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Amos Lassen wrote on 04/25/2011:

It has been some forty years since the musical “Hair” graced the Broadway stage and it is now packing them in with the revival. It inspired then and still inspires now with its messages of non-violence, liberation and love. Here is a documentary that looks at the musical and explores its importance and relevance. It includes film footage from the archives of both American and international productions of the show (I saw it when it opened in Boston in ’66, I believe and then the Hebrew production in Israel in 67 and we see not only an era but a generation and the politics of the time. There are interviews with writers, cast members, directors and producers.

The documentary is arranged, loosely, around themes that include the context of its creation, friendships among its creators, rehearsals, media coverage, race, sex, politics, backlash, several deaths, drug use leading to dissolution, and an assessment of the play’s importance. The commentary is provided by those looking back and it is an amazing experience to return to “Hair” days.
But “HAIR” is such a monumental piece of theater, that it is impossible for a 55 minute documentary to discuss its impact. We do see the show’s relevance to the current world political climate. We get lively interviews and hear most of the music. There are clips of both the Broadway and Los Angeles companies. I would have loved more interviews from the original cast and a little more on what happened behind the scenes.
“Hair” is more than just a cute, silly, hippie musical and this documentary will show you just that. We see that “Hair” is serious, important theatre. The show truly reflected what was going on in the country– the conflict in Vietnam and “young Americans” were trying to stop the war. Sexual liberation was happening and so was the rise of the hippie drug culture. Two New York actors, Jim Rado and Jerome Ragni put together a “script” and wrote a few songs. Then they met with composer Galt McDermott and tried their idea out. Joseph Papp who was forming the New York Shakespeare Festival (to present new plays off-Broadway) was looking for an opening show. And this turned out to be “Hair” and the rest is history.
The film gives us the story of the show from its beginnings through the filmed version which was directed by Milos Forman in his first English language production and the revivals is expertly told in this hour-long documentary. The best thing is what we get in the bonus section of the DVD. There are real nearly 40 minutes of interviews with Forman, Rado and Ben Vereen. If you lived through the 60?s (and were not too stoned to remember anything about them) this is a must see as it will bring back memories of a period of time—a period of time that defined a generation.