Harry Belafonte gives an inspirational introduction to the original production of HAIR on the 1969 Tony Awards (cast includes Melba moore and Ben Vareen)
I saw the original cast of HAIR perform for free at the Central Park Be-In which I think was in September, 1969- over 50,000 people were there. I remember Melba Moore, Diane Keaton, and Heather McRae on stage. I saw HAIR again at the Delacorte Theater on August 1, 2008, and this time, got to dance on stage with the cast during the finale! One of the greatest moments of my life.
You are one of a very select group of people to witness probably, the most historically relevent theater work of all time!!! Thank you for sharing a glimpse of your amazing experience!!!
I first saw HAIR in 1972 for my 13th birthday. I was hooked! Then came the 1979 and 2009 revivals, and various community theater productions. I’ll always be a HAIR groupie!
You look at this and realize that this was April 20th 1969. In two months, June, there would be the Stonewall Riots, in three months , July, Man would land on the Moon, and in four months time , August, there would be Woodstock. What an incredible year.
The young girl in black in the gold sweater is my cousin Gerrie Griffin she was 16 years old was a lead singer with the voices of east Harlem she's 66 years old now doing well. Funny thing I drive a bus in new Jersey and from time to time during route melba moore would ride . They were in the same play .
Fantastic. I'm only watching this to spot the Soul singers. Melba Moore is easy to spot but I can't find Tobi Lark or Betty Lloyd. Cash in The Voices of East Harlem was massive in the UK ☺
+Lee D It has always been a dream of mine to go back in time to that era (I was part of it then) and be one of the tribe. I googled "linda compton hair" Linda was gorgeous. You are quite a lucky man have shared her stories.
+Being Glaun Well, we grew-up then...she was from Brooklyn and I was pretty nomadic traveling with my father who was a career Air Force officer. We met in Houston in the late '70s and the rest is history, as they say. She went to audition with a couple of friends...all three made the original off-broadway show...she traveled with the show from '68 until '76 or so....even to Spain We met in Houston in the late '70s.We have many photographs of the cast and her with staring partners.
Yes, my wife is the red head with the red scarf at 7:03, stage left...she is features on the Off Broadway CD which is in this set link through Amazon which also had the Broadway version...www.amazon.com/Galt-MacDermot-Interview-Musical-Theater/dp/B0013CXZAG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1470342177&sr=8-2&keywords=Original+Off+Broadway+musical+Hair
If you have seen productions in recent years...the songs are the same basically but the "feeling" is just not there...this Cast lived the era...felt the emotions...and they let it all out on stage....THIS was HAIR.....all much later versions did not have the "FEELING"...
*How could they have the same feeling?* Unless you live in the time and/or experience what happens it is impossible. So much judgement for the later versions lacking in the true emotion of the original... what is going to happen 30 or 50 years from now when someone/people performs something that was written now based on the events we're living through? The exact same thing.
This play was more than just important. Hair helped to shape the woman I am today. It's anti war message became a part of my conscience. And my husband of 40yrs. has long beautiful hair.
@@briansavage8887 Of course, you are right. I hope Mr. Freed misspoke because she looked so young in "Hair." If I remember correctly, they were all referred to as kids. However, in 1969, Ms. Moore was in her 20's. Her character Dionne was probably supposed to be a teenager. As I mentioned in another post, I met her about 15 years ago. She was visiting my church. It was amazing!
Julia Wilkinson, I saw it live in Chicago in 1969 at the Schubert Theater. To this day, it is the play that had the most profound effect on me. I still listen to the music often.
What modern productions get wrong is the the hippies are too clean. They were often dirty and raggedy. They weren't fresh faced, freshly scrubbed beautiful people. This video shows more or less how it was.
The new cast album even sounds so sanitized. No grit, with base and synth reduced so the melodies can be cleaner. It lost so much, the 2009 Hair Tony performance made me cringe.
Funny, I was there and don’t recall running into people who could belt out songs while waiting in line at the liquor store. Rather you encountered very smelly people who asked if you wanted to jam.
@@raniablaik6063 The production in Central Park (Shakespeare in the Park) in 2008 wasn't bad. At least they got the feeling of the show right, and it helped that most of the audience had spent the whole day in the park, waiting for tickets (it was so popular that professional line-standers would come every day & sell the tickets they received, which is against the rules of the theater and not at all in the spirit of the Public). My friends and I arrived at 6am and waited for tickets; since we were a large, unusually multi-racial group who had clearly not seen that production or waited for its tickets before - the staff would have remembered us if we'd already been there - we were pulled from the ticket line and given seats in the front row. It was a great experience; we got to dance on stage with the Tribe. Later, when a version of that production transferred to Broadway, I had no interest in seeing it; nothing they could do would top seeing the show outside.
Chills. Wish the original cast performance of the show in its entirety could be purchased. Finally saw the show in all its overwhelming tribal glory when 40th anniversary Hair was performed outdoors at Delacorte in NYC 2008.
We starve, look at one another short of breath Walking proudly in our winter coats Wearing smells from laboratories Facing a dying nation of moving paper fantasy Listening for the new told lies With supreme visions of lonely tunes Singing our space songs on a spiderweb sitar "Life is around you and in you" Answer for Timothy Leary, deary Let the sun shine Let The sunshine in The sun shine in Let the sun shine Let The sunshine in The sun shine in Let the sun shine Let The sunshine in The sun shine in Let the sun shine Let The sunshine in The sun shine in
Lindsay Miller I loved this performance the end was just wow, and what a great time to grow up in. Say hi to her if you can for me and tell her she's got a fan in Belgium, please😊 Lots of love to you guys
In the last two refrains they get so into it almost begging. When the camera pans out and sees the audience sitting still and just watching them it gave me chills
@@fannishmarcia I did too. but we need to remember those were very different times with very different norms. Audiences didn't feel anywhere near as liberated to 'join in' with a live performance as we do now, They took themselves to be spectators only, anything else would be drawing attention to oneself. Japan for example, is _still_ like this, They clap at the very end, To do so any earlier is considered very rude.
