HAIR LIVE! To Air On NBC Spring 2019- Page 2

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 5/24/18 at 7:27pm

Somehow an elementary school production of hair would be better than this.

[oncemorewithfeeling2]

Posted: 5/24/18 at 7:31pm

At my school, the kindergarten celebrates all the "decade" numbers as we've gone to school that many days.  On day 70, they do 1970 day.  It's not totally accurate, but kids come in with bell bottoms, tie dye, and beads.  It's hilarious and adorable.  It's a production Hair where the entire production barely reaches 4' tall.

I'm so split over this.  Hair is one of my favorite shows.  The 2009 was so joyful and I don't know how they're going to transfer that correctly to TV.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 5/24/18 at 7:35pm

Everyone keeps mentioning the inevitable censorship, and I agree that will make the show terrible.

But even more than that — even if they didn’t change a word — I feel like doing this kind of hyper-commercial, mainstream, “run by the man” kind of production goes against everything Hair stands for.

[Sondheimite]

Posted: 5/24/18 at 8:14pm

The only way I see this being an artistically valid production is if they hire Tina Landau or Julie Taymor (but preferably Tina Landau) to direct.  HAIR is a show that needs a Director with a Capital D.  It needs a very very very strong vision and visual concept or it's nothing.  Don't let Kenny Ortega near this after he ruined Rocky Horror.  

Updated On: 5/24/18 at 08:14 PM

[MikeInTheDistrict]

Posted: 5/24/18 at 8:20pm

Regarding how NBC would get the authors’ permission to censor the show: HAIR has been in constant flux since it premiered off-Broadway. I have seen legally-produced version that completely bastardize the show (like setting it during the 2000s War in Iraq, or in a mental asylum).

We already have a PG version of the show — the 1979 movie. I’m guessing this will be heavily based on the film version, with some stuff from the stage version. It will suck.

Updated On: 5/24/18 at 08:20 PM

[sabrelady]

Posted: 5/24/18 at 8:28pm

It will suck.

Word.

[gypsy101]

Posted: 5/24/18 at 8:43pm

Ado Annie D'Ysquith said: "*sings* LET THE CENSORS, LET THE CENSORS IN...

All joking aside, why not do AIDA instead? Rock musical, big cast with room for stars, Disney affiliation...it's all the fun without the friction!"

did you maybe misread NBC as ABC?

my question about this is: WHY? and also HOW do they plan on this happening? i would have preferred they stick with Bye Bye Birdie over Hair

[sabrelady]

Posted: 5/24/18 at 8:57pm

I'd have even prefered  Thoroughly Modern Millie  WITH it's rascist stereo types  ( hey clean Them up!)

 Finians Rainbow  (racist)

even Queen's We Will Rock You dumb but doable.

Were these guys doing mushrooms>

 

 

[rg7759]

Posted: 5/24/18 at 9:15pm

so no tv production until rent?

[thebookofwhizzer]

Posted: 5/24/18 at 9:20pm

Hair is my absolute favorite show (well one of them) and i’m so absolutely baffled at the idea of this. I can already sense the disaster this will be.

[BwayLB]

Posted: 5/24/18 at 9:20pm

^ Killjoy that we won't get a live musical until Rent. If that's still happening

Updated On: 5/24/18 at 09:20 PM

[RicardoMagon]

Posted: 5/24/18 at 9:23pm

Not my first choice but still better than bye bye birdie.

[CindersGolightly]

Posted: 5/24/18 at 9:26pm

If this actually happens, I hope Annaleigh Ashford can reprise her role as Jeanie, solely so we have a recording of her rendition of Air. But, yeah, this is going to be a mess. It makes me wonder why we don't just take the Hollywood Bowl productions and turn them into NBC productions. I mean, Michael Arden's "Annie" is flawlessly cast and I'd much rather see that, unedited, than this beautiful show turned upside down to fit into NBC's approved viewing constraints.

SHOWTIME's Hair Live!, however, is a different story...

[Sondheimite]

Posted: 5/24/18 at 9:41pm

Let's be constructive now that the gloom and doom has been voiced:

One of my biggest problems with the last revival was 30+ year olds with waxed bodies singing about how young and hairy they were.

The OMLY way this will work is if they cast young and they really really try for authenticity.  

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/24/18 at 10:31pm

I mean there are plenty of like B list pop stars they could get to be in this. That won't be the issue. But also, how to stage something that's basically ambles around the stage? There isn't much of a plot, and there isn't much need of "directing" in that sense. So, not sure how they could make this work. 

[sabrelady]

Posted: 5/24/18 at 10:51pm

 B list pop stars

Age appropriate w name recognition?

Ariana Grande isn't B level any more. Nor is Meghan Trainor.

and the males  - I can't even think (Ben Platt for Claude- yeah that'll happen)

[BJR]

Posted: 5/24/18 at 11:10pm

Sondheimite said: "Let's be constructive now that the gloom and doom has been voiced:

One of my biggest problems with the last revival was 30+ year olds with waxed bodies singing about how young and hairy they were.

The OMLY way this will work is if they cast young and they really really try for authenticity."

Honestly, while I agree with what everyone is saying, I also think it's worth noting how skeptical we all were about JC SUPERSTAR. And frankly, they vastly exceeded expectations. Let's trust Craig and Neil and wait to see what they have in mind. (But I'm very skeptical.)

