Diane Keaton in Hair

[CJ N2N]

Posted: 4/29/13 at 7:32pm

In the liner notes from the Original Broadway Cast Recording, I discovered that the actress who was interviewed (completely blanking on the name) said that Diane Keaton was the best Shelia the original Broadway production saw. I was kind of shocked that she was in it in the 60s, but I was even more shocked to find out in HAIR: The Story of a Show That Defined a Generation, that she begrudged being in the show and refuses to talk about her stint in the show even now.

Why?

I never thought HAIR was deemed a bad show or some sort of bruise to an actors career. Why would she be so adverse to talk about it if it's considered one of the most progressive and popular musicals to date?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/29/13 at 7:36pm

Kind of hard to know since she won't talk about it.

[Kad]

Posted: 4/29/13 at 7:37pm

She may have had a truly terrible time doing it.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 4/29/13 at 7:39pm

Probably because she's a terrible singer and had to show her bush.

[broadway guy]

Posted: 4/29/13 at 7:40pm

Hair sucks balls.

[DAME]

Posted: 4/29/13 at 7:42pm

She mentioned it last week on The Tonight Show.

[egghumor]

Posted: 4/29/13 at 7:51pm

Well, clearly, one of us needs to give Diane a call and get to the bottom of this... I nominate CJ N2N for the job.

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/29/13 at 7:57pm

Hair sucks balls.

So you're Hair?

[broadway guy]

Posted: 4/29/13 at 8:05pm

My hair is awesome. Child, please.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/29/13 at 8:23pm

I don't think she ever did the nudity. She was originally the Black Boys singer before she was Sheila.

[egghumor]

Posted: 4/29/13 at 8:53pm

I could be mistaken (as I can be sometimes) but I think in the original 1968 production, the entire cast goes nude (back lit) at the closing of act one, no?

I saw HAIR on tour in that same period and that's how I remember it.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 4/29/13 at 8:56pm

Not everyne went nude and not the same actors went nude everynight.
And Ms Keaton has a lovely voice, listen to her sing OLD TIMES in ANNIE HALL, it'sublime.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/29/13 at 8:56pm

I thought the nudity wasn't compulsory.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 4/29/13 at 9:05pm

There was actually a flap over that at the time, because a rider about cast members appearing in the nude scene was added to later contracts; one of the remaining original cast members fought with management over "If it's optional, why is it part of my contract, delete the clause." As I recall, they did it in her case, not sure about anyone else's.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 4/29/13 at 9:29pm

And here she is playing a big band singer in Woody Allen's 1987 RADIO DAYS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmZl4eo3Vsg

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/29/13 at 9:30pm

Diane doesn't have a problem with the show at all. As DAME mentions above its a topic that comes up in interviews often and she has never shyed away from discussing it. The reason she didn't participate in the book you mention is because it was a conflict of interest with her own biography that was then being shopped around.

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/29/13 at 9:36pm

My parents saw her play Sheila. She was still an understudy that night and hadn't taken over the role yet. They said she was terrific.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 4/29/13 at 9:38pm

I remember Meat Loaf saying that nudity wasn't required but they got something like an extra $13 per show if they did.

[CJ N2N]

Posted: 4/29/13 at 9:43pm

That makes sense Michael, but there were a couple of her cast members who were interviewed that said she was constantly complaining during the show and how she was jealous of her friends who were in a Shakespeare production "while she was stuck with HAIR".

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/29/13 at 9:46pm

Well, being an actress unhappy in a gig that you currently have is nothing new. But as historic happenstance, she certainly now has no problem with the show. In that Tonight Show interview last week, she specifically said that singing on Broadway in HAIR was 'a lot of fun...'

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/29/13 at 9:47pm

How "stuck" could she be? Less than 10 months after it opened, she was in Play It Again, Sam on Broadway with Woody Allen (and the rest, as they say, is history).

Her time in Hair was brief. The Off-Broadway run, the OBC, the jump to playing Sheila, and then onto her next play, 10 months after it opened.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/29/13 at 9:50pm

There also seemed to be quite a bit of sour grapes with some former tribe members, especially I remember Lori Davis's book correctly. I don't know that everyone's recollections are completely accurate.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 4/29/13 at 10:01pm

I don't know what Paulus did in her revival, but the original Broadway version was a mess. The nonsensical lyrics may seem charming now, but at the time, not so much to theatergoers over the age of 21. And the staging allowed the actors to wander more or less aimlessly during the performance.

Although it made a ton of money, it was never exactly mainstream. And though nobody was forced to wear a scarlet letter, having HAIR on your resume didn't open a lot of doors (except maybe in rock and R&B).

So if I had a major career such as Diane Keaton has had, HAIR wouldn't be my favorite topic of conversation.

[Leadingplayer]

Posted: 4/29/13 at 10:56pm

She writes about it in her bio. Hair was a desperately unhappy time for her. She was struggling really badly with bulimia and she spent very little time with the rest of the cast because she was always off binge eating and then purging.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 4/29/13 at 11:52pm

As Leadingplayer said, Keaton has spoken extensively about how her time in HAIR led to an eating disorder that defined a very dark period in her life. She certainly doesn't seem to harbor any ill will toward the show itself; just the personal experience she was enduring while she was in it.

She tells a story about how she was asked to lose weight upon being offered the chance to play Sheila and how that effected her in the clip below from The View below, starting at 2:05.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zErXW1ZejcA

Updated On: 4/29/13 at 11:52 PM