To Bare on Not to Bare (NBC's Hair Live Issue)

[nybkg609]

Do you think that NBC will include the iconic nude scene for HAIR Live or leave most of the cast with their clothes on to make the censors happy? Feel free to comment. While you here, you can recall and write about Broadway and Off-Broadway shows that feature nude or partial nude scenes just for the fun of it.

[BrodyFosse123]

The much hyped nude scene has always taken place dimly lit (yes, even in the original 1968 Broadway production) and can easily be done behind a scrim if needed. One of the producers of the live NBC production has already stated there won’t be a nude scene in the live broadcast. Do your research.

[CATSNYrevival]

BrodyFosse123 said: "One of the producers of the live NBC production has already stated there won’t be a nude scene in the live broadcast. Do your research."

Why are they even doing Hair if they can't or won't stage one of the most iconic scenes from the show?

 

[raddersons]

Because Hair is more than just a single nude scene.

[BrodyFosse123]

The legendary nude scene lasts a few seconds and closes Act 1. It isn’t a 10 minute scene that they’re cutting. Sadly, people seem to only know about HAIR based on this seconds-long dimly lit nude moment.

[haterobics]

I went to see a junior high school's production of Hair, and was disappointed for the same reason...

[bowtie7]

At least in the most recent revival, the focus at the end of the first act is on Claude's solo. I really only vaguely remember what was the background/counterpoint. I'm sure the tv version can suggest the same thing without anything explicit. 

To bad this isn't on a premium cable or streaming service (or at the least being broadcast late at night, possibly in an off week for Saturday Night Live).

[A Director]

When HAIR was first done at the Public, there was no nudity.  When Tom O'Horgan took over as director, he had nudity to shock the Broadway audience!

[OKBroadwayFan]

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Bob-Greenblatt-Addresses-the-Nudity-in-HAIR-LIVE-and-Hints-at-Live-Christmas-Musical-for-NBC-20190121

[OlBlueEyes]

I saw Hair during its original run and any voyeurs who attended would have demanded a refund. I was about two thirds back in the orchestra and try as I might, I couldn’t identify anyone as nude.

That show was most special in all the pop hits that came from the score. And don’t recall hearing anything from Rado/Ragni (sp) again.

[ggersten]

I recall hearing Ben Vereen say that nudity was optional each night - but you got an extra $10 if you stripped.  

When a tour came through St. Louis, the Police got front row seats to make sure the scene didn't violate any laws - presumably, there were lots of volunteers.  I got to go as a 14th birthday gift with my father - and the lights were so dim that nobody was visible - clothed or not.  My biggest memory was the "older" couple coming down the aisle muttering how "this doesn't look like 1776" which I think was also in town.  (I believe this happens before "My Conviction"

[AEA AGMA SM]

ggersten said: "I recall hearing Ben Vereen say that nudity was optional each night - but you got an extra $10 if you stripped."

The extra payment is correct. My mentor in grad school was part of the stage management team on the original production and he always told us that one of his duties was to literally stand in the wings with a check list to see who got naked that night to make sure everyone was paid properly.

[metropolis10111]

I have this odd feeling they are just gingko adapt the movie script. Safe... parents like it... dull 

[SweetLips22]

I can remember when I first saw Hair in Sydney way back when that I was so scared about what I was going to see, live, in front of me, on stage.

What a disappointment. I was looking for dick and there was always a head, or body in the way--and over too soon---talk about a 'come' down !

I saw a quite good local production last night of Sweet Charity. 'The rhythm of life' was done very hippy style with male and female all stripping down to their underwear. In that period there were no Aussie Bum undergarments so the jocks were not that sexy even though the bods. were. You certainly don't need a swingin' dick to make a scene sexy.

So strip down to underwear and show off those pectorals I say.

I think it time for a more mature Charity who can still dance, like Caroline O'Connor and update it to the present---it would work, not the Fandango Ballroom but Gentlemans' Pleasure.

[darreyl102]

I remember seeing HAIR at the Hollywood bowl. There it wasn't darkly lit because it's open air. I still remember vividly what Constantine Rousouli looks like naked and I cherish that memory. HAHA

[GavestonPS]

HAIR's nude scene has always been the very essence of the word "gratuitous." (And I don't say that because I objected to it.)

