"The cast's energy levels are high, we're all ready for the opening night, we are now just waiting for the final piece in the jigsaw, which is the audience."
Richard has drawn on 24 years of musical production experience to help get the show off the ground, juggling his day job as an electoral officer with night-time and weekend rehearsals.
"I've always been very keen to produce it because of its infamous past."
Theatres were fire-bombed and picketed, shows banned or cancelled, and various cast members' lives were threatened, he says.
While he isn't expecting picket lines tonight, the show remains relevant 46 years after the first Broadway performance, he says.
"Everyday we see people around the world protesting for their rights.
"Society has changed since 1960s and people were shocked by the show's stance on nudity, drugs, black rights and the Vietnam War.
"But its message for peace, love and freedom remains."
He hopes the audience leave the theatre with a different perspective. The two-and-a-half hour show contains 51 songs - many of which became hits - performed by the cast of 22.
The nudity scene - "all 20 seconds of it, blink and you will miss it," he says - has been a journey of its own for the cast.
"It takes a lot of courage, especially in an intimate theatre as this, and 50 per cent have never been on stage before, so the scene is voluntary, they have the option of being naked or not."
Tickets are still available with 60 per cent of the 12 performances already sold.
