On the heels of the Easter special Jesus Christ Superstar Live!, NBC has announced plans to air a live version of the 60’s counter-culture musical, Hair spring 2019.
NBC scrapped airing a fall musical in 2017. It’s probably safe to say the previously announced live musical production of Bye Bye Birdie is officially scrapped. Being postponed twice was probably a pretty big clue it would never happen.
However, Bye Bye Birdie is not the only ill-fated NBC musical. Remember when the network announced a production of The Music Man? After Peter Pan Live! garnered disappointing ratings, the network changed course and produced The Wiz Live instead.
In short–Hair fans would be smart to check their enthusiasm until the production is well underway.
Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who have executive produced each of NBC’s live musicals since The Sound of Music, will executive produce the telecast.
With music by Galt MacDermot and book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado, Hair has a string of hits that have been played all over the globe, including “(The Age of) Aquarius,” “Let the Sun Shine In,” Good Morning Starshine,” (all #1 hits in 1969), “Hair,” “Manchester, England,” “Frank Mills” and more.
“I’m overjoyed that James Rado and Galt MacDermot are trusting us with their masterpiece Hair, one of the most original shows ever conceived for Broadway with one of the greatest scores,” said Robert Greenblatt, Chairman, NBC Entertainment. “These songs are part of the vocabulary of popular music, and this rebellious story of young people protesting and standing up for what they believe in is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago. This will be the perfect live event, and I’m looking forward to seeing Craig and Neil, along with our partners at MGM and the original creators bring the audience to their feet as they experience these beloved songs and recognizable young characters.”
“When we both, individually, saw Hair on Broadway, we were knocked out by how musical theater could be stretched into something so daring, immersive and audacious,” said Zadan and Meron. “Its recent Broadway revival showed how timeless the show is and that it’s relevant to any era. Hair is filled with heartfelt emotion, joy and thrilling music and it really will be the new dawning of the Age of Aquarius.”
“We are thrilled to continue to work with Bob Greenblatt, NBC and now with Neil and Craig, who are the two absolute geniuses in the musical theater space,” said Mark Burnett, President, MGM Television Group. “Hair has become such an iconic film in our culture, and now on its 50th anniversary it’s the ideal time to perform it live on television.”
Hair Live! tells the story of a group of politically active hippies living a bohemian life in New York while fighting against and resisting the Vietnam War. Claude, his good friends Berger and Sheila, and their “tribe” are coming of age in the world of the sexual revolution while struggling with their rebellion against the war and their conservative parents and society. Claude must decide whether to resist the draft as his friends have done, or succumb to the pressures of conservative America to serve in Vietnam, compromising his principles and beliefs.
After an off-Broadway debut on Oct. 17, 1967, as the inaugural production of Joseph Papp’s now-legendary Public Theater, the show opened on Broadway in April 1968 and ran for 1,750 performances. Hair quickly became not just a smash-hit show, but a genuine cultural phenomenon that spawned a monster cast album and a #1 song on the pop charts for the Fifth Dimension. Simultaneous productions in cities across the United States and Europe followed, including a successful London production that ran for 1,997 performances.
Hair Live! will be produced by Universal Television, MGM Television, and Zadan/Meron Productions.
