By JOANNE L. PAPAIANNI
 Coaster Photo: The Carousel building in Asbury Park will be home to the musical ‘Hair’ for the next few weeks. |
The Carousel building in Asbury Park will be letting the sun shine in as it is transformed Friday night into environmental theater for a revival of the 1968 rock musical ‘Hair.’
The performance will be the first time the building has been used in many years. The last time the building was open was for a skate park and flea market.
One of the plays three producer artistic directors, Stephen Bishop Seeley, said Monday that the venue would be ready for opening night even as workers painted and installed seating.
The other two producers are Thomas Morrissey and David Leidholdt. All three are city residents.
Bishop-Seeley said environmental theater is different from theater in the round, even though the stage is centered in the building, because there will be several focal points in the production.
“In theater in the round there is only one focal point,” Seeley said. “This will have several focal points, we are going to have scaffolding, platforms and a band.”
Seeley said The ReVision Theatre Company decided to do ‘Hair’ after its successful production of ‘Hello Dolly’ in June at the Paramount Theatre.
“After ‘Hello Dolly’ was so successful, we started looking for alternate space to do something for three weeks,” he said.
All three producers wanted to do ‘Hair,’ he said.
He said they want to do new musicals and new shows but felt they had to do something bigger if they were to renovate the space for three weeks.
This year is the 40th anniversary of the Broadway play.
Seeley said the 17 cast members in the play were coming down from New York City on Monday. All are professional actors.
“This is tech week,” he said.
They will be staying in the area for three weeks while the show is produced.
“We rented two houses for them in the area,” he said.
“They are very excited; this is all new to them,” he said of the actors who are not familiar with the Jersey Shore. “This is our first major production,” he said.
Seeley is a former actor and previously produced plays for the Genesius Guild.
Charlene Chalfont, of Ocean Grove, saw the original production in the early 70’s, when she was in her late teens. She is looking forward to seeing it again in Asbury Park.
“I loved it, I grew up in the 60’s so I wasn’t taken aback by it,” she said, referring to the nude scenes.
Chalfont said she grew up on Staten Island and began attending the theater on Broadway and Off-Broadway when she was 12.
“I’ve seen nude scenes before,” she said.
Chalfont said she and a friend already purchased their tickets for the show at the Carousel.
She said she thought the show will be successful because there are enough people in this area who will be receptive to the controversial material in the play.
“People will not be shocked by it,” she said. “There is a broad enough way of thinking. I think it will draw a big crowd.”
Chalfont said when she first saw the play she enjoyed, both the music and the war protest theme of the production.
City Director of Commerce Thomas Gilmour saw the play when it first came out.
He was in college at the time and said, “I think it really captured everything going on in America at that time.”
He said he ‘absolutely’ liked the protest aspect of the play the first time he saw it.
Gilmour said he will be going to see the Asbury Park production.
“The ReVision Theatre has quickly established themselves as a very creative organization – they have very talented writers. You can count on Revision Theater to put on a great production.”
The play, will run for three weeks beginning Fri, Aug. 15, with performances Thursday through Sunday until Aug. 31.
Tickets for all general admission seats are $35. There is seating for 150 for each of the shows.
Thursday and Friday shows will be 8 p.m. with two shows on Saturdays at 7 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.
Visit www.reVisionTheatre.org for more information or call (732)455-3059.
 Stephen Bishop Seeley is one of three producing artistic directors for the rock musical ‘Hair.’ |
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