But it won't be missed. "The internet is for porn," as the saying goes.

[darquegk]

One of the best productions of Hair I ever saw was a high school production I was hired to play in the pit for. The only things they cut were the nude scene and the "my dick fell off in the shower/f*ck f*ck f*ck" sequence. It was fascinating and moving to see the characters- mostly high school dropouts- played by people the actual ages of the characters.

Another quirk of that production: they played Claude as openly, and confidently, and flamboyantly gay, with his relationship with Sheila entirely platonic. It didn't really change anything in the show, but it made his scenes with the oblivious Jeannie HILARIOUS. Her "He loves me" got laughs so long it stopped the show.

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

^ Kind of blows the Claude/Sheila/Berger triangle to smithereens... that's one of the few threads of plot in the show one can easily follow.

The nude scene has never been essential to the show. Indeed, a lot of newer productions frequently cut it. Plus, it was always open to change. As ggersten and AEA point out, not all of the cast ever had to participate, and it was never locked down into a single scene; though most productions placed it in the classic "Where Do I Go" spot, the run in Acapulco -- that only lasted one night due to blow-back from Mexican authorities -- put it in the "Walking in Space" scene, and an early draft of the final film proposed it as part of the concluding protest scene, a term I use loosely, on the White House lawn, with paint being distributed and crosses painted on everyone's chests, sort of a human Arlington, an image I've always liked that I might steal if I ever direct the show some day.

My (admittedly probably vain) hope is that NBC will see how well censorship worked for Rent on Fox (which is to say, not at all), and they'll push enough boundaries for us to at least get some bleeps and blurs instead of outright whitewashing. But I doubt it.

[QueenAlice]

Since these things are always released on video after, I don’t understand why the Network wouldn’t have a censored (for TV) version and an uncensored (for video) release. I’d rather see bleeps than changed lyrics and a different edit f(or TV ) of the nude scene than cut the elements that make HAIR iconic in the first place...

[BrodyFosse123]

They can easily keep the dialogue intact on these things and just bleep the curse word. Many shows on ABC (THE GOLDBERGS, BLACK-ISH, SPLITTING UP TOGETHER, etc) are flooded with curse words and used freely, they just bleep and pixalate the lips. This keeps the tone and essence without using some unrealistic word.

All “live” broadcasts have a 7-second delay so they have enough time to do all of the above, especially as the camera blocking is already outlined in advance so camera choices can be pre-planned for certain inappropriate moments.

[JudyDenmark]

I couldn't care less if they cut the nudity or not... as others have said, it's not necessary to the show. 

I'm a lot more worried about all of the inevitable language changes. Like, are they going to do "Sodomy" at all? "Colored Spade"? If I was a network censor, I'd be worried about a solid quarter of the show. As a big Hair fan... I'm cautiously optimistic. Maybe naively. 

[QueenAlice]

The nudity isn’t essential to the story but it is synonymous with the renegade fabric of the piece. A live broadcast of HAIR with enormous censorship of things like nudity, language and shocking lyric and visual imagery seems like it would only highlight how far we haven’t come in the past fifty years since the show originated.

I still maintain if they want to preserve any integrity- they should perform the show as written- nudity and all and simply show a censored version for network TV —with a full version released for home video.

I mean why else do it?

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

Why else? I mean, I could explain it in commercial terms. Ah what the hell... I will.

The stated criteria for live musicals, at least for NBC post-Sound of Music, was this: recognizable songs; suitable for a major pop music star that can pull in ratings; a "well-known" title that could draw both kids and adults; and able to be reproduced live. In addition to trying to replicate the success they had with JCS (****ty as it was, it's a multiple award winner and scored high in ratings), Hair ticks 3 out of those 4 boxes.

[QueenAlice]

Able to be produced live on network TV being a major questionable variable in choosing HAIR. If you have to cut substantial parts of the show, I’d say it’s a problem.

Maybe they shouldjust do a 90 minute concert featuring music from the show. If all they want is the songs and the title that would meet that criteria.

[CATSNYrevival]

I also wouldn’t mind if they just bleeped the curse words and released the uncensored version on DVD later. I was wishing Fox had done that while watching Rent instead of having to listen to those cheesey revised lyrics.