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/24/18 at 11:16pm

B list Pop stars? You've got Anne-Marie, Dua Lipa, Fifth Harmony girls, etc. Boys you've got Prettymuch, Why Don't We, etc. They aren't names to us, but trust me, teenage girls are all about it. That's not to say any of them would do it, but I mean Hair and Grease got some big names. 

Why not do something like All Shook Up? I think it's a great show, and could really work on camera. 

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 5/25/18 at 10:38am

The nude scene isn't really necessary to the show. It wasn't added until very late in the gestation period of the original production. I like the idea of the nudity in the scene. I like the idea of the juxtaposition of the tribe liberating themselves from the confines of society while Claude ultimately chooses to align with society by not burning his draft card. While I find the moment powerful, I don't find it imperative.

Nudity aside, there is a lot more going on in the book and lyrics that would seem to make this an ill for for primetime television. The timing feels right for this though, and while I think it could be a mess, I'll wait to see how it goes before passing judgment on it.

By the way, here is an interesting history lesson on the nude scene from Broadway World Poster G.D.E.L.I. from a few years back. It's an interesting read while we are discussing the topic.

From g.d.e.l.i.:
"As Ms. Davis recounts it in her tell-it-like-it-is book about her time with Hair, Tom O'Horgan heavily pushed the conceit of the nude scene. Most of the original cast thought it was going too far. The costume designer Nancy Potts suggested body stockings for the girls and briefs for the guys, but O'Horgan and the authors wanted all or nothing. Everybody laid a heavy trip on the cast about nudity being a symbol of freedom and part of the hippie movement, but pretty much everybody felt like they were being romanced for some unknown reason and had no intention of stripping.

At the end of Act I of the first preview, Gerry Ragni and two other male cast members stood up nude; it was a shocker, because after all the uproar between cast and management, and the nude segment never being rehearsed, they'd pretty much forgotten about it. Then two girls joined the original trio later in previews. It was finally starting to catch on, but apparently too slowly for some. One night no one stood up, and the higher-ups gave them the "liberation" and "relevance" song and dance, and at one very heated rehearsal the producer, Michael Butler, told them if more didn't strip, they were going to hire ringers (professional strippers) to do it. This only raised questions of "why do it for free when you'd have to pay the ringers extra."

Several months into the run, management decided, after frequent complaints, to pay the cast. The price of a naked body was $1.50 per strip. (Paul Jabara once mooned the audience, and earned 75 cents.) As one cast member said, "For free was exploitation; for $1.50 we were selling our asses cheap. Hookers made more than we did." They asked for a raise from the business manager, in the form of extraordinary risk pay. He said no. The nudes went on strike. The strikers were told they'd be fired or brought up on breach of contract charges before Equity. The price stayed at a buck-fifty a strip."

[raddersons]

Posted: 5/25/18 at 10:38am

CindersGolightly said: "SHOWTIME's Hair Live!, however, is a different story..."

This is what it comes down to. NBC is network and broadcast, so it falls under FFC regulations preventing nudity, fowl language, and a bunch of other stuff. Cable is not, though they may have their own standards. I don't dislike the idea of Hair Live. It's just that it will be required by law to be edited if it's on a network. If HBO got into this thing... we would have a whole other beast.

Updated On: 5/25/18 at 10:38 AM

[little_sally]

Posted: 5/25/18 at 11:24am

Is this going to be Hair Kidz Bop style?

[darquegk]

Posted: 5/25/18 at 11:49am

If they went by the recent Broadway version, other than the nudity (and MAYBE "Sodomy" I don't think there's much they'd HAVE to cut. Much of the loopier, raunchier stuff in the Tams draft was excised from Broadway- the "everyone slaps Sheila after Berger starts it" scene I don't recall being in there, nor the "my junk fell off in the shower, have you seen it" routine or the scene where people just yell "f*** f*** f***." I mean, you can say bitch and **** on prime-time now, and every word in "Sodomy" has been said repeatedly on Family Guy.

[MyLife]

Posted: 5/25/18 at 12:09pm

raddersons said: "CindersGolightly said: "SHOWTIME's Hair Live!, however, is a different story..."
This is what it comes down to. NBC is network and broadcast, so it fallsunder FFC regulations preventing nudity, fowl language, and a bunch of other stuff. Cable is not, though they may have their own standards. I don't dislike the idea of Hair Live. It's just that it will be required by law to be edited if it's on a network. If HBO got into this thing... we would have a whole other beast."

It's a shame that  the FFC prohibits all references to chickens, hens, roosters, ducks, geese, feathers, pheasants, and eggs. Cocks, maybe I'd understand but to prohibit ALL fowl language is necessary. 

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 5/25/18 at 12:10pm

It's Odd of me

Doing ra-ti-os

On a linguist's

Rhinoplasty...

Father, why do these nose jobs sound so nasty?

Updated On: 5/25/18 at 12:10 PM

[TheQuibbler]

Posted: 5/25/18 at 2:44pm

RippedMan said: "But also, how to stage something that's basically ambles around the stage? There isn't much of a plot, and there isn't much need of "directing" in that sense. So, not sure how they could make this work."

I'm wondering if that might be partly why it was chosen. Superstar's open staging and minimal set on a thrust-style stage with a live audience gave it the freedom, life and energy all previous NBC musicals were lacking.