Skip to main content
My Shows
News on your favorite shows, specials & more!
Home For You Chat My Shows Register/Login Games Grosses

'HAIR' to be filmed for Great Performances???

New Post Search Report Abuse Rules

Welcome Guest. Please Login or Register.

#1

'HAIR' to be filmed for Great Performances???

Posted: 8/10/09 at 12:12am

Here's what my friend who works in the industry sent to me late this evening:

"...and something that I think that will surely make YOU happy, she said that **HAIR** has been mentioned as an upcoming PBS "Great Performances" project!!..."

I e-mailed back to elaborate on "mentioned." To me, that means as a possibility but it could be interpreted as how I am hoping it does!!

Sorry to throw yet another rumor out there, but I couldn't help but share my excitement!! They should DEFINITELY preserve this and let all of America see it!
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
#2

re: 'HAIR' to be filmed for Great Performances???

Posted: 8/10/09 at 12:13am

I just died and went to heaven. Let this be true, great god of power.
"There's nothing good on. The media hates Christmas. The media loves vampires, though. Maybe they will show a Twilight Christmas."
-Danmeg's 10 year old son.
#3

re: 'HAIR' to be filmed for Great Performances???

Posted: 8/10/09 at 12:14am

Can they do nude work with that?
"I never had theatre producers run after me. Some people want to make more Broadway shows out of movies. But Elliot and I aren't going to do Batman: The Musical." - Julie Taymor 1999
#6

re: 'HAIR' to be filmed for Great Performances???

Posted: 8/10/09 at 12:15am

I'm not sure this is going to happen. I'm almost certain the production will be filmed by Lincoln Center, so it will at least be preserved in that respect.

It would be nice, but I really don't see this happening.
"Sing the words, Patti!!!!" Stephen Sondheim to Patti LuPone.
#8

re: 'HAIR' to be filmed for Great Performances???

Posted: 8/10/09 at 12:15am

There are other possibilities though. It could be another documentary (sort of like 'In The Heights')...which would still make me happy re: 'HAIR' to be filmed for Great Performances???.
"There's nothing good on. The media hates Christmas. The media loves vampires, though. Maybe they will show a Twilight Christmas."
-Danmeg's 10 year old son.
#9

re: 'HAIR' to be filmed for Great Performances???

Posted: 8/10/09 at 12:21am

I'm almost certain the production will be filmed by Lincoln Center, so it will at least be preserved in that respect."

So what? Who cares if it's filmed for Lincoln Center? It's not as if those videos are easily accessible to people who aren't in the NYC area, so it doesn't mean anything if Lincoln Center tapes it just to hold it hostage inside their library.

And of course it would "work" on film. It won't be the same as a live performance but than again, they never are. But "not working on film" is a ridiculous statement. It's a representation of the show that was presented live 8 times a week on the stage. Nothing more and nothing less.
#10

re: 'HAIR' to be filmed for Great Performances???

Posted: 8/10/09 at 12:22am

"As much as I looooooooooove this production, it would NOT work on film. Sorry."

Agreed...depending on how it is directed for television. It is a show full of moments that can only be captured LIVE.

BUT - *all* theatre should only be experienced live. But for those who cannot afford that luxury, let them at least get a glimmer of what they are missing! I'm thankful for many of the taped productions that I would have never been able to see otherwise.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
#11

re: 'HAIR' to be filmed for Great Performances???

Posted: 8/10/09 at 12:23am

I would probably pee myself if this really happened.
"There's nothing good on. The media hates Christmas. The media loves vampires, though. Maybe they will show a Twilight Christmas."
-Danmeg's 10 year old son.
#12

re: 'HAIR' to be filmed for Great Performances???

Posted: 8/10/09 at 12:23am

I love this production of HAIR. I find it to be an incredible re-imagining of an iconic piece.

That being said, have the various TV performances the cast has been doing taught anyone anything? The palpable magic the show emanates doesn't translate to the screen because of how much of an experience it is within the theater.

If this revival of HAIR is recorded when works like CAROLINE, OR CHANGE and GREY GARDENS that needed to be commercially preserved weren't, it would be a crying shame.

I'll believe it when I see it.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.

Updated On: 8/10/09 at 12:23 AM

#13

re: 'HAIR' to be filmed for Great Performances???

