Democracy Dies in Darkness
Theater

‘Hair’ was famous for its nudity. How does the musical do it in 2024?

As in the original production, getting naked is optional, but at Signature Theatre, an intimacy director helps each performer “find a discomfort that’s sustainable for you.”

By
May 8, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. EDT
The cast of “Hair” at Signature Theatre. (Daniel Rader)
8 min

On the very day of “Hair’s” Broadway opening on April 29, 1968, police were called to Columbia University’s campus to violently quell student antiwar riots. Seven hundred students were arrested.

“Hair” was already a cultural riot of its own, with news swirling that the young cast would get naked at the end of Act I. “Several healthy young men facing front and center in the altogether,” as the New York Times described it the day before opening. The scene ended with actors playing police threatening to arrest the entire audience for viewing the obscenity.