This is a great little time capsule.You can hear when the audience starts applauding towards the end of Let the Sunshine In,the singers on stage can't hear the band as well and start going off time with the music.Luckily the song was almost over anyway,so no major catastrophe.And the funny coincidence about the joke Zero made is that just a few years later his son Josh would appear in the film version of another well known rock musical,Jesus Christ Superstar.
Unfortunately, those days are long gone. However, it may appear as though some of that same commitment is beginning to reappear. All I can say is that it is about time.
Listening to every Hair video offered on youtube and watching the movie Hair again, one of the most devastating films ever made. "Artists are emotional people," says the beautiful Harry Bellafonte. Everyone is an artist moved to laughter and tears by this timeless story from Rado, Ragni and MacDermot.
I Live in England and In The Late 60s I Saw THIS Show Possibly 4 Maybe 5 Times The Choreography Was very Different From What I've Since Seen From America but The One thing That The Casts Have - Is Their Enthusiasm I TRULY Hope Those Days Come Again - I Miss Them 😢
Fun to watch! I remember those days. Many People would have been shocked by this performance at the time. It must have been amazing for the performers to be a part of this show!
@@trompeta79 Yay! I'm so happy to hear! Have you checked out her Tony awards performance in Purlie? I think a year or 2 later. Cray-Cray High Belt! Amazing!
I wish we could gather this up, form it into a ball, and hurl it into the minds of Americans today, where it would unfurl and give us a social consciousness that we apparently have lost, or never had. Not gonna happen.
i saw the very first incarnation of this incredible show when it was the opening production of the nyc's public theater in the fall of 1967 before it moved up to the cheetah club and then onto broadway. also saw the broadway production another 3-5 times. it was so "mind-blowing" at the time.
My progressive parents took me to see this when I was sixteen in '69. First time I saw a naked girl up close or far away for that matter. Sort of embarrassed to be there with the folks. Still listen to the soundtrack.
@@johannesbols57 she also became a crack addict for a while and was homeless. She got herself out of the rut and played Fantine in Les Miserables on Broadway in the 90s. But she disappeared in the mid 80s because of drug addiction.
Being from that enlightened and inspired era, I am thoroughly discouraged and disgusted by the current state of hawkish, nationalistic affairs, the shocking contrast is almost too much for me to bear. In order to cope, all I can do is plagiarize the famous quote, "Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out", and hope the poisonous abscess bursts and saves the planet.
1969 - Nixon was in the White House, we were in Vietnam, and we were just a year out from Kent State. I respect the political organizing and social revolution of the time, but there was much wrong too. I hope that the explosion of protest and organizing in the last month have helped you feel more hopeful. I've seen people who've never been politically active educating their kids about civil rights, taking to the streets, and pushing back against hate. We have tough road ahead of us, but when has that not been the case?
This is just fantastic. I think that in this performance shines a purity and truth that makes me cry and that I can’t see in later or current productions - the reasons are obvious: it sounds fresh and also, in a good sense, rough, because the sound technique was not so advanced, so they had to sing with full power from their souls. Also the singers and musicians were believable then, because they were living in the actual time of the musical. Each one of them could have been (and maybe was) a real ‘Hippie’. Whereas, in later productions, though there have been and nowadays are so many great musicians and singers around, it sometimes seems a little bit like a travesty.
Today is the *50* year anniversary of when the cast of Hair performed during the Emmys. 🤓 EDIT- 3:11 P.M.: *finishes video 12 minutes later* When I first watched this video over a month ago, the only song that I recognized was "Let the Sunshine In". I now know the name of the first song. It's called "Three-Five-Zero-Zero".
People in the original cast at different times included Diane Keaton (who never did the nude scene and eventually played Sheila), Melba Moore, Ben Vereen, Paul Jabara and Shelley Plimpton.
And Ted Lange from the Love Boat, Keith Carradine, Barry Mcguire of Eve Of Destruction fame, Vicki Sue Robinson who sang Turn The Beat Around, Dale Soules who played Jeanie in 68 and now plays Frieda Berlin on Orange Is The New Black.
Donna Summer got her start in the German production of "Hair". That is how she came to the attention of the German producers that ultimately led her to Giorgio Moroder.
@Anna Gonzalez That's why it's such a great score. If you don't know it, check out the original Broadway cast album. Great songs - most of them very relevant today!
Heather Macrae as Sheila singing with Melba, Linda Comptons family, I was the guy with the car who occasionally drove Linda& Suzy Norstrand home after work, even Ben with a huge afro,I had a little brown firebird parked next door to the biltmore, hope Lindas well, send my love, Jason here
@@sharonmahoney9333 I double checked, its Heather yet it was the tonys with the original cast, Lynn was the first sheila then Diane Keaton then heather, why she would be on the tonys I dont know, Lynn just passed.
And the "rather magnificent," Bert Sommer who was the 3rd performer at WOODSTOCK. He's the tall dude with the green shirt dancing with the young woman.
