A NEW HEAD OF ‘HAIR’ AT AP’s CAROUSEL

A NEW HEAD OF ‘HAIR’ AT AP’s CAROUSEL --by Tom Chesek

Having a Be-In: James “JT” Thom of Madison Marquette and David Leidholdt of ReVision Theatre survey the work-in-progress that is Asbury Park’s Carousel building, where a revival of the “tribal love-rock musical” HAIR promises to jumpstart a new era for the venerable boardwalk landmark. (Photos by Diana Moore)

Asbury Park - Once there was a carousel upon this very space, with painted horses carved of wood in a wondrous steeplechase. When we were young, we’d ride each day and reach for rings of brass…

Nah, strike that opening — too maudlin. Besides, we’ve all heard enough of those sentimental recollections of Asbury Park’s storied Carousel building. The reason we’re here right now, peering through padlocked gates at the gutted expanse adjoining the grand ruin of the Casino, is all about the future. A future that says this long-quiet place will rock within just a matter of days, as the ornate roundhouse at the south end of the boards plays host to a major revival of the musical Hair.

It’s the latest bit of buzz on the boardwalk in what’s turned out to be a milestone summer for developer Madison Marquette, which doesn’t seem to have gotten the memo regarding that recession thing. It also represents a triumph for the city-based ReVision Theatre Company, the fledgling enterprise that’s marking its first extended engagement with this production. The two entities joined forces for this novel staging of the “American Tribal Love-Rock Musical” (book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni; music by Galt MacDermot) after working together on the troupe’s benefit production of Hello, Dolly! at the Paramount, a show that starred Carol Channing tribute artist Richard Skipper.

When Red Bank oRBit heard that the guys at ReVision were tackling the famous counter-culture touchstone of the 1960s sexual revolution — in the semi-round, in the buff, and in a long-neglected building that had last done duty as an indoor skate park and punk rock hall — we just had to investigate.

We got ourselves an exclusive look at this work in progress, when we met up with James “JT” Thom of Madison Marquette — the man with the official golf cart and those all-important keys — and ReVision Producing Artistic Director David Leidholdt, for a discussion of what it’s taken to get this faded treasure of the Shore into shape for something that, frankly, it was never really designed to do.

Let the Sun Shine In: The interior of Asbury Park’s Carousel has been gutted, cleaned up and fitted with new equipment in preparation for the musical HAIR, opening August 15.

It was Asbury’s own George Hansel, a veteran arts advocate and lighting designer who will be supervising that aspect of the production, who tipped us off to the story possibilities here. As George told it, there were peculiar challenges in staging a show within an oddly shaped structure with no lighting grid, no sound system, no seats, no backstage, no climate control, and a location across the street from the busy bass-beats of the Paradise nightclub.

“Plus, the place has been an aviary for the past ten years,” said Hansel in reference to the cooing pigeons that have made it their luxury seaside condo. “There must have been eight inches of birdshit on the floor.”

The concrete-floored roundhouse of ornate glasswork and patina’d copper accents was subject to a massive cleanup, in anticipation of hosting a Big Art Party in early June. While the permits didn’t come through in time for that event, the necessary paperwork has been put in order for Hair. A new metal roof radiates from the domed skylight; the eerie wailing siren faces continue to register their displeasure, and someone has even taken the trouble of replacing the light bulbs that adorn the cherry-on-top dome.

“This came together quicker than any sane person would have attempted,” says Leidholdt, a veteran freelance director and co-founder of ReVision with fellow AP’ers Thomas Morrissey and Stephen Bishop Seely.

“It’s organized chaos,” explains JT, looking skyward as a feathered resident casually goes about his business. “And we still haven’t solved our bird issues.”

Playing the Ponies: The actual Casino Carousel is long gone, but Madison Marquette and ReVision Theatre are wagering that one of the Shore’s most distinctive buildings will perform like a winner.

Bird issues notwithstanding, JT and his crews have been able to plan for temporary seating of up to 150 patrons. Trusses will be installed for tech equipment, and a generator will be brought in to augment the old building’s plug-in power sources. The cooling ocean breezes are expected to provide a natural a/c, and a series of black curtains will be hung over the windows — addressing the question of how to charge admission for a show that could conceivably be viewed by passersby through the glass that wraps around most of its perimeter.

Anybody who steals a glance should be getting an eyeful, too. Famous for its taboo-busting take on profanity, free love, dope, patriotism and, especially, its full-on nude frolicking, Hair really set tongues to clucking during its smash 1968 Broadway run and even longer-running London engagement. This is to say nothing of its (gasp) racially integrated cast, its groundbreaking interaction with audience members, and its vanguard status as the grandaddy of all rock musicals. In between all the controversy, its mega-hit soundtrack album yielded such sweet anthems as “Age of Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine” and “Good Morning, Starshine,” a staple on Sesame Street in its early days.

Suffice to say that the pikachu’s, paneenee’s and papayas will be on display — as could conceivably also be the skin-tags, witchy hairs and corn-chip toes — when this love-in gets going. Fortunately, director Andy Goldberg (The Bomb-itty of Errors, Nerds, and West End’s Boney M tribute showDaddy Cool) and the ReVision team have cast what Liedholdt calls a “young, dynamite, age-appropriate” collection of players — highlighted by Scoop Slone, frontman of the NYC band Maslow, as the passionate “Tribe” member Berger.

Berger King: Rock singer Scoop Slone takes the spotlight as the Tribal free-spirit in HAIR. (Photo by Lex Kolychev)

Other major cast members include Casey Gensler (Claude), Ephie Aardema (Sheila), Julia Arazi (Jeanie), Mike Russo (Woof), Marah Meese (Crissy), and Kyle Taylor Parker (Hud). The Tribe is completed by Keith Antone, Joy Caldwell, Steven Charles, Martin Gould Cummings, Spiro Galiatsatos (who starred in tick…tick…BOOM at Brookdale College last winter), Deidra Grace, Iliana Inocencio, Britt Johnson, Hannah Shankman and Anita Welch. Choreography is by Elisabetta Spuria and Andy Hertz directs the live band.

Housing, moving and otherwise wrangling 17 actors (as well as an assistant director and a handful of technicians) for the three-week duration of the show is just one of the challenges facing Liedholdt and company. Primary dressing room facilities have been established at the nearby Wesley Grove condominium complex, and a tent set up in the Carousel parking lot will serve as a “backstage” area. All in a day’s work for a “homeless” organization that maintains temporary headquarters at Asbury Park’s VFW building on Lake Avenue, where they’ve conducted workshops, classes and auditions.

Leidholdt, who as one of the show’s producers faces a challenge “to get people off the beach and into the theatre,” offers that this unorthodox midsummer night’s dream of a musical is just the sort of thing to experience “in a bathing suit or a tank top.”

“It’s a risky thing, doing a show here,” he admits, adding that “for our purposes it’s a more manageable size than the Paramount, and this could be the first of a number of ReVision events in the space.”

In the meantime? “Maybe we’ll do a bit of island-hopping around town until we find a permanent home!”

Hair opens August 15 and continues through August 31, with performances on Thursdays and Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 7pm and 10:30 pm, and Sundays at 7pm. Tickets ($35) can be had right here.