Cast of 'Hair' to Appear on 'Tonight Show'

Coming July 13, the cast and band of the Tony Award winning musical revival Hair: The American Tribal-Love Rock Musical will briefly switch coasts to make an appearance on Conan O'Brien's Tonight Show. It will mark the first appearance of both the cast and band of a Broadway musical in the show's history. The performance has been scheduled to not interfere with the production's Broadway run, so no shows will be missed.

The cast will play a musical number designed around O'Brien's new set by the production's Tony nominated director Diane Paulus. It will be the first musical to appear on the Tonight Show since O'Brien began hosting.

Hair first debuted off-Broadway in 1967 and made the leap to the big avenue in 1969. It was a product of the counter-culture era of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and chronicles a "tribe" of politically active young Americans during the Vietnam War. The lyrics and story were written by James Rado and Gerome Ragni, the music was done by Galt MacDermot.

The recent revival of the musical had trouble seeing the light of day due to the financial downturn at the beginning of 2009, but eventually opened on March 31 to rave reviews and a continuing healthy attendence.

--Peter Belfiore