Posted: 8/10/09 at 12:28am

I can ask my mother if she's heard anything about it. She's the head programmer at the Houston PBS station. She knew about David Tennant's Hamlet being filmed for Great Performances months ago, and it was only publicly announced the other day.

Granted though, I may not be allowed to straight up tell you that it's a go. I had to stay quiet about Hamlet until it was announced.
#14

re: 'HAIR' to be filmed for Great Performances???

Posted: 8/10/09 at 12:29am

Jordan- If Lincoln Center records it than the production will not be lost forever once it closes. THAT'S the importance of it. That's the importance with every taping Lincoln Center has. I never stated that it would be easily accessible, but just because it isn't broadcast across America so that everybody and their mother can watch it doesn't mean that Lincoln Center holds it hostage. If you're over 18, you can basically watch anything. If you're not in NYC, well then you're S.O.L.
"Sing the words, Patti!!!!" Stephen Sondheim to Patti LuPone.
#15

re: 'HAIR' to be filmed for Great Performances???

Posted: 8/10/09 at 12:40am

I will believe it when I see it. What would be the motivation to broadcast the show now? They seem to be drawing a consistently large crowd on a regular basis. If the crowds die down or the show closes (which I don't think it will anytime soon), then I could understand them wanting to broadcast the show.

Although, I agree with Jazzy about a documentary special. That might be the way to go. Interviews with the cast and crew, behind the scenes footage, and some clips from the show. I find that much more feasible.
#16

re: 'HAIR' to be filmed for Great Performances???

Posted: 8/10/09 at 12:43am

"Agreed...depending on how it is directed for television. It is a show full of moments that can only be captured LIVE."

True, but it will still be awesome!
"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611
#18

re: 'HAIR' to be filmed for Great Performances???

Posted: 8/10/09 at 12:50am

It would be awesome if it happened. So many people would be able to experience the show in some way. However, as I said in my earlier post, I'll believe it when I see it. I guess I'm just being a skeptic.
#19

re: 'HAIR' to be filmed for Great Performances???

Posted: 8/10/09 at 12:50am

"I can ask my mother if she's heard anything about it. She's the head programmer at the Houston PBS station. She knew about David Tennant's Hamlet being filmed for Great Performances months ago, and it was only publicly announced the other day."

Not to be nitpicky, but Tennant's Hamlet wasn't filmed for Great Performances. It might be airing on PBS, but it was announced months ago that it was being filmed for BBC2.

Updated On: 8/10/09 at 12:50 AM

#20

re: 'HAIR' to be filmed for Great Performances???

Posted: 8/10/09 at 12:50am

I don't really buy this, and highly doubt it happens. Sounds like another CAROLINE, OR CHANGE, GYPSY, and GREY GARDENS to me.
And I agree that the magic of this brilliant revival (the best show playing on Broadway at the time, IMO) is really in the experience that comes from being at the theatre seeing it live. It shakes you, electrifies you, elevates you, then drops you flat on your seat with one of the best and most haunting endings of any show I have ever seen. Still, I wouldn't complain if the show was preserved for posterity.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#22

re: 'HAIR' to be filmed for Great Performances???

Posted: 8/10/09 at 1:12am

"Not to be nitpicky, but Tennant's Hamlet wasn't filmed for Great Performances. It might be airing on PBS, but it was announced months ago that it was being filmed for BBC2."

Well, either way, she knew it was going to be aired on Great Performances (for those of us who don't live in the UK and don't get BBC2) months before it was announced. And also, when I say that she knew it was being filmed months before, I mean even before it was announced in late May for BBC2. So she did know it was being recorded before the public did.

Updated On: 8/10/09 at 01:12 AM

#25

re: 'HAIR' to be filmed for Great Performances???

Posted: 8/10/09 at 3:05pm

I really hope they film it, both for the show and for, well, the theater community in general. We need this recorded! Great Performances really "owes" us after that big Gypsy letdown...
"Movies will make you famous; television will make you rich; but theatre will make you good." - Terrence Mann.

← Back to Message Board

BroadwayWorld TV

View all Videos

Ticket Central
Ticket Central
Ticket Central
Hot Show
Tickets From $59
Hot Show
Tickets From $71
Hot Show
Tickets From $71
Hot Show
Tickets From $95
More Hot Shows Discounts
Recommended For You