André De Shields made his professional acting debut in the Chicago production of Hair back in 1969. He was fresh out of college and the world was a different place. The Vietnam War was still on and young people still had the heightened awareness that comes from living on the edge of life and death.

Today, De Shields is directing Hair for the Buffalo State College theater department and he finds that the experience is propelling him into the past and future simultaneously.

“It is interesting to work with these students on a piece that they might have felt inclined to look upon as an old relic of a forgotten time,” says De Shields. “One of the most intriguing aspects of this collaboration is that it gives me a chance, as an unreconstructed hippy myself, to test those lessons that we learned in the ’60s.”

By “lessons,” De Shields is talking about issues like “curiosity,” “resourcefulness,” “perseverance,” ”tenacity,” “living outside of one’s comfort zone,” “being ready to take risks in order to achieve.” Not surprisingly, he finds that these lessons hold up today.

“The young people who make up the ensemble are just about at the age where they could be my children—a few could be my grandchildren,” says De Shields. “What we as hippies took for granted, was that in order for democracy to work , it had to be provoked. Young people today have taken what we suggested, ‘tune in and drop out,’ and have interpreted it in ways we never intended. They plug into these gadgets and drop out of the world. That’s not what we meant. We meant that you should get out of your head and into your gut—continue to provoke democracy—reach past your comfort zone. We saw it as our mandate to challenge people. As the lyrics to one of the songs from Hair suggests, ‘Live with your eyes wide open.’”

De Shields notes that the students are interestingly disconnected from global events and “happy to let the world happen.”

André De Shields

“I took a poll on Super Tuesday. That week was heavy with auspicious events. I discovered that more students saw the Super Bowl than voted. More took advantage of Mardi Gras festivities. This is their comfort zone. So I see it as my role to show them why we are at this watershed in history. I must explain to them how we got to this point in history. In fewer than 40 years, they will have to answer the same question to future generations.”

De Shields has been filling the gaps with discussions and activities. The cast even went out to watch the recent lunar eclipse together.

“Stew, the author of Passing Strange, says that ‘Life is a mistake that can only be corrected by art.’ This is the lesson I want to share with these young people. It’s a challenge, but I think, through this project that we all share a sense of its importance. Certainly, we did back in the ’60s. Our purpose in life was to correct what was wrong with the universe. Then at a certain point we realized that there was nothing wrong with the universe. The universe is perfect. We had to correct what we did in the universe.”

Fundamentally, of course, De Shields recognizes the need to put on a show.

“Let’s be down to earth. Part of my mandate is to bring a sense of great entertainment here. Yes, we want to entertain. We want people to leave the Warren Enters Theater with a huge smile on their face. But the young people who are doing that need to learn about super-awareness. Every moment is a life-and-death situation. Every breath is sacred. They are standing up to the challenge. They do not have quite the energy that the old guys does, but they are standing up to the challenge.”

THE DROWSY CHAPERONE

The standard by which the shows that tour to Shea’s are judged is whether or not they approximate the Broadway experience. The current tour of The Drowsy Chaperone hits the mark with an excellent cast that imbues the piece with all the effervescent energy and fun of the original—including Georgia Engel (of Mary Tyler Moore Show fame) recreating her Broadway performance and the incomparable Nancy Opel as the title character.

I was surprised when Opel’s name was announced for this tour. She is the sort of Broadway mainstay who usually never steps foot off the island of Manhattan. She was in the original Urinetown, was recently Mazeppa in Gypsy for Encores, and was My Deah in John Epperston’s hilarious send-up of Euripides’ Medea. As a devoted Buffalonian and Gurney fan, I ventured to New Jersey to see her originate a role in native son A.R. Gurney’s Darleen and the Guest Lecturer. She is fabulous on every occasion—including as the Drowsy Chaperone. She alone would be reason to take in this show—but there is so much more.

As the narrator—a man who talks us through a recording of his favorite Broadway album, the all but forgotten (and actually fictitious 1920s show) The Drowsy Chaperone—Jonathan Crombie is, for my money, more charismatic than his Broadway predecessor, which is saying a lot, because the role was first played by Bob Martin, one of the show’s creators. Andrea Chamberlain is very appealing as Janet Ven De Graaff, the inevitable high-maintenance bride first played by Sutton Foster.

The show continues at Shea’s through Sunday.