Travel back to the '60s with two local shows

Two shows set in the 1960s, both featuring classic music of the era, will be playing on Flathead Valley stages this month.

But other than being rooted in the same decade, they are two very different nights of entertainment.

Flathead Valley Community College’s “Shout!” is a sweet, colorful play that lightly touches on a social message of women’s liberation, full of girls in miniskirts singing memorable pop songs originally recorded by the women of the British invasion.

A bit heavier program, with themes that were coming of age in 1968 but still are relevant today — racism, drugs, war, sexual liberation — is the groundbreaking musical “Hair,” the Alpine Theatre Project’s midsummer show at the Whitefish Performing Arts Center.

“It hits it all,” said Luke Walrath, executive director of Alpine Theatre Project. “We’re not trying to make any grand statements; our job is to present the moments and the audience will see that 42 years later, we’re still dealing with this stuff.”

“Hair” was a product of the hippie counter-culture and the sexual revolution of the 1960s. The show defied theater conventions with its use of profanity, depiction of drug use and a candid look at the sexual revolution. It also broke new ground as a “rock musical.”

While the Alpine Theatre Project version of “Hair” covers a range of politically charged social concerns, it also runs the gamut of moods.

“It’s funny, it’s dramatic, it’s trippy, it’s weird,” Walrath said. “It’s joyful, angry at times, and outrageous.

“It’s almost less of a show and more of an experience.”

“Shout!” — billed as a “mod musical” — is a fairly new creation despite its ’60s pedigree.

“I was looking for something fresh that no one had seen,” director Joe Legate said. “It’s just a bunch of music from when I was very young in the late 1960s, wonderful songs by Dusty Springfield, Lulu, Petula Clark.

“Sometimes I have songs stuck in my head every morning and curse whatever production I’m part of, but this time, it’s a Dusty Springfield tune, and that’s certainly OK.”

The show follows women moving beyond their 1950s June Cleaver housewife existences into lives full of infinite possibilities. The “rebellion,” portrayed in the show, though, won’t be shocking to people today, Legate said.

“When Lulu, this tiny little girl, started singing ‘Shout!’, back then girls weren’t supposed to behave that way. It’s now incredibly innocent and refreshing, but 50 years ago, it was almost shocking to see that kind of behavior in a prim young lady.”

“Shout!”, part of FVCC’s summer repertory theater, features a cast of 12 college- and high-school-age girls from around the Flathead Valley.

“They have magnificent voices and they’ll knock your socks off,” Legate said. 

Cast member Mindy Rambo created the choreography for the show, and another cast member, Karissa Brown, is vocal director.

For “Hair,” directed by Betsi Morrison, Alpine Theatre Project has pulled together its biggest production yet and it promises to be a grand spectacle. A cast of 16 professional actors, backed by an 11-piece band, navigates through strobe lights, fog and other spectacular effects. Some even end up flying across the stage.

New York actor Eric Michael Krop anchors the show as Claude, a member of the “tribe,” a group of hippies living in New York City. Claude’s response to being drafted into the Vietnam War is at the heart of the story.

“He’s a young kid with an amazing voice,” Walrath said of Krop. “He’s got a softness and sweetness and innocence that Betsi wanted for the role.”

“Hair” features songs that became hits of the day and have stood the test of time — “Aquarius,” “Good Morning Starshine,” “Let the Sun Shine In” and “Hair.”

The music of “Shout!” also has serious nostalgic value. “Alfie,” “Georgy Girl,” “Downtown,” “These Boots Were Made for Walkin’” “To Sir with Love” and “Windy” are just a few of the featured selections.

“You’d have to work real hard to find anything to be offended about or even to think on real hard,” Legate said. “This show is simply a celebration of women in the ’60s coming of age, and it’s all a pleasure. It’s going to be a fun time.”

“Hair” opens tonight at 8 p.m. at the Whitefish Performing Arts Center and runs through July 31.  Performances are at 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 3 p.m. on Sundays. Call 862-SHOW or visit www.alpinetheatreproject.org for tickets and information. “Hair” contains numerous adult themes and is recommended for mature audiences only.

“Shout!” will be performed in the FVCC Black Box Theatre in the Arts and Technology Building tonight at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. and will return July 29-30 at 7 p.m. and July 31 at 2 and 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased in advance at www.fvcc.edu or at the FVCC Bookstore Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.  Remaining tickets will be available at the door.

Reporter Heidi Gaiser may be reached at 758-4431 or by e-mail at hgaiser@dailyinterlake.com.