The duet with melba moore was supposed to be with my cousin Gerrie Griffin but during rehearsals the young lady on the scaffolding next to melba moore was off key and they thought it was Gerrie Griffin the young lady on the scaffolding with held the fact it was her and Gerrie Griffin was replaced with melba Moore. In the dressing room my cousin was very upset but forged on like the great woman she has become. After all of these years she only told the family. But now I will tell her story. Today we corrected a wrong and made it right. In God's time .
And... it is so hard to believe that the young lady next to Melba was off key. Her name was LaLa Brooks. She had an exemplary voice. Off key?? Doubtful because she was the lead singer with The Crystals who sang "Doo doo Run Run". What a beautifully rich and soulful voice she had.❤
I wonder how many viewing this incredible play, ever imagined that what was, YES I am that generation, that is still thinking of how this world has changed, and deteriorated.. Ty for this song, its my sun sign.
The late sixties era hippies peace & love etc was much beleaguered...what is our ethos now...selfies narcissism smart phones materialism..what happened...my heart sinks......x
I saw this at 12 years old in Boston after listening to the album every day for months. It was a very powerful experience for me (the nude scene was a little embarrassing!). 'What A Piece Of Work Is Man' is a stunning adaptation of a piece of Shakespeare, still kills me. 'Let The Sun Shine' as the final anthem reminds of 'Listening To You' by The Who from Tommy and 'Do You Hear The People Sing' from Les Miz. All share a similar poetic cry of the heart in song for transcendence. Still powerful today-
My sister had this album and I remember listening to it as a very little kid. Looking back on it, I didn't have a clue what the lyrics were about🙃 but I remember really loving this music😁
Thank you for posting this. A great musical performed by a great cast. Heather MacRae (daughter of the famous singer/actor Gordon MacRae) is mesmerizing. She does an outstanding job harmonizing with Melba Moore in The Flesh Failures (Let The Sunshine In).
Yes, this is the original Broadway production. But actors come and go during a production’s run. In this case, Heather MacRae had replaced Lynn Kellogg in the role of Sheila in January of 1969.
I saw this at the Biltmore on Broadway....Few remember the nudity controversy. No offense to any of the reproductions but these people lived it and you can sense their passion.
Now imagine watching this as a hyperactive 7 yo and realizing that there were adults who were ok with singing "Let the Sunshine In" and jumping all over the place. Yes, i was a child but I really miss these great days and awesomw music.
This is the real deal. Oliver and The Fifth Dimension made good, competent commercial versions for popular consumption on the radio but this has heart and grit.
@@charlesveg ... This is true. I envy my parents having lived during this time of gritty reality. Even my middle-aged self born in the 70's can relate to and recall authentic, soulful singing and acting. I'm glad we know what the real deal is.
We could never see "Hair" live. As a conservative community there was no way that on stage nudity was acceptable in my state. I could hear the music and imagine the show. But no more than that.
Love me some Hair.....I didn't know Ben Vereen was part of the original cast.....there is a RnB singer , who passed away years ago name Ronnie Dyson, "If U let me love to U, why can't I touch U" is in this performance. Melba Moore has a voice strictly made for the theater, it's a shame she never was able to do more....Loved her in Purlie!
Oh yes. My parents saw Hair, I believe at the Pantages Theatre. My mother had the soundtrack album and played it often when we were children. It was not until I was older that my friends and I worked out the meaning of some of the lyrics. Free love, indeed.
Ha! So cool to see this! My parents had the original Broadway cast album. Used to listen to it so much and read the liner notes I knew the words to *every* song so I was straight singing along tho it’s been over 40 years! And look at baby Melba Moore! (Didn’t see Ronnie Dyson or Diane Keaton but watching this on my iPhone ain’t helping either 😁). When I was 9 the movie version came out with Treat Williams, Beverly D’Angelo (and Nell Carter as one of the singers - and cameos w/ Melba Moore and Ronnie Dyson actually doing the first song) and I really liked it. Saw it again recently and still enjoyed it. And now just learned - after someone commented on it - that Ben Vereen also performed in this clip!! I *thought* it looked like him, but wasn’t sure b/c his name wasn’t in the album credits like the others, which is the only way I would know who was in the original cast. Seems he came on after the album was recorded cuz he was in it from ‘68-71. 💕💕
Watching this is a reminder that the Broadway revival of Hair didn't get it right. Not that all of it was bad but from the portions of it that I've heard. But it definitely lacks the passion of this.
I agree and although the vocals are wonderful they are completely contrary to the soul of the music and what was being stated. Cassie Levy sings the s#@t outta Easy to be hard but it's far to polished it lacks the raw nature and emotional core that was present in the 69 production....
Of course revivals would not get it right. The Vietnam war did not end until 1973 (1975) and had started ten or so years previously. The passion is that these cast members are commenting on what is going on now for them. My mother, a contemporary of many of these young people, told me that people had no idea what it [society, social attitude] was like during the Vietnam war. It affected mom, it affected society and it shows here.
I saw the original cast of HAIR perform for free at the Central Park Be-In which I think was in September, 1969- over 50,000 people were there. I remember Melba Moore, Diane Keaton, and Heather McRae on stage. I saw HAIR again at the Delacorte Theater on August 1, 2008, and this time, got to dance on stage with the cast during the finale! One of the greatest moments of my life.
You are one of a very select group of people to witness probably, the most historically relevent theater work of all time!!! Thank you for sharing a glimpse of your amazing experience!!!
I saw the NYC Broadway musical in '69. I was 12. Epic.
I am truly happy to read your share. Diets person accounts matter and this was delightful!
