This Very Minute Has History In It

So often I realize how powerfully theatre songs relate to real events. Did you notice that the amazing young poet Amanda Gorman quoted Hamilton in her inaugural poem?

So often we'll work on a show that debuted years ago, even decades ago, and discover its surprisingly strong connection to current events.

So often I've written press releases for shows, that start, "Even more relevant now than when it first debuted..."

Maybe that's because the greatest works of art are genuinely timeless and universal.

We've produced Hair three times (2000, 2001, 2008), and each time we all recognize sadly that we've never really solved the problems we were grappling with in the 1960s. And maybe that's why "Let the Sun Shine In" was so incredibly powerful for the audience and for us. That idea of begging the sun to shine in on us is so primal, and this plea necessarily implies we're asking from a place of deep darkness. 

Literally every night of all three runs, most of the audience and most of the cast would be sobbing through the final choruses of "Let the Sun Shine In." I mean, sobbing. It cut right through the protective layer of cynicism most of us cultivate, right through to the heart. There's such profound Truth in those few, simple words.

Today I came across this amazing video of Broadway actors singing "Seasons of Love" and "Let the Sun Shine In," in honor of the Inauguration. 



As the medley came to an end, I remembered again how powerful "Let the Sun Shine In" can be in context. And I remembered what I wrote about the finale in my book Let the Sun Shine In: The Genius of Hair:

“Let the Sun Shine In” is not the happy song some people think it is. It’s a call to action. The tribe is begging us, the audience, to change things, to stop the killing, the hatred, the discrimination, the destruction of our world. They are saying that we are in a time of darkness (as described in detail by “The Flesh Failures,” “Easy to Be Hard,” and other songs), that it is now time to let the sun shine in and change things. It’s significant that the lyric doesn't say that the sun is already shining and everything is going to be fine. It says we have to take action, we have to let the sun shine on the darkness around us, and the implication is unmistakable – if we don’t let the sun shine, it will be the end of us.

Wow. Talk about relevance!

(And BTW, the correct title is "Let the Sun Shine In," with an active verb; not "Let the Sunshine In," which is entirely passive. It's a call to action. And yet I will admit, the title gets printed both ways all over the place. But I did have a conversation about this once with Hair co-creator Jim Rado, and he agreed that my take on it was what they originally intended.)

Even beyond the terrible economic distress our many current crises have caused artists, there was a crisis that hit some of us particularly hard -- the desecration of Storytelling and the assault on The Truth. Those are fundamental to life. Humans have been telling stories since the beginning of language; and not because we like them, but because we need them. Stories are how we communicate almost everything. (Think about it.) And stories are worthless unless they reveal to us Truth.

Both of the songs in this video medley are telling us essentially the same Truth: Each one of us is responsible for putting light into the world; it's a collective act. We all have to implore the sun -- light, life, energy -- to shine into the deep darkness that we're climbing out of. To quote another song, this time from Next to Normal:

We need some light.
First of all, we need some light.
You can't sit here in the dark.
And all alone, it's a sorry sight.
It's just you and me.
We'll live, you'll see.

Night after night,
We'd sit and wait for the morning light.
But we've waited far too long,
For all that's wrong to be made right.

Day after day,
Wishing all our cares away.
Trying to fight the things we feel,
But some hurts never heal.
Some ghosts are never gone,
But we go on,
We still go on.

We will go on. To quote President Biden, "Democracy has prevailed."

It's looking more and more likely that New Line won't be back onstage till 2022, but whatever insanities the future holds, we still go on. We have to. We don't have a choice. We're the storytellers. Humans need stories.

Because I'm an unapologetic (or is it apoplectic?) musical theatre fanboy, and at the risk of being labeled a cockeyed optimist, I can't end this without two more show tune quotes, both from Jerry Herman, from Mame and La Cage aux Folles.

Light the candles, Get the ice out
Roll the rug up, It's today!
Though it may not be anyone's birthday,
And though it's far from the first of the year,
I know that this very minute has history in it --
We're here!

The best of times is now.
What's left of Summer but a faded rose?
The best of times is now.
As for tomorrow, well, who knows?
So hold this moment fast,
And live and love as hard as you know how.
And make this moment last
Because the best of times is now, is now, is now.
Now, not some forgotten yesterday.
Now, tomorrow is too far away.
So hold this moment fast,
And live and love as hard as you know how.
And make this moment last, 
Because the best of times is now, is now, is now.

It's been a hell of a rough ride, but oh, what a beautiful morning!

Long Live the Musical!
Scott