Ace Young and Diana DeGarmo to Join the Broadway Cast of Hair?

This has been part of the Broadway rumor mill for the last few days and is true. Diana tweeted about auditioning for a Broadway show the last few weeks and has been posting updates. Allegedly she’ll be Sheila and Ace will be Berger. I’m not sure how I feel about Ace being cast but good for him. Diana has done a lot of legitimate stage work for 4 years so this will just be another good credit for her.

This Hair revival won the Tony for Best Revival last year and is great. And yes, the infamous end of Act I nudity for all of the cast is still in this production. I wonder if they will be getting naked? I believe the full nudity is optional, but pretty much the whole cast does it currently so they might.

mj, the nude scene is still in the show. It is up to each cast member to decide if they want to do it. Diana and Ace are playing two of the three lead characters. I doubt either will do full frontal but it wouldn’t matter because the lighting is done in such a way, and the scene is so short, that the audience can’t see much anyway.

The general reaction so far online is Diana should do a good job but Ace is one AIer too many and doesn’t have the right voice to play Berger.

I believe everyone except Claude is naked. And for Ace’s sake, I hope he is not stepping into Gavin Creel’s role of Claude. That is an incredible performance, and Ace would be stoned by the critics as an infidel defiling one of the best parts of the new version.

Saw this back in Oct. I worry about Ace as Berger. Not the loincloth part though, I’m sure that will be fine in that respect. I can’t imagine his voice as a fit, but we’ll see. I hope Diana doesn’t mind lots of PDA.

The nude scene is still there, I could see everything from the mezz.

I’m not worried about Diana, she recently played Sarah in the comedic musical The Toxic Avenger and had a lot of non-PG, sexually suggestive material including a rape scene where her shirt got ripped open, and a lot of profanity. She’s played a number of roles different to who she is in real life and is pretty gutsy in that respect.

I can see Diana as Sheila, i’m not sure I can see Ace as Berger. I don’t see him as a draft-card burning, druggie hippie. hmmm…i’ll have to think about this…

Hair is my favorite musical ever. First, about the nudity. The scene is very brief at the end of Act 1 and it isn’t sexual, it’s part of a beautiful message about how underneath our clothes, regardless of our status in life, we are all the same. It is usually beautifully lit and it’s a powerful scene to end the first act. It’s optional night by night for the cast, in most productions of the show. Ace and Diana are both young, attractive people with no reason to be shy about doing the scene but it will be up to them each night.

I think Diana will be an excellent Sheila. She’s got the perfect voice for the role. Ace looks the part but I’m not sold on him as being much more than a himbo with barely decent vocals. Being in Grease is hardly preparation for a role with as much meaning and nuance as Berger.

I think Diana will be an excellent Sheila

Back in the day, Diane Keaton played Shelia (think she originated the role). She refused to go totally nude. She might have been the only one at the time.

Ace in a loincloth? Interesting. I can’t really see him as berger, but who knows, maybe he will surprise. Diana should do well as sheila. If you haven’t seen gavin creel and will swenson in the revival, run, don’t walk to nyc to see them before they are gone. This is just a terrific revival

Back in the day, Diane Keaton played Shelia (think she originated the role). She refused to go totally nude. She might have been the only one at the time.

My guess is Diana will wear a flesh colored thong or underwear but otherwise do the scene. Both Berger and Sheila are too integral to the show to have them both sitting out, especially since the characters are Claude’s best friends. Of course both Diana and Ace probably know there is a subset of AI fans who are psycho and lack any sense of boundaries or respect. For that reason they might be allowed to sit it out entirely.

Berger’s a big role. That’s great for Ace. I would love to see this. I saw Hair in LA and Detroit around 1968. I’d love to see it again but I doubt I’ll get the chance.

from wiki:

Hair opened on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre on April 29, 1968.
The original Broadway “tribe” (i.e., cast) included authors Rado and Ragni, who played the lead roles of Claude and Berger, respectively, and Lynn Kellogg as Sheila, Lamont Washington as Hud, Sally Eaton and Shelley Plimpton reprising their off-Broadway roles as Jeanie and Crissy, Melba Moore as Dionne, Steve Curry as Woof, Ronnie Dyson (who sang “Aquarius”), Paul Jabara and Diane Keaton (both Moore and Keaton later played Sheila).

The West Coast version played at the Aquarius Theatre on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles beginning about six months after the Broadway opening and running for an unprecedented two years. The Los Angeles tribe included Rado, Ragni, Robert Rothman, Ben Vereen (who replaced Ragni), Red Shepard, Ted Neeley (who replaced Rado), Meat Loaf, Gloria Jones, Táta Vega, Jobriath, Jennifer Warnes, and Dobie Gray. (I saw this one, it was awesome!)