Fuck yeah!
I first saw HAIR in 1972 for my 13th birthday. I was hooked! Then came the 1979 and 2009 revivals, and various community theater productions. I’ll always be a HAIR groupie!
If there is anybody, who has this in better quality, share it for heaven's sake! This has an almost spiritual dimension to it!
You look at this and realize that this was April 20th 1969. In two months, June, there would be the Stonewall Riots, in three months , July, Man would land on the Moon, and in four months time , August, there would be Woodstock. What an incredible year.
The young girl in black in the gold sweater is my cousin Gerrie Griffin she was 16 years old was a lead singer with the voices of east Harlem she's 66 years old now doing well. Funny thing I drive a bus in new Jersey and from time to time during route melba moore would ride . They were in the same play .
Fantastic. I'm only watching this to spot the Soul singers. Melba Moore is easy to spot but I can't find Tobi Lark or Betty Lloyd. Cash in The Voices of East Harlem was massive in the UK ☺
Nobody will probably believe this, but the redhead with the bandana, second from the left is my wife...her stage name/maiden name was Linda Compton...
+Lee D It has always been a dream of mine to go back in time to that era (I was part of it then) and be one of the tribe. I googled "linda compton hair" Linda was gorgeous. You are quite a lucky man have shared her stories.
+Being Glaun Well, we grew-up then...she was from Brooklyn and I was pretty nomadic traveling with my father who was a career Air Force officer. We met in Houston in the late '70s and the rest is history, as they say. She went to audition with a couple of friends...all three made the original off-broadway show...she traveled with the show from '68 until '76 or so....even to Spain We met in Houston in the late '70s.We have many photographs of the cast and her with staring partners.
Do you mean 2nd one in on Stage left at the end there? 7:02? Did she feature in any of the songs?
Yes, my wife is the red head with the red scarf at 7:03, stage left...she is features on the Off Broadway CD which is in this set link through Amazon which also had the Broadway version...www.amazon.com/Galt-MacDermot-Interview-Musical-Theater/dp/B0013CXZAG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1470342177&sr=8-2&keywords=Original+Off+Broadway+musical+Hair
Fricken awesome about your wife. I got to dance with the troupe that toured Seattle once, when I was fourteen. I'll never forget it.
One of the talented people who gave us this musical died last month. RIP James Rado
I can't listen to Flesh Failures/Let the Sunshine in without tearing up. Such a powerful medley. So sad, and beautiful.
I know. Flesh Failures does that to me too. So much lost now...
Same
One of my favourite soliloquys from Hamlet too.
Same. 🥺
It's got stuff from Romeo and Juliet as well as Hamlet.
What Harry Belafonte says in his introduction is as important now as then. It probably will be in coming decades, too.
Amen
Especially with what is happening now. His speech still packs a punch for me!
If you have seen productions in recent years...the songs are the same basically but the "feeling" is just not there...this Cast lived the era...felt the emotions...and they let it all out on stage....THIS was HAIR.....all much later versions did not have the "FEELING"...
so true!
I agree- I am fortunate to have seen Hair in 1970 at the original Aquarius Theater in Hollywood
The 2008 production in Central Park did come close, but you're right
Kathleen Diaz I was 13, I saw it at the Biltmore in NY 5 times!!
*How could they have the same feeling?* Unless you live in the time and/or experience what happens it is impossible. So much judgement for the later versions lacking in the true emotion of the original... what is going to happen 30 or 50 years from now when someone/people performs something that was written now based on the events we're living through? The exact same thing.
So much more heart in this performance than anything out there today. I get tears in my eyes every time I watch this.
This play was more than just important. Hair helped to shape the woman I am today. It's anti war message became a part of my conscience. And my husband of 40yrs. has long beautiful hair.
Black & White united as one
Lawd have mercy when they start singing Let the Sunshine In 😭 👏🏾 👏🏾 chills 🙌🏾
can you believe these people are now in their 60s or 70s
Like me. And I saw it on Broadway 50 years ago!
Being that age myself, I can definitely believe it. I don't much like it, but it beats the alternative! :)
I believe it because I was in the audience in Chicago!
Yes
I actually can't believe I'm 58. This getting older thing is bizarre.
Melba Moore, the black girl coming down the ladder, transcendent!
Harry Belafonte's speech- magnificent and poignant!
I LOVE Harry Belafonte. And, all you need to say is: "Melba Moore."
Melba Moore was a woman, not a girl.
@@briansavage8887 Of course, you are right. I hope Mr. Freed misspoke because she looked so young in "Hair."
If I remember correctly, they were all referred to as kids. However, in 1969, Ms. Moore was in her 20's.
Her character Dionne was probably supposed to be a teenager.
As I mentioned in another post, I met her about 15 years ago. She was visiting my church. It was amazing!
Every one of these beautiful kids would be in their 70's now....That makes my head and heart hurt
...If they lived and thrived then it's reason to celebrate.
Many are/were contemporaries of my mom, who is eighty.
What a great musical. This must be one of the only places to see the 1969 version of the hair cast live.
1968
Julia Wilkinson, I saw it live in Chicago in 1969 at the Schubert Theater. To this day, it is the play that had the most profound effect on me. I still listen to the music often.
"Somewhere, inside something there is a rush of
Greatness." RIP Lynn Kellogg, Original cast member Sheila.
This is a unique and extraordinary score, full of delightful surprises and innovation. Absolutely poignant and delightful.
