The Early Scripts and the Genesis of Hair (1967-68)
The musical Hair took shape from 1964 on, over years of writing and workshops, then three consecutive New York runs in different venues. Three versions of the unpublished, virtually unknown off-Broadway book (including the stage manager’s annotated prompt book for the show’s first run, which opened in October, 1967), reveal a work with experimental aspects, but also more conventional plot elements, dialogue, and songs subsequently cut or reworked for the May, 1968 Broadway opening. Shows often get better with each revision; but critical opinions vary regarding the qualities of the simplified, sometimes stripped-down, immensely popular Broadway version of Hair.
The early scripts are invaluable as historical documents--a central theme of the conference. They also hold promise for the future of Hair. Borrowings from earlier versions, on several occasions, have already breathed new life into what is sometimes seen as a dated, albeit still perennially popular period piece, restoring elements and ideas from its deep off-Broadway, countercultural roots. Film director Miloš Forman, who attended the first public preview performance of the show in 1967, intended to preserve this earlier approach to the work in his heavily revised and restyled 1979 Hollywood version. Further revisions of the book overseen by the surviving co-lyricist, co-librettist, and original Claude, James Rado, for productions in London in 2005 and Chicago in 2014, also recall or restore material from the early scripts, such as the song “Hippie Life.”