Reviving the peace-loving, beat- nik counter-culture of the ‘60s, 7 Stages in Little 5 Points is now offering audiences a step back in time but a snazzy step forward in wardrobe.

Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical, which premiered in time for 7 Stages Theatre’s 30th anniversary on Sept. 12, brought to stage a dynamic cast that all had two things in common: long, unruly hair and plenty of hippie glee.

Hair made its off-Broadway debut in 1967. A year later, it moved to Broadway and ran for 1,750 performances. In 1979, a film adaptation was released. Forty-one years after its Broadway debut, Hair was revived on the big stage, winning a Tony Award and a Desk Drama Award for best revival of a musical.

The play is set in New York City during the 1960s. Through lyrical words and pulsating songs, the play tells the story of the “tribe,” a group of 12 friends fighting against the Vietnam War and the draft, while advocating for a more nonviolent and loving society.

The story revolves around characters Claude (Jacob Wood), Berger (Warren E. Ullom IV) and their roommate Sheila (Naomi Lavender).

Claude must decide if he should oppose the draft as all of his friends have done or follow his conservative parents’ wishes and fight in war.

But the draft is not the only thing the tribe was against. Interracial marriage was illegal in the United States until 1967, and homophobia remained rampant for much longer.

As lovers of peace and justice, the multicultural tribe often took a stand against prejudice by showing unbiased affection toward each other with no regard to race or sexual orientation. Reactionary songs such as “Colored Spade,” “Black Boys/White Boys” and “Sodomy” helped to further emphasize the play’s peace-loving spirit and romanticized hippie idealism.

In this way the play becomes a war against war, a war against racism and a war against the conservative views of sexuality, opposing compliance and advocating peace.

Hair’s first song, “Aquarius,” showcased the soulful voice of Frecena Byrd, who plays as Ronny.

The song is based on the idea that the world will one day traverse into an age of love and humanity, contrary to the time period’s current Age of Pisces.

At the end of the show, the song is mixed as a medley with the famous “Let the Sunshine In,” which encompasses the theme of light shining in on the world.

The play’s namesake, hair, is portrayed as a symbol of nonconformity.

In the tribe members’ era, hair, especially that of males, was expected to be cut, not unruly and long.

But the cast is filled with all sorts of hair: straight, curly, kinky, long and short. The song “Hair” in the play’s first act makes the play’s title is the way it is, one of them responds, “I’m hairy high and low. Don’t ask me why, don’t know.”

With such an intimate theater setting, the audience could be considered a part of the stage. The actors frequently roamed into the rows of spectators to sing and dance. At one point during the show the performers even distributed flowers, a true testimony to the play’s peaceful central message.

The theater also showcases a live band throught the play. The music does the piece extreme justice in providing a relaxed, mellow mood. Ullom IV occasionally plays the keyboard during some of the show’s songs, but still upholds his portrayal of his character’s free-spirited attitude.

The musical unfolded with a positive energy that encourages harmony and challenges society’s norm.

Although its treatment of nudity and illegal drugs caused controversy when it was first performed in the late 1960s, Hair has grown to be widely loved and performed all over the world.

Revitalized at Atlanta’s 7 Stages after a successful run in 1984, Hair provides the perfect ingredients of sex, drugs, peace and rock ‘n’ roll for its location in Little 5.

— Contact Malcolm Tariq.