What modern productions get wrong is the the hippies are too clean. They were often dirty and raggedy. They weren't fresh faced, freshly scrubbed beautiful people. This video shows more or less how it was.
The new cast album even sounds so sanitized. No grit, with base and synth reduced so the melodies can be cleaner. It lost so much, the 2009 Hair Tony performance made me cringe.
Funny, I was there and don’t recall running into people who could belt out songs while waiting in line at the liquor store.
Rather you encountered very smelly people who asked if you wanted to jam.
@@raniablaik6063 sanitized is the PERFECT word.. even the film was sanitized, just so without the heart and freedom of the original cast
@@raniablaik6063 The production in Central Park (Shakespeare in the Park) in 2008 wasn't bad. At least they got the feeling of the show right, and it helped that most of the audience had spent the whole day in the park, waiting for tickets (it was so popular that professional line-standers would come every day & sell the tickets they received, which is against the rules of the theater and not at all in the spirit of the Public).
My friends and I arrived at 6am and waited for tickets; since we were a large, unusually multi-racial group who had clearly not seen that production or waited for its tickets before - the staff would have remembered us if we'd already been there - we were pulled from the ticket line and given seats in the front row. It was a great experience; we got to dance on stage with the Tribe.
Later, when a version of that production transferred to Broadway, I had no interest in seeing it; nothing they could do would top seeing the show outside.
There's a difference between dirt and earth. The hippies were down to earth not dirty. You're confusing hippies with something else. Can you dig it?
I saw Hair in June 1969 on Broadway. I was 17.
that’s amazing
Same here! Age 17 on Broadway.
I saw the first tour in Chicago. For my 17th birthday! My dear friend's father was stage manager and he snuck us in. Who could ever forget?
Sydney, Australia......1970....
Lucky guys! I wish i were there and young in that era.
Chills. Wish the original cast performance of the show in its entirety could be purchased. Finally saw the show in all its overwhelming tribal glory when 40th anniversary Hair was performed outdoors at Delacorte in NYC 2008.
When this show was decidedly not safe. Wish more artists took risks like this and dared to offend and move culture forward.
The best rendition of “what a piece of work is man” in existence! Simply perfect
We starve, look at one another short of breath
Walking proudly in our winter coats
Wearing smells from laboratories
Facing a dying nation of moving paper fantasy
Listening for the new told lies
With supreme visions of lonely tunes
Singing our space songs on a spiderweb sitar
"Life is around you and in you"
Answer for Timothy Leary, deary
Let the sun shine
Let The sunshine in
The sun shine in
Let the sun shine
Let The sunshine in
The sun shine in
Let the sun shine
Let The sunshine in
The sun shine in
Let the sun shine
Let The sunshine in
The sun shine in
I am so glad I found this here. Probably no other production ever came close to the original cast. We are lucky this has been preserved.
The movie version was outstanding !
Milos Forman at his best
My Mom Linda Compton is in this video!!!
Lindsay Miller So awesome, they were so great, hope everyone is still good. Greetings from Belgium
Thank you sooooo much! It sooooo much fun being able to look at old pictures of my Mom and listen to stories she tells me when she was "Famous" ;-)
Lindsay Miller I loved this performance the end was just wow, and what a great time to grow up in. Say hi to her if you can for me and tell her she's got a fan in Belgium, please😊 Lots of love to you guys
Led Zeppelin I will definitely let her know thank you!
Just out of curiosity, you aren't the REAL Led Zeppelin, are you?
Lindsay Miller Thank you. And no no I just love them hahahaha
In the last two refrains they get so into it almost begging. When the camera pans out and sees the audience sitting still and just watching them it gave me chills
Yes! I wanted them to get up and clap and sing with them!
@@fannishmarcia I did too. but we need to remember those were very different times with very different norms. Audiences didn't feel anywhere near as liberated to 'join in' with a live performance as we do now, They took themselves to be spectators only, anything else would be drawing attention to oneself.
Japan for example, is _still_ like this, They clap at the very end, To do so any earlier is considered very rude.
@@221b-Maker-Street Yes, yet how about at the end? However, I must look at the make up of the audience...and I can see their POV. 🤣
Audiences did not interfere with performances back then.
Totally, I get that
This is a great little time capsule.You can hear when the audience starts applauding towards the end of Let the Sunshine In,the singers on stage can't hear the band as well and start going off time with the music.Luckily the song was almost over anyway,so no major catastrophe.And the funny coincidence about the joke Zero made is that just a few years later his son Josh would appear in the film version of another well known rock musical,Jesus Christ Superstar.
I like that it goes off beat. It speaks to the chaos and the desperation that all of the tribe members were living in.
The lady singing with Melba Moore on the platfrom is La La Brooks, former lead singer of The Crystals.
they both sound so Motown. respect.
Roger Chemel and former Mrs. Idris Muhammad.
Roger Chemel ml
Wow, I never knew that!! And I watch the DaDooRonRon video over and over!!!
Unfortunately, those days are long gone. However, it may appear as though some of that same commitment is beginning to reappear. All I can say is that it is about time.
I disagree. Today's left is far more toxic than the hippies ever were.
@@briteness good try klansman.... Let the sunshine in.
@@Multiversetraveler93 ooohh! Name-calling! Well, since you're argument is impeccable and unanswerable, I guess you win.
@@briteness 😂😂
Listening to every Hair video offered on youtube and watching the movie Hair again, one of the most devastating films ever made. "Artists are emotional people," says the beautiful Harry Bellafonte. Everyone is an artist moved to laughter and tears by this timeless story from Rado, Ragni and MacDermot.
