‘Hair Live!’ Is Coming to NBC in 2019

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/25/arts/television/hair-live-nbc.html

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More than 50 years after taking the Broadway stage, “Hair” will make its network television debut on NBC in spring 2019 in front of a live studio audience.

“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,” Robert Greenblatt, the chairman of NBC Entertainment, said in a statement.

The rock musical tells the story of Claude, a hippie struggling to decide whether to resist being drafted into the Vietnam War, and his group of countercultural friends as they try to reconcile their ideals with the realities of society. The show’s book and lyrics are by Gerome Ragni and James Rado, with music by Galt MacDermot.

The 1968 Broadway production made waves by including nudity, featuring allusions to drug use and homosexuality, and with its treatment of the American flag.

[Readers told us what the musical meant to them, 50 years after it made it to Broadway.]

“Hair Live!” will follow several other NBC live musicals such as “The Sound of Music,” “The Wiz” and, most recently, “Jesus Christ Superstar,” which aired in April and starred John Legend and Sara Bareilles.

Since first appearing Off Broadway in 1967 at the Public Theater, “Hair” has gone on to become a pop culture phenomenon. It ran on Broadway for more than four years at the Biltmore Theater, and it has had four Broadway revivals since then, with the 2009 production winning the Tony Award for best revival.

A film version of the musical directed by Milos Forman and choreographed by Twyla Tharp was released in 1979. Hit songs from the show include “Aquarius” and “Good Morning Starshine.”

Craig Zadan and Neil Meron will serve as the executive producers of the NBC telecast.