Mary Lorrie Davis (MLD) and Rima Cohn (RC)
MLD: I walked into the audition. And all these people were in there looking like bums — raggedy with run-over shoes and holes in their shirts. And I was dressed in high-heeled shoes, mesh stockings, I had a little hat on… like I was going to church! I walked in, I looked at those people, I went, ’Oh no, they gotta be kidding me.’ But when I heard the music, I wanted to do it.
[MUSIC]
MLD: You ever listen to, like, Handel’s Messiah? Tchaikovsky? Or Mozart? Or — I mean, when I heard “Aquarius,” that’s exactly the way I felt.
[MUSIC]
MLD: Did you see the show? You did see the show.
RC: Oh my god, yes. It was dark times. I lost a fiancée in the Vietnam War. And Hair brought lightness, love, and camaraderie.
MLD: Yeah, and all that was true. But when you get offstage, it’s a whole new ballgame. When a black cast member, Lamont Washington, had an accident, he was severely burned and he died. The management did not want us to go to the funeral. And I said, ’I’m going to the funeral.’ And they said ’Well, we could fire you if you don’t go in.’ I said, ’I’m not kissing anybody’s ass to do any show.’ And I walked away. These people were telling you about love and peace, and you can break the rules. But talk is cheap. It still upsets me.
But my relationship with Hair, it is kind of love-hate, because I loved doing the show and meeting the people. And so I don’t regret anything.