I Live in England and In The Late 60s I Saw THIS Show Possibly 4 Maybe 5 Times The Choreography Was very Different From What I've Since Seen From America but The One thing That The Casts Have - Is Their Enthusiasm
I TRULY Hope Those Days Come Again - I Miss Them 😢
The artists keep crying for peace. Who is not hearing??
Fun to watch! I remember those days. Many People would have been shocked by this performance at the time. It must have been amazing for the performers to be a part of this show!
My God! This was me 50 years ago! If only we had let that spirit live! Alas....It was lost in the 80's!
never
lost Gord-
It was like a religious experience...
Oh for certain.. art is a religious experience and HAIR is the greatest form of art to come from the 20th century
Harry belafonte you are just great........
Considering the way this musical is, 1969 was the best possible year for it to be at the Tony's.
6:14 - stratospheric harmonizing with Melba Moore.
Thank you for including her name. I'm in love!
@@trompeta79 Yay! I'm so happy to hear! Have you checked out her Tony awards performance in Purlie? I think a year or 2 later. Cray-Cray High Belt! Amazing!
The newer productions often feel a tad too polished, with actors that went to drama school.
at 4:12 - "What a piece of work is man." - The truth. Sung beautifully by Melba Moore and La La Brooks. Thank you for these healing voices. Peace.
That's Moore and Ronnie Dyson ;)
@@benedwards8571 No, it's La La, here. If you do a google search of Ronnie Dyson you will see he was a man.
Shakespeare wrote those words; Hamlet!
@@anonyarenayup!
The phenomenon of Ronnie Dyson sang Aquarius. And he had a hit song called "If you let me make love to you, then why can't I touch you?"
This Show was Groundbreaking it should have at least won the Pulitzer Prize For Drama!
R.I.P. Harry Belafonte he passed today
7:15 I cried and my heart was light again.
I wish we could gather this up, form it into a ball, and hurl it into the minds of Americans today, where it would unfurl and give us a social consciousness that we apparently have lost, or never had. Not gonna happen.
Too true. Now we just have snowflakes who mostly get "offended" by trivial bullshit.
It is happening now.
i saw the very first incarnation of this incredible show when it was the opening production of the nyc's public theater in the fall of 1967 before it moved up to the cheetah club and then onto broadway. also saw the broadway production another 3-5 times. it was so "mind-blowing" at the time.
Fantastic! Is it true that Dead End was initially not included in the broadway production
I was part of the company that opened at the Aquarius Theatre in Hollywood. Good times and bad times they were. Peace & Love!
What was your name in the cast?
@@burtihal I wasn't in the cast, but friends were. I worked backstage staff.
@@EagleRockers I was the hat check girl! ✌❤✌💜✌💙
@@burtihal Groovy! Wasn't that a great time! We probably said 'hi' to one another from time to time. Peace & Love to you!
@@burtihal Did you go to LACC/Theater Department?
By the time they get to 7:20 I almost gasp at the commitment flowing from the stage.
+skeever Holy shyte, you weren't lying about that - I choked up so hard!!! Amazing!!!
I was thinking about 'how are they doing this every night?' because they're as loud as any singer I've ever heard.
Yes, These kids were truly LIVING the lyrics... It was more than just a show. I love HAIR ❤️❤️❤️
7:16 is when I start crying
+ridewave444, same here. I held out to about 2:15.
Jessie so did I! I got real choked up. It's really a movie song.
Talk about a bold choice for Tony songs
7:15 when you know that you and your cast-mates just gave one of the best live performances of all time!! 🙌🏾 👏🏾 👏🏾 👏🏾
My progressive parents took me to see this when I was sixteen in '69. First time I saw a naked girl up close or far away for that matter. Sort of embarrassed to be there with the folks. Still listen to the soundtrack.
Amazing performance! I’ve always loved the original cast recording but had never seen this clip
I never could figure why Melba Moore didn't become a bigger star.
Ditto, Bill. I saw he in "Purlie" in '68, and thought that would have her 'take-off', but alas no.
billsav57
The answer is disco. The careers of many talented artists died with disco.
billsav57, I daresay Ms. Moore didn't become a bigger star... because she didn't need to be a bigger star than she already was... and always will be.
@@johannesbols57 she also became a crack addict for a while and was homeless. She got herself out of the rut and played Fantine in Les Miserables on Broadway in the 90s. But she disappeared in the mid 80s because of drug addiction.
Rumor is that drugs killed her career. Bill Cosby tried to help her and her children. Just saying.
Being from that enlightened and inspired era, I am thoroughly discouraged and disgusted by the current state of hawkish, nationalistic affairs, the shocking contrast is almost too much for me to bear. In order to cope, all I can do is plagiarize the famous quote, "Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out", and hope the poisonous abscess bursts and saves the planet.
1969 - Nixon was in the White House, we were in Vietnam, and we were just a year out from Kent State. I respect the political organizing and social revolution of the time, but there was much wrong too. I hope that the explosion of protest and organizing in the last month have helped you feel more hopeful. I've seen people who've never been politically active educating their kids about civil rights, taking to the streets, and pushing back against hate. We have tough road ahead of us, but when has that not been the case?
Mrariesdave yes!!
Mrariesdave Build The Wall Trump Trump he’s our man if he can’t do it no one can Yay Trump !!!
Wow Melba, Ben Vareen, with Diane Carroll presenting!
Very different from the forced foolishness generally promoted at "award" shows.
