Hair Live! sets NBC broadcast date and enlists Diane Paulus as co-director

"Hair Live!" is set to air on May 19, 2019 on NBC.

Will 2019 be The Age of Aquarius? Following the phenomenal success of this year's "Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert" which has earned a miraculous total of 13 Emmy Award nominations, NBC is hoping to further establish itself as a leader in live televised musicals with its presentation of "Hair Live!" next year. Representatives at NBC have now confirmed a broadcast date of May 19, 2019.

In addition, the exciting news for Broadway fans is that Tony Award winner Diane Paulus, currently represented on the Great White Way by Waitress and whose past Broadway credits include Pippin, Finding Neverland and The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, will serve as co-director for the production. Ms. Paulus famously made her Broadway debut by directing the 2009 revival of Hair which went on to scoop the Tony Award for "Best Revival of a Musical" that year. She joins Emmy Award winner Alex Rudzinski, who serves as live television director once again, following his success on "Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert," and who also serves as executive producer.

The team of producers for "Hair Live!" also includes Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who have executive produced each of NBC's live musicals since "The Sound of Music Live!," alongside MGM Television and Universal Television.

Robert Greenblatt, Chairman of NBC Entertainment commented: "We have the dream team to bring 'Hair Live!' vividly to life and create another unforgettable night of live television. I was at the electrifying opening night of Diane Paulus' Tony-winning revival of 'Hair' 10 years ago and was blown away by how relevant and utterly joyous this show became in her hands. She is one of the most successful directors working in the theatre today and we're thrilled she will be collaborating with Alex Rudzinski, the most daring director working in live musical television. This show also has one of the great scores of all time with songs that climbed the charts 50 years ago and have since become iconic hits in our pop culture."

Synopsis: ""Hair Live!" tells the story of peace, love and hope, through a group of politically active hippies living a bohemian life in New York while fighting against and resisting the Vietnam War. Claude, his good friends Berger and Sheila, and their "tribe" are coming of age in the world of the sexual revolution while struggling with their rebellion against the war and their conservative parents and society. Claude must decide whether to resist the draft as his friends have done, or succumb to the pressures of conservative America to serve in Vietnam, compromising his principles and beliefs."  

Hair made its off-Broadway world premiere in October 1967 as the inaugural production of Joseph Papp's Public Theater and transferred to Broadway in April 1968, earning a Tony Award nomination for "Best Musical". Since then, it has been revived on the Great White Way four times - most recently in 2011. The musical features a book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado and music by Galt MacDermot, showcasing such iconic numbers as "(The Age of) Aquarius," "Let the Sunshine In," "Easy to be Hard," "Good Morning Starshine," and the title song itself. A feature film adaptation was released in 1979.

Casting for "Hair Live!" will be announced at a later date.

^{(Photo by Joan Marcus)}