HAIR the Musical, Theatre Royal Sydney. © Ben Fon
A 1967 musical about peace, protest and freedom turns out to be exactly what 2026 needs. HAIR the Musical returns to the Theatre Royal Sydney.
As a parent, there have been many moments when I have questioned my judgement. Sitting next to my 15-year-old as the cast of HAIR the Musical dropped trips and trousers at the Theatre Royal Sydney on opening night was amongst them. For all of about three seconds. After that, all bets and clothing (theirs, not ours) were off.
To be fair, I did know what I was getting into. HAIR, the Grammy and Tony Award-winning tribal love-rock musical that first shocked audiences back in 1967, has never been shy about making its point or about getting naked. What I’d forgotten, given I’m of a similar vintage and my memory is not what it used to be, was to warn my daughter… and just how many shades of red her face can turn.
Tane Williams-Accra as Hud in HAIR the Musical © Daniel Boud
But here’s the thing. Despite its lack of a G rating, HAIR is as relevant to teens in 2026 as it has been to any audience in its almost 60 years. War is dominating headlines, social divisions are widening and the world is seemingly hell-bent on repeating every mistake a generation once took to the streets to fight against. In fact a musical built around peace, protest and the radical notion that love might just be the answer feels less like nostalgia and more like a despatch from the future.
But enough with the earnestness, because HAIR earns its stripes not just for its message but for pure theatrical joy. The title song alone is worth the ticket price. It’s a glorious, roof-lifting declaration that somehow manages to be about hair and everything that isn’t hair all at once. And then there’s the extended psychedelic trip sequence in act two, which is as cleverly staged as anything I’ve seen on a Sydney stage. In fact, it’s so genuinely transporting that I have to wonder whether the creative team conducted some rather extensive field research. For Art. Of course.
Alex Cooper as Claude in Hair the Musical. © Daniel Boud
The entire cast is brilliant, led by Alex Cooper as Claude, an idealistic soul desperately trying to hold himself together as the world pulls him in every direction at once. Cooper is extraordinary in the role, playing him with such joyful, aching sincerity that you feel his every impossible choice. Maxwell Simon is magnetic as the anarchic Berger, and Tane Williams-Accra as Hud, delivers hilarious one-liners while thrilling the crowd with his soulful vocals.
Rosie Meader as Jeanie in Hair the Musical. © Daniel Boud
Rosie Meader as the comically pregnant Jeannie is a delight. Another standout is Maverick Newman, who plays Leonard but whose real gift to this production is his scene-stealing turn as Iris, a comically outraged audience member who storms the stage and has the opening night crowd in stitches.
Not exactly G-rated, the show’s notorious nude scene – along with a cheerful roll call of drugs in the third song – are, of course, what prompted those three seconds of parental doubt. But it is bold, beautiful and surprisingly moving. Controversial in 1967, it remains genuinely impactful today, closing act one on a note of pure, defiant liberation. Act two, in turns hilarious and heartbreaking, is where HAIR brings emotional weight, the free-spirited chaos of act one giving way to something altogether darker as the spectre of Vietnam closes in.
While it’s not 1967 anymore and political correctness has changed the way we entertain, director Glenn Elston doesn’t soften any of it. Not the confronting language, the racism, the persecution of queer people or the spectre of war that hangs over every scene. The production is better and braver for it.
HAIR the Musical is playing at Theatre Royal Sydney until 12 July © Daniel Boud
A generation took to the streets and believed, with genuine conviction, that love could be a political force. They never promised to fix the world. But HAIR reminds us that we were supposed to try harder.
Oh, as for my 15-year-old? Eyes wide and jaw occasionally dropped, she was on her feet at the end with the rest of the audience, giving a standing ovation to a musical she immediately declared a new favourite. Which is saying something, because that is a very, very long and extremely discerning list.
HAIR the Musical is playing at Theatre Royal Sydney until 12 July. Go. Take someone. Just maybe not your grandmother.
An award-winning travel writer and photographer, Aleney de Winter was fresh from school when she first set off to explore the far reaches of Australia with a two-man tent and a beaten-up Kingswood for company. Three decades, and two kids later, and she's still on the go, with her itchy-footed offspring in tow. 