Diane Keaton in Hair- Page 3

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 5/1/13 at 7:47am

^ Berger. First black Berger on Broadway. People thought he was as good as Gerry Ragni, which is a major compliment if you know the history of the show. He was fired after only performing the role for a short time; it went unexplained, as everybody seemed to like what he was doing.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/1/13 at 5:10pm

Did you see Gerry Ragni later in the run?

If Ben Vereen WASN"T better, I'd be stunned!

(I later met Ragni and he was a very nice guy, but as Berger, he got angrier and angrier to the point the entertainment value was nil (even though I agreed with his politics).

It was like watching the last days of Lenny Bruce.)

Again, I don't know WHY it was a big deal for an African-American to replace a Caucasian in a non-realistic musical, but it was important enough to Moore that it's almost always in the first paragraph of her bio. (Obviously, if Ruby Dee had replaced Uta Hagen in VIRGINIA WOOLF, *that* would have been notable. But HAIR is a very different style.)

Perhaps it was the suggestion of interracial romance, but that had been done in NO STRINGS, years before.

Updated On: 5/1/13 at 05:10 PM

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 5/1/13 at 5:28pm

Steve Curry was so cute and did several Bway shows including I CAN GET FOR YOU WHOLESALE, and as a GYPSY newsboy.
And Barry McGuire had a hit record EVE OF DESTRUCTION.

I saw the original HAIR so many times with so many tribe members.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 5/1/13 at 6:43pm

Did you see Gerry Ragni later in the run?

If Ben Vereen WASN"T better, I'd be stunned!

(I later met Ragni and he was a very nice guy, but as Berger, he got angrier and angrier to the point the entertainment value was nil (even though I agreed with his politics).

It was like watching the last days of Lenny Bruce.)

Unfortunately, and you might have missed this because Namo mentions it so frequently, I wasn't there at the time. Hell, I wasn't even an idea; my mother was five. I'm going off of what Lorrie Davis said in her book, and years spent in the circle of Butler and company.

Needless to say, I've heard a lot about Gerry; wonderful, colorful character who became famous, the last thing in the world that he needed to happen to him, psychologically speaking. As I understand it, he continued to be his wonderful, colorful self, but his head never quite recovered from the success of Hair.

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/1/13 at 6:45pm

^ Berger. First black Berger on Broadway.

According to IBDb.com, he was an understudy for Hud and a replacement for Claude, but never Burger during the Broadway run.

http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=63178

Updated On: 5/1/13 at 06:45 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/1/13 at 6:47pm

And while we're at it, the blond in the photo with Keaton (playing Claude) is Barry Maguire, also misidentified a few posts up as the dark-haired guy.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 5/1/13 at 6:50pm

According to IBDb.com, he was an understudy for Hud and a replacement for Claude, but never Burger.

I don't claim to know whether IBDb is right or wrong, but Lorrie speaks of him as Berger (emphasis mine) in her book twice. I find that plausible considering he replaced Gerry as Berger when Gerry and Jim left the L.A. company to return to the New York cast.

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/1/13 at 6:52pm

And although IBDb.com prides themselves in accuracy (they require Playbill submissions before they included data, so they say), I don't claim that they are accurate either.

I've noticed a few glaring omissions, but not misinformation about roles (so far).

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 5/1/13 at 6:55pm

To be fair, roles changed hands in Hair many times, and it wasn't always documented. Lorrie herself says something in the book about losing count at sixteen Playbills in the first few months of the show.

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/1/13 at 7:02pm

My dad saw a very bizarre (I suppose that's an accurate description) performance during the Broadway run.

All of the black performers in the cast were out. All of them.

Apparently, the original Hud had died rather suddenly (I think it was in a fire), and they were attending his funeral.

I remember as a kid asking my father, "Why didn't everybody go?" and he explained to me how Broadway shows rarely if ever cancelled performances. That's when I learned about "the show must go on."

So, all the African Americans were out that matinee (I believe it was during the day, but I was six at the time, so I may be hazy). Diane Keaton was playing Sheila at the time, but he said it was strange to see the "black roles" all played by white actors.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 5/1/13 at 7:04pm

That's written about in the book, actually! How unfortunate that your dad had to witness that performance after Lamont's death. Three white guys did the Supremes' bit ("White Boys") in drag, and Hud's part was spread all over the place; Jonathan Kramer sang "Colored Spade," Jim Rado picked up some of his lines. There was rather a nasty flap about it; the black performers skipped the show to go to his funeral or his wake, and they were flabbergasted at the producer trying to press them to go on with the show (not one of Mr. Butler's better moments).

Updated On: 5/1/13 at 07:04 PM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/1/13 at 7:09pm

Unfortunately ... I wasn't there at the time. Hell, I wasn't even an idea; my mother was five. I'm going off of what Lorrie Davis said in her book, and years spent in the circle of Butler and company.

Needless to say, I've heard a lot about Gerry; wonderful, colorful character who became famous, the last thing in the world that he needed to happen to him, psychologically speaking. As I understand it, he continued to be his wonderful, colorful self, but his head never quite recovered from the success of Hair.

I hope you don't think I was condescending to you. He'd been doing the Broadway production for years by the time I saw him and it was never a show noted for discipline. I absolutely accept the possibility that Ragni was wonderful in earlier years.

And I only spent an evening with him socially about 5 years later, during which he was charming. Maybe he was a jerk the rest of the time.

I was just reporting what I witnessed--BRIEFLY--with my own eyes. If you have sources that really delved into his life, I'd trust them over my brief encounters. :)

***

I too have heard the story about the funeral and the boycott by black actors. What a shame no grown-ups intervened to create a compromise. (Why couldn't the memorial be held on a dark day? Why not even hold it on the stage?) But that was typical of the period!

Thanks to best12 and g.d.e.l.g.i. for all the historical detail.



Updated On: 5/1/13 at 07:09 PM

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 5/1/13 at 7:13pm

Well, to say what others have said over the years in less words, Gerry was Berger. That character was very much a distillation of Gerry's essence. As such, he felt he could do whatever he wanted, with the show and with his part. That was great when the show was fresh, but also frequently problematic; at one point, he and Rado were barred from the theater for departing too much from the script.

As I understand it, he mainly stepped in as Berger for Sunday matinees later in the run more to have something to do with his day (this was before Dude), and he was in the throes of not reacting to fame well, a la Susan Boyle's brief burst of what the press called "insanity" and I called "not adjusting well." As such, I entirely believe what you had to say.

Updated On: 5/1/13 at 07:13 PM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/1/13 at 7:18pm

^^^It's not an exaggeration to say he threw in the "F word" so many times in each sentence that I could not follow his train of thought. Didn't mind the word, just couldn't make sense of his lines. I didn't really get even the general idea of the plot until I saw the film. (I know, I know: many differences, but the basic question as to whether Claude will go into the Army is there.)

And come to think of it: it was a Sunday matinee.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 5/1/13 at 7:23pm

I've got two copies of the script lying around somewhere if you want to know what he was saying. The show's plot is so free-form compared to the film that it probably still won't make much sense, but you're welcome to them.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/1/13 at 7:31pm

Thanks. I have the published edition, which I recently reread. But I know that performers were often encouraged to improvise, ad lib, wander, etc. HAIR was heavily influenced by the "happenings" of the early 60s.

[metropolis10111]

Posted: 5/2/13 at 9:29am

this is one show that I'm surprised that no actual show footage has surfaced from. there are appearances of the cast but nothing from the actual show...