NBC Cuts Plans For ‘Hair Live!’ To Refocus On Family-Friendly Musicals
Adult-oriented musicals can consider themselves on the chopping block forNBC. The network has cut short its plans to airHair Live!, which had been originally scheduled for a May 19 telecast, as the network’s next live musical. Instead, NBC plans to refocus its live musical programming to family-friendly shows in a return to the broad-appeal titles likeThe Sound Of Music, which helped launch the current live TV musical phenomenon.
Hair Live!had been announced as the next NBC live musical following last spring’sJesus Christ Superstar Live, which was a raucous success for the network, earning Emmys for star John Legend and producers Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, andmaking them all EGOTs as well. However, it seems that NBC has gotten over its rock fever and is going back to the wholesome family entertainment with which the current live TV musical trend first started, according toDeadline.
Paul Telegdy and George Cheeks, Co-Chairmen, NBC Entertainment, said in a joint statement:
“Live musicals are a part of this network’s DNA and we are committed to continuing that tradition with the right show at the right time. Since these shows are such enormous undertakings, we need titles that have a wide appeal and we’re in the process of acquiring the rights to a couple of new shows that we’re really excited about.”
While Telegdy and Cheeks gave no official reason for theHair Live!cancellation, the most likely culprit is Fox’s recent staging ofRent, which met withrecord low ratingsand criticism over the use of pre-recorded footage. It’s possible thatRent’s poor reception and its tackling of tough issues like the AIDS crisis may have given NBC cold feet withHair!, an R-rated musical that addresses the Vietnam War. Plus the highest-rated live TV musicals thus far have been the lighter, family-friendly shows like NBC’sThe Sound Of MusicandThe Wizand Fox’sGrease.
Hair Live!was the last live musical greenlighted by former NBC chairmanBob Greenblatt, who first kickstarted the current wave of live TV musicals withThe Sound of Musicin 2013. Diane Paulus and Alex Rudzinski were tapped as directors forHair Live!in July, and the special has been actively casting. There’s no word yet on what NBC will announce as its next live musical in place ofHair Live!
