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Breaking News: Kristen Bell, Hunter Parrish, Amber Riley, Jenna Ushkowitz & More to Lead HAIR at The Hollywood Bowl

By: Jun. 02, 2014
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The Hollywood Bowl's upcoming production of Hair, the American Tribal Love-Rock musical, which won the Tony and Drama Desk Award for best revival of a musical in 2009, will star Kristen Bell as Sheila, Hunter Parrish as Claude, Amber Riley as Dionne, Jenna Ushkowitz as Jeanie and Beverly D'Angelo as Mom. Adam Shankman will direct and choreograph. Hair will be conducted by Lon Hoