SARASOTA COUNTY (WSNN) – COVID-19 puts a pause on Sarasota’s Asolo Rep’s latest production, but the show goes on.
After a long hiatus of indoor performances, Asolo Rep is excited to bring back its first show of the season with a live audience inside the theater. And up first is the classic rock musical, ‘Hair.’
“Everyone has a new appreciation for being together, and to create art together,” Asolo Rep’s Marketing/Communications Director Angela Lakin said. “We made things work in the interim. But, there’s nothing like live theater and gathering together to experience something like one.”
The Asolo Rep closed its doors last year in March, and took its performances to an outdoor stage.. on a terrace in front of the theater.
“Because we’ve been so isolated and unsure and divided by this, I think we instinctively know we need to get in a room together and be side by side and listen and share a story, “Asolo Rep’s Producing Artistic Director Michael Donald Edwards said.
Hair is a 90-minute show with no intermission.
“It’s high energy from start to finish,” Lakin said.
It’s a production made 50 years ago when America was experiencing a cultural change and still fighting in the Vietnam War.
“It is the right message at the right time,” Lakin said.
“Hair seemed a way for young people to kind of instinctively from a gut level, impulsively say, ‘we don’t accept the way things have been done, we insist on making a change for the better,” Edwards said. “You’ll hear this over and over again, that ‘what we need is love, what we need is to be together.”
While the company is excited for its first show inside the theater, ‘Hair’ was postponed after several members of the company tested positive for COVID.
In a statement the theatre shared, it says “Under medical advisement, we are taking this action to help safeguard everyone involved with the production. Canceling these performances will allow space and time for the company to quarantine and recover.”
The production is expected to begin next week. To watch the performances, you must have a recent negative COVID test result or show proof of an official double vaccination record. Everyone is required to wear a mask.
“We’re very thoughtful about making sure that this is as safe as possible so we can continue to do live theater inside,” Lakin said.
The shows will begin next Tuesday, November 30th, and run through January 1st. If you were affected by the cancellations, you can reschedule your tickets by calling the box office at 941.351.8000 or by going online and clicking here.