There were soon nine simultaneous productions in U.S. cities, followed by national tours. Among the performers in these were Joe Mantegna, André DeShields, and Alaina Reed (Chicago), David Lasley, David Patrick Kelly and Shaun Murphy (Detroit), Arnold McCuller (tour), and Philip Michael Thomas (San Francisco).

One of the community colleges I have worked for did a production of Hair a few years ago and they actually did the nude scene, I was very impressed with the maturity those young actors showed.

I was not so impressed with the maturity of the administration, however, who shut down the show after one performance because they were being overly PC about one of the songs a character sings, suggesting it was racially demeaning.

Anyone who has seen the show and heard Hud’s song, Colored Spade, knows he’s singing about love transcending race or color. But there were some on our campus who objected to the words used in the song, and refused to hear HOW those words were being used.

Ted Neeley has played Claude in the past? Wow, I had no idea. What an amazing Claude he would have been! That was in the Meatloaf Hair era too, what a show!

Ironic isn’t it, Junior, when the play was all about crossing racial (and other) boundaries, but some people are too deaf to hear. And I guess lyrics weren’t as politically correct back then, they were just honest and raw.

oceana, it really is. I remember when college campuses used to be the place where students could really push boundaries and free speech was celebrated, these days you have to be very careful what you say or you could be disciplined.

So you saw that show, huh? What an amazing experience that must have been.

Well, I’ve seen the movie and I thought it was cheesy as all get out, but good for both of them. Definitely dated. LOL.

I thought Ace was great as Kenickie in Grease. I haven’t seen any of Diana’s performances.

Also, I wonder if Constantine turned down the role.

Nah, Constantine’s always been attached to Rock of Ages.

As an interesting bit of trivia and Hair/Idol connection, Diana DeGarmo was actually supposed to star with Gavin Creel (current Claude in Hair) in a revival of another old musical, Godspell, in 2008. The whole cast was announced in a public performance with the composer, the theatre was booked and tickets were being sold, but the day before cast rehearsals were supposed to start, a big investor in the production dropped out due to the economy. The producers scrambled for a few days to get the appropriate funding but in the end decided they weren’t secure enough and “indefinitely postponed” the production, ie. cancelled it. I remember reading an interview of Diana’s where she talked about it – she had literally packed her things and was to catch a plane to move to NYC from Nashville the day this happened. The whole cast was really disappointed and out of work. Because Godspell got cancelled, Gavin ended up being cast in Hair and he got nominated for a Tony for it.

I’ve seen Ace on stage and he is a fine actor. I have no doubt that he will rise to the occasion and be great as Berger.

I haven’t seen Diana perform on stage, but am looking forward to seeing the show with them both in it. Sounds like a terrific opportunity for them.

I have to echo everyone’s sentiments about the current Broadway revival – I saw it a few months ago (with Gavin Creel as Claude) and it was a truly fantastic production. If the rumors are true about Diana and Ace then this would be tremendous for both of their careers. I’m struggling a bit to imagine Ace’s voice singing Berger, but I haven’t heard him do much since S5 of Idol so maybe he has more power than I remember. He certainly has the look. Diana was never a favorite of mine on the show (good voice but her 16-year old persona was just a little too pageanty-precocious for my tastes), but she’s impressed me since with her work-ethic and career choices. This is kind of cool news all-around.

I’m not at all surprised to hear Diana DeGarmo scored herself another plum role on Broadway. From all reports she’s been doing wonderful work in a variety of musicals, and should be a great addition to Hair. Joining a show with songs about drugs and sex is one sure way to shed your American Idol little girl image, and even better that the show is also Tony Award winning.

So you saw that show, huh? What an amazing experience that must have been.

It sure was, I was 18 and just moved to California, it was the age of Aquarius and I believed : )

Ace’s voice is much stronger than was shown on Idol. He does a Killer version of Aerosmith’s “Dream On”! As for the nudity, I say “no way”. It’s only been recently he’s allowed shirtless pics to be posted. I don’t think his family would approve and he does seem to care how they feel.

Oceana, what a wonderful experience to share! You were on my side of town. Thank you for sharing some background.

What a wonderful and deserved opportunity for Diana! She was my favorite from Season 3 and has that powerful voice. I wish Ace the very best in what seems to be a challenging role. I wasn’t aware of his family views.

According to this, it seems like Ace is still negotiating, so who knows?

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/hair/

The “Hair” producers are close to signing new leads, and are hoping to get a box office boost by hiring former “American Idol” sensation Ace Young to play Berger. “Hair” and Mr. Young are still negotiating, according to a theater executive familiar with the talks. Berger is now played by Will Swenson, who is opening the London production of “Hair” next month with other members of the original Broadway cast.

I don’t know about the nudity aspect, but I’m sure it will work itself out one way or another.

They’re going to hold a press event to announce the new cast on Tuesday at 2 pm. The new cast members should be there.