This is just fantastic. I think that in this performance shines a purity and truth that makes me cry and that I can’t see in later or current productions - the reasons are obvious: it sounds fresh and also, in a good sense, rough, because the sound technique was not so advanced, so they had to sing with full power from their souls. Also the singers and musicians were believable then, because they were living in the actual time of the musical. Each one of them could have been (and maybe was) a real ‘Hippie’. Whereas, in later productions, though there have been and nowadays are so many great musicians and singers around, it sometimes seems a little bit like a travesty.
I was in the L A show Piece of work is man,,, is Skakespeare,, adapted by Rado and Ragni,,,,
I believe that it was originally presented at a Shakespeare Festival and the song was a tribute ..
Diahann Carroll and Zero Mostel at 8:18! Not in caption.
Today is the *50* year anniversary of when the cast of Hair performed during the Emmys. 🤓
EDIT- 3:11 P.M.: *finishes video 12 minutes later*
When I first watched this video over a month ago, the only song that I recognized was "Let the Sunshine In". I now know the name of the first song. It's called "Three-Five-Zero-Zero".
This introduction is EVERYTHING
Hair really did push boundaries and to think this was during the actual war. Those from before went through a very interesting time
My parents were among them. They lived through very interesting times.
CHILLS. We need this NOW.
My first musical ever was Fiddler with Zero and I also saw Hair and kissed Claude afterwards ..we had such hopes for the planet
Imagine if they were at Woodstock!!😮
Wow, such heavy subject matter for the song. 4 months after this, Manson would kill the hippie movement and shock the world.
Tywin Lannister. What's this all about?
I always believed the line "..but be leery, dearie" was a warning of the Manson's of the world, but now I doubt it.
The line is: Answer for Timothy Leary, dearie
Also There would be a moon landing and Monty Python would premiere on TV in England, you point being?
Hailey Shannon My point is that this is the culmination and celebration of the hippie movement, and it only had a few months to live at this point.
Just Brilliant. ✌️❤️
People in the original cast at different times included Diane Keaton (who never did the nude scene and eventually played Sheila), Melba Moore, Ben Vereen, Paul Jabara and Shelley Plimpton.
And Ted Lange from the Love Boat, Keith Carradine, Barry Mcguire of Eve Of Destruction fame, Vicki Sue Robinson who sang Turn The Beat Around, Dale Soules who played Jeanie in 68 and now plays Frieda Berlin on Orange Is The New Black.
Donna Summer got her start in the German production of "Hair". That is how she came to the attention of the German producers that ultimately led her to Giorgio Moroder.
@@christianjones5891 I think that I might have read about that once. What a way to start out!
@Anna Gonzalez No, but this was a lovely cast.
@Anna Gonzalez That's why it's such a great score. If you don't know it, check out the original Broadway cast album. Great songs - most of them very relevant today!
I can’t believe that John Lennon the one who among many others started the hippie movement thought the music was dull. That’s harsh man.
John Lennon thought highly of himself. 🙄
Heather Macrae as Sheila singing with Melba, Linda Comptons family, I was the guy with the car who occasionally drove Linda& Suzy Norstrand home after work, even Ben with a huge afro,I had a little brown firebird parked next door to the biltmore, hope Lindas well, send my love, Jason here
I thought that was Lynn Kellogg singing with Melba at the end.
@@sharonmahoney9333 I double checked, its Heather yet it was the tonys with the original cast, Lynn was the first sheila then Diane Keaton then heather, why she would be on the tonys I dont know, Lynn just passed.
And the "rather magnificent," Bert Sommer who was the 3rd performer at WOODSTOCK. He's the tall dude with the green shirt dancing with the young woman.
Aww. He's my fav. Impossible to miss that huge fluff of curls. 😊
The duet with melba moore was supposed to be with my cousin Gerrie Griffin but during rehearsals the young lady on the scaffolding next to melba moore was off key and they thought it was Gerrie Griffin the young lady on the scaffolding with held the fact it was her and Gerrie Griffin was replaced with melba Moore. In the dressing room my cousin was very upset but forged on like the great woman she has become. After all of these years she only told the family. But now I will tell her story. Today we corrected a wrong and made it right. In God's time .
How does this correct a wrong?
And... it is so hard to believe that the young lady next to Melba was off key. Her name was LaLa Brooks. She had an exemplary voice. Off key?? Doubtful because she was the lead singer with The Crystals who sang "Doo doo Run Run".
What a beautifully rich and soulful voice she had.❤
I wonder how many viewing this incredible play, ever imagined that what was, YES I am that generation, that is still thinking of how this world has changed, and deteriorated.. Ty for this song, its my sun sign.
It's a musical.
The late sixties era hippies peace & love etc was much beleaguered...what is our ethos now...selfies narcissism smart phones materialism..what happened...my heart sinks......x
I saw this at 12 years old in Boston after listening to the album every day for months. It was a very powerful experience for me (the nude scene was a little embarrassing!). 'What A Piece Of Work Is Man' is a stunning adaptation of a piece of Shakespeare, still kills me. 'Let The Sun Shine' as the final anthem reminds of 'Listening To You' by The Who from Tommy and 'Do You Hear The People Sing' from Les Miz. All share a similar poetic cry of the heart in song for transcendence. Still powerful today-
My sister had this album and I remember listening to it as a very little kid. Looking back on it, I didn't have a clue what the lyrics were about🙃 but I remember really loving this music😁
"Listening to You"... Yes. This has that sense to it.
This just blows away (and then some) the UA-cam 2009 Hair Tony Awards performance.
Also amazing, but polished and lacking somewhat in passion.
