HAIR - Hollywood Bowl Aug 2014 - Casting Ideas?

[drama dept]

Posted: 2/4/14 at 3:18pm

The Bowl just announced the Summer schedule & HAIR will be this year's "All-Star" musical ...
here's hoping for the best

[ucjrdude902]

Posted: 2/4/14 at 3:44pm

How crucial is nudity to the plot? I don't know much about "Hair". Just think if it requires nudity that may cut out a long list of stars.

[newintown]

Posted: 2/4/14 at 3:51pm

There's a real irony at play when people talk of casting "stars" in Hair, a show that was created to be the counter-mainstream work, performed by unknowns...

How about using really old stars? Carol Burnett, Betty White, Darlene Love, Kelsey Grammar, Tom Selleck, Pierce Brosnan?

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

Posted: 2/4/14 at 4:05pm

^ Presuming we don't go newintown's route... I've always kind of wanted to see Lenny Kravitz put a spin on Berger.

[newintown]

Posted: 2/4/14 at 4:14pm

At 49, Kravitz isn't outrageously far from some of those I mentioned.

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 2/4/14 at 4:17pm

I don't care who they cast to be honest. I'm just glad that I'm finally going to see a professional production! I'm already trying to order the window card & souvenir program. So excited for this!!

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

Posted: 2/4/14 at 4:18pm

True. Hmmm...

(I only thought of him because the Weisslers wanted him back in 2001 when it looked like the Encores! run of Hair might transfer.)

[newintown]

Posted: 2/4/14 at 4:20pm

And of course, at the vast Bowl, no one could tell how old Kravitz is past the 4th row, anyway. (Ditto for Burnett, White, Love, etc., I suppose.)

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

Posted: 2/4/14 at 5:18pm

Did you hear of the 20th anniversary concert they did in 1988 as a UN benefit? Bea Arthur sang "White Boys," Dr. Ruth (as Margaret Mead) did the intro speech to "My Conviction," hell, they even managed to shoe-horn in Frank Stallone. It's not as though this practice is new.

[ethan231h]

Posted: 2/4/14 at 6:02pm

Brad Pitt-Berger
Aaron Tveit-woof
Patina Miller-Dionne (Patina can't leave pippin though)
Anna Kendrick-Jeanie
Sarah Hyland-Crissy
Tay Diggs-Hud
Jonathan Groff-Claude
Lea Michelle-Shelia
Rachel Dratch-Mother

[Wildcard]

Posted: 2/4/14 at 6:11pm

I can already smell the pot that will fill the air at the Hollywood Bowl.

[AC126748]

Posted: 2/4/14 at 6:18pm

Aaron Tveit as Claude wouldn't surprise me at all.

[oncemorewithfeeling2]

Posted: 2/4/14 at 6:22pm

The Hollywood Bowl productions seem to draw a lot of B/C grade actors who usually put on a halfway decent show. A person who you can say was in a hit movie AND has their own cable show would fit the bill. It helps that they sing and have done Hollywood Bowl productions.

Aaron Tveit fits that bill nicely, as does Skylar Astin. Exciting? Not really, but far worse things have happened.

[Demitri2]

Posted: 2/4/14 at 6:52pm

ucjrdude902, nudity was a very miniscule part of HAIR. It did last longer than the momentary flash of light in FULL MONTY. But it was done under very low lighting in the OBC and touring productions and was on a volunteer basis. Unless any of the star performers choose to go au natural at the Bowl, I imagine most the nudity will be done by the ensemble.

Here's mention of actress Diane Keaton's objections of baring all in the Broadway production per wikipedia:

"In 1968, Keaton became a member of the "Tribe" and understudy to Sheila in the original Broadway production of Hair. She gained some notoriety for her refusal to disrobe at the end of Act I when the cast performs nude, even though nudity in the production was optional for actors (Those who performed nude received a $50 bonus)."

[Kevin Norte]

Posted: 2/12/14 at 11:53pm

Edibles are big in LA

[Kevin Norte]

Posted: 2/12/14 at 11:56pm

I'd like to see a cross over to Jazz for the role of Sheila. Someone like Dianne Reeves

[DAME]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 1:11am

There is a pot dispensary called BOWL one block south of the Hollywood Bowl that those killer business on concert nights.

Updated On: 2/13/14 at 01:11 AM

[thespian geek]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 10:46am

Anna Kendrick is someone I can definitely see being approached about this. My first thought when I heard about the production was maybe Darren Criss as Berger?

[drama dept]

Posted: 2/24/14 at 6:56pm

Claude- Aaron Tveit, Jonathan Groff, Skylar Astin
Berger-Zac Efron, Jeremy Jordan
Sheila-Jennifer Damiano (Nxt2Nrml), Sarah Stiles (AveQ), Lindsay Mendez (Wicked)
Jeanie- Kacie Sheik, Rachel Bay Jones
Woof-Bryce Rynees, Chord Overstreet, Andy Mientus (Smash),
Hud-Darius Nichol, Joshua Henry

[ethan231h]

Posted: 2/24/14 at 8:50pm

sarah stiles isn't a name for hollywood

[E.Davis]

Posted: 2/24/14 at 8:51pm

Drama Dept, none of those people would sell the vastness that is the bowl.

[someone.else's.story2]

Posted: 5/12/14 at 8:02pm

Any news about the casting for this? I actually think no matter who they get, it will be fun to see Hair at the bowl. I'm just curious, though.

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

Posted: 5/13/14 at 7:31am

Still no news, but as per Jim Rado's interview with this site, it will be the full script for the Paulus production, plus two songs that he felt needed to be restored ("Dead End" and "Exanaplanetooch," though that's not how he spells the latter anymore; I just refuse to learn a new spelling when it's been that way for forty some-odd years). It's the same script that was used on the just-finished actor/musician tour of Hair that no one heard about. The way he describes it, this may bear some relation to the current script being used at the ATC in Chicago, but he's used original Off-Broadway material sparingly in many of his revisions since the Nineties, so it's anybody's freakin' guess if it will bear any relation to that.

The HAIR Tour

Updated On: 5/13/14 at 07:31 AM

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 5/13/14 at 12:53pm

So what version of HAIR is this? Version 1,967.5?

I prefer versions 89.3 a, 225 b, 3 and 796.2 and not necessarily in that order. Updated On: 5/13/14 at 12:53 PM

[someone.else's.story2]

Posted: 5/13/14 at 2:15pm

Thanks for the info an link g.d.e.l.g.i. ! :)