it is so guarded, earnest, moody and cynical, that when the cast sings the finale, "Let the Sunshine In," they don't."
7/20/26 - Lauren Emily Whalen, OneMinuteCrtitic.com - 5 Stars
'Hair' can still spark a revolution, and this Chicago revival proves it
Since first opening at the Public Theater in 1967, Hair has been associated with free-wheeling flower children, LSD trips, and its radical anti-war nude scene. The musical dove headfirst into the ramifications of the Vietnam War and deep political and cultural unrest. Sound familiar?
Nearly 60 years later, Hair remains both powerful and prescient. The score by Galt MacDermot, with book and lyrics by its original co-stars Gerome Ragni and James Rado, is packed with hits that transcended the stage. A good production of Hair will inevitably entertain. But a great production will both break your heart and put it back together. Kokandy Productions' revival nails both.
What, if anything, do we owe our country? It's the late 1960s, and Claude (Gavin Rhys) has just received his draft card. Claude's hippie pals continue their blissed-out summer, but even those who gleefully burn their cards can't ignore the outside world, where young men are sent away, returning with debilitating trauma if they come back at all. Does Claude have an obligation to serve his country? Hair is constantly produced for a reason. War is still a fact of life, basic human rights are threatened daily, and the struggle for democracy remains.
Director and choreographer Brennan Urbi skillfully stages the production in the round, with Eleanor Kahn's colorful set rife with scribbled entreaties to "Make Love Not War." (Audience members are encouraged to add to the graffiti during intermission.) What may look like spontaneous gyrating actually requires meticulous thought. Urbi's attention to detail creates an immersive environment that lures audiences into a world on the verge of tipping. Standout performances include Zac Richey's Berger, who begins the show with a saucy striptease and ends it with a mournful resolution to let the sunshine in; Chosen Mitchell, whose powerhouse vocals make "Age of Aquarius" one for the theater history books; and Catherine Rodriguez O'Connor, as a committed activist angered by her partner's oblivious neglect. Kokandy's Hair is unmissable, blending flower power nostalgia with a rallying cry for a better world. Utopia may still be out of reach. Kokandy makes the case for trying anyway.
Is 'Hair' worth seeing? From joyful beginning to heart wrenching conclusion, Kokandy's intimate season opener is, to quote its protagonist, "genius genius".
7/20/26 - Paul Lisnek, Curtain Call Chicago - 4 Stars
"Kokandy's 'Hair' Turns Counterculture Into Current Day Urgency"
"I have to state up front: I'm a sucker for a Kokandy production. I go in with the highest of expectations and I universally leave with those expectations exceeded. The production company is just that good (just check out Jekyll & Hyde returning but to the BIC Broadway Playhouse Stage soon) and this flawless production of Hair is no exception to my experience.
"Hair" is a 1960s rock musical about a tribe of hippies in New York City who rebel together against the Vietnam War and beyond that, challenge mainstream America's seeming conformity with the politics of the day. Simultaneously, they grapple amongst themselves over love, sex, race, and personal freedom. Centered on Claude (strongly portrayed by Gavin Rhys) and his friends Berger (played with a perfect blend of humor and seriousness by Zac Richey) and Sheila (forcibly played by Catherine Rodriguez O'Connor), the show follows Claude's struggle between joining the army and staying true to the anti war ideals of his community. The ensemble plays the cast of characters perfectly attired to perfection.
Kokandy's revival of Hair at the Chopin Theatre is part nostalgia for those who lived through (or like me was a child during) the 1960's living, breathing act of resistance and protest. But for Kokandy, the 1960's message has become a modern and current call for action. It now calls out to modern day issues like the fight with ICE and protection of trans rights. You'd be hard pressed not to sense the connection even without the signs of protest that arrive around intermission time, but the message is made quite clear just in case you missed it.
I have seen Hair several times over the years, but in this production, the musical's themes of protest, identity, and generational fracture feel renewed and immediate. Kokandy's production strips away the memories and distance of the decades now passed and delivers Hair as something raw and with a current urgency.
Director Brennan Urbi found the immersive possibilities of Chopin's upstairs compact space and creatively collapsed the divide between audience and cast. The result is a kind of communal experience for all; the actors don't perform at us so much as with us through eye contact and proximity, sharing their joy and anger that serve to define the piece. The closeness pays off: moments that might feel like observation in a larger space, land here with a powerful emotional impact.
Musically, the production is as vibrant as one expects from Kokandy and includes the score's iconic numbers—"Aquarius," "Good Morning Starshine," and the captivating "Let the Sunshine In"—all performed with force and precision, both in the ensemble moments and with the strength of individual performances. This ensemble functions less like a chorus and more a collective of distinct voices which blend into a perfect harmonic tribe. That collective sense delivers on a strong blend of individual personal freedom and a united communal belonging.
What distinguishes this Hair most, however, is its tonal balance. There is joy, playfulness, sensuality, and electricity all coexisting with an ever-present undercurrent of dread that at that time in our history, cannot be avoided. The disaster that was Vietnam is felt strongly inevitable here that will ultimately destroy many lives.
Ultimately, Kokandy's Hair is not a mere recreation of a bygone era or counterculture but about interrogating what that culture promised—and what remains unfinished. It is a production that trusts the material with a sharp political and emotional stake. The result is a Hair that feels both relevant and necessary."
Hair plays at the Chopin Theatre through September 13th. Tickets at: www.Kokandyproductions.com
Author
Book and Lyrics by Gerome Ragni & James Rado
Music by Galt MacDermot
Director
Directed and Choreographed by Brennan Urbi
Music Direction by Kara Olander
Performers
HAIR features Gavin Rhys as Claude, Catherine Rodriguez O'Connor as Sheila, Zac Richey as Berger, Amy Yesom Kim as Crissy, Chosen Mitchell as Dionne, Stone Teselle as Woof, Nicki Rossi as Jeannie and Joshua Emmanuel as Hud. With an ensemble including: Diana Marilyn Alvarez, Leroy Berts IV, Shayla Florence, Niki-Charisse Franco, Isadora Coco Gonzalez, Wolfie J, Matteo Palm and Quinn Simmons.
Swings include Kevin Chlapecka, Allyriane Huq, Mizha Lee Overn, Victor Lopez, Jack Saunders, Maliha Sayed and Kijani X.
Orchestra: Kara Olander (Conductor/Keyboard), Monica Benson (Trumpet), Karli Bunn (Reeds), Ben Heppner (Drums), Eric von Holst (Bass) and Samuel Stein (Guitar)
Production
Production team:
Eleanor Kahn (Scenic Design), Rachel Sypniewski (Costume Design), G “Max” Maxin IV (Lighting Design), Matt Reich (Sound Design), Lauren Ramos (Properties Design), Syd Genco (Makeup Design), Keith Ryan (Wig & Hair Design), Kirsten Baity (Intimacy Director), Chels Morgan (Cultural Competency Specialist), Shane Roberie (Casting Director), Nicholas Reinhart (Production Manager), Kendyl Meyer (Associate Production Manager), David Moreland (Technical Director), Hannah Kwak (Production Sound Engineer), Lynsy Folckomer (A1), Alfonso Moreno (A2), Adam Jezl-Sikorski (Master Electrician), Jose Martinez (Paint Charge), Shelby Burgus (Stage Manager), Yasmeen “Yaz” Abiad (Assistant Stage Manager), Michael Coppola (Stage Management Intern) and Kyle M. Stafford (Directing Intern)
Kokandy staff:
Derek Van Barham, Producing Artistic Director; Adrian Abel Azevedo, Leda Hoffmann, Artistic Associates; Scot Kokandy, Executive Producer; Ben Hinc, Technical Consultant ; David Rosenberg, Public Relations; Jeff Meyer, Graphic Designer
Board of Directors:
Preston Cropp, Danielle Sparklin, Scot Kokandy, Katie Svaicer
Kokandy Productions was founded in 2012 by Allison Hendrix, John Glover, and Scot Kokandy.
