"Hair" Revives 1967 Energy

Cast of "Hair" Discusses Their Revival Musical and How the Broadway Show Applies to Modern Audiences

(CBS)  In "The Early Show"'s "Time Machine" series, we took a trip back in time to the year 1967, a time when hippies reigned.

Blast to the Past, 1967, with "The Early Show"
Photos: Remember 1967
Remembering Love and War: 1967
Relics of 1967
"My Three Sons" Cast Reunite

The youth of 1967 represent a generation that symbolized the sexual revolution, drugs and rebellion. But it was much more than that, "Early Show" substitute co-anchor Debbye Turner Bell said, it was about a time that marked the dawn of a movement to change the world.

While war raged in Vietnam, the counter culture generation was on the frontlines, fighting to end it.

This story was told in the revolutionary musical, "Hair," an anthem for love and peace, which debuted in New York City.

"Hair" became a cultural phenomenon, and 42 years after its debut, "Hair" is back on Broadway with a different generation of performers.

The cast of the Tony award-winning musical for "Best Revival of a Musical" appeared on "The Early Show."

But is this show racier than the original "Hair"?

Will Swenson, Tony-nominated star of "Hair," said the 1967 and current version of the show are "about even." But, he added the audiences probably don't react to the show's content as strongly as they did in the '60s.

The appeal of the show today, Swenson said, is that the show is about hope and love.

"That's just something that people respond to," Swenson said. "We're still in a time with an unpopular war, like we were back then, at a time when we're still fighting for equal rights for every citizen in our country. It's applicable."

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Blasting Back in Time to 1983
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Gavin Creel, also Tony-nominated for his role, said the show is like a party every night.

Referring to the cast, Creel said, "This group of people are all insane and lovely and fantastic and the audience is incredible. It's kind of the energy of the whole piece."

"Hair" is currently playing at the Al Hirshfeld Theater in New York.

[t0mmy5g1rl]

What a smile-invoking show!