Thank you for posting this. A great musical performed by a great cast. Heather MacRae (daughter of the famous singer/actor Gordon MacRae) is mesmerizing. She does an outstanding job harmonizing with Melba Moore in The Flesh Failures (Let The Sunshine In).
that is lynn kellogg with melba moore
Lynn Kellogg was in the original Broadway production. Definitely Heather MacRae here.
yes this is the original BW production/ with lynn kellogg/ the original Sheila
Yes, this is the original Broadway production. But actors come and go during a production’s run. In this case, Heather MacRae had replaced Lynn Kellogg in the role of Sheila in January of 1969.
It is nice to see Harry Belafonte again. RIP 🙏🙏🙏
I saw this at the Biltmore on Broadway....Few remember the nudity controversy. No offense to any of the reproductions but these people lived it and you can sense their passion.
I do believe that the white guy with the Afro is Bert Sommer who played at Woodstock later that year, but correct me if I'm wrong.
Three
Five
Zero
Zero
My draft number was 54.
Let’s just give peace a chance.
This was televised, I remember seeing this.
listen to the words people, true today more than then
Now imagine watching this as a hyperactive 7 yo and realizing that there were adults who were ok with singing "Let the Sunshine In" and jumping all over the place. Yes, i was a child but I really miss these great days and awesomw music.
Now THIS is vintage!
This is the real deal. Oliver and The Fifth Dimension made good, competent commercial versions for popular consumption on the radio but this has heart and grit.
@@charlesveg ... This is true. I envy my parents having lived during this time of gritty reality. Even my middle-aged self born in the 70's can relate to and recall authentic, soulful singing and acting. I'm glad we know what the real deal is.
@6:00 definitely among the most jaw-dropping duetting I’ve ever heard
Who is watching this in 2020,,,are you hearing what Mr. Belafonte is saying America:?
2023.
why do i cry listenig to this old piece of art ?
because it’s so beautiful!!!
Because of the repetition it’s like a prayer
I clicked on this for the performance and was gifted with Harry Belafonte.
I have seen every show of Hair perfomered in The Netherlands since 19something. But this... I cried.
We could never see "Hair" live. As a conservative community there was no way that on stage nudity was acceptable in my state. I could hear the music and imagine the show. But no more than that.
My parents saw it in Hollywood, maybe at the Pantages(?).
Love me some Hair.....I didn't know Ben Vereen was part of the original cast.....there is a RnB singer , who passed away years ago name Ronnie Dyson, "If U let me love to U, why can't I touch U" is in this performance. Melba Moore has a voice strictly made for the theater, it's a shame she never was able to do more....Loved her in Purlie!
I saw this at the Biltmore twice in 68 and 69. Ronnie Dyson sang Aquarius in 68. It was spine tingling.
Ben was not original cast. His first Hair was as Hud in the Los Angeles cast, October '68. I was there.
Melba Moore did do more she did have a disco hit called "You Stepped Into My Life. She's singing and Performing now!
A lot of stuff on the album and what they’re singing here would get people canceled nowadays
Oh yes. My parents saw Hair, I believe at the Pantages Theatre. My mother had the soundtrack album and played it often when we were children. It was not until I was older that my friends and I worked out the meaning of some of the lyrics. Free love, indeed.
Ha! So cool to see this! My parents had the original Broadway cast album. Used to listen to it so much and read the liner notes I knew the words to *every* song so I was straight singing along tho it’s been over 40 years! And look at baby Melba Moore! (Didn’t see Ronnie Dyson or Diane Keaton but watching this on my iPhone ain’t helping either 😁). When I was 9 the movie version came out with Treat Williams, Beverly D’Angelo (and Nell Carter as one of the singers - and cameos w/ Melba Moore and Ronnie Dyson actually doing the first song) and I really liked it. Saw it again recently and still enjoyed it. And now just learned - after someone commented on it - that Ben Vereen also performed in this clip!! I *thought* it looked like him, but wasn’t sure b/c his name wasn’t in the album credits like the others, which is the only way I would know who was in the original cast. Seems he came on after the album was recorded cuz he was in it from ‘68-71. 💕💕
Ben Vereen is the actor in the red vest between the two singers during the duet, yes?
back in those days Broadway audiences were like WTF is this.
nonsense. it was a huge hit.
Right!! They were like uhhhhhh
@@Marcel_Audubon true but he meant it in that it was groundbreaking
My mother loved it. I wish I had asked my father more about it, at the time he gave me one of those "I was there" smiles.
Watching this is a reminder that the Broadway revival of Hair didn't get it right. Not that all of it was bad but from the portions of it that I've heard. But it definitely lacks the passion of this.
I agree and although the vocals are wonderful they are completely contrary to the soul of the music and what was being stated. Cassie Levy sings the s#@t outta Easy to be hard but it's far to polished it lacks the raw nature and emotional core that was present in the 69 production....
Of course revivals would not get it right. The Vietnam war did not end until 1973 (1975) and had started ten or so years previously. The passion is that these cast members are commenting on what is going on now for them. My mother, a contemporary of many of these young people, told me that people had no idea what it [society, social attitude] was like during the Vietnam war. It affected mom, it affected society and it shows here.
That is Melba Moore and Lala Brooks of the Crystals at 4:40.
Yo me hubiera puesto a saltar y cantar. Público frío. Grande Harry Belafonte.hay que recuperar este espíritu. Grsxss
Youngsters - Dustin Hoffman in "The Graduate", Little Big Man", "Midnight Cowboy" & "American Graffiti", "More American Graffiti". Premier.