The Paramount Theatre’s final musical of the 2011-12 season — “Hair” — runs through April 1.  Photo provided by Paramount Theatre.

Everything about them was a statement. Their clothes, a rejection of materialism. Their drugs, a quest to get closer to God. Their long hair, a flag of freedom. They were hippies, the social watch dogs of the 1960s, and they played a pivotal role in American pop culture.

Experience the one musical that captures the intensity, the celebration and the angst of that time – Hair, playing March 14 through Aoril 1 at the Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena in downtown Aurora. You won’t be an audience member at the Paramount’s final production in its inaugural Broadway series. Rather, you’ll be part of the tribe in this much-anticipated, sensory overload production directed by Rachel Rockwell, named “Chicago’s Best Director” of 2010 by Chicago Magazine, with acclaimed Chicago musical director Doug Peck leading the Paramount Theatre Orchestra.
From “Aquarius” and “Let the Sun Shine In” to the ’60s anthem “Hair,” your mind will be moved, your body exhilarated and your soul stimulated in this musical quest for peace, love and change.
Performance times are Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Thursday at 7:30 p.m.; Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Press opening is Friday, Mar. 16 at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $34.90-$46.90. For tickets and information, go to ParamountAurora.com, call the Paramount box office, (630) 896-6666, or visit the box office Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and 2 hours prior to evening performances.

 Photo provided by Paramount Theatre.

Hair is rated R for adult language and content. Parental discretion is advised. There is a dimly lit 20-second scene with nudity that is non-sexual in nature.
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical, book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni, music by Galt MacDermot, is a product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s.The show used a racially integrated cast and broke new ground by defining the genre of “rock musical.”
Hair tells the story of the “tribe”, a group of politically active, long-haired hippies of the “Age of Aquarius” living the bohemian life in New York City and fighting against the draft. Claude, his good friend Berger, their roommate Sheila and their friends struggle to balance their young lives, loves and the sexual revolution with their rebellion against the war and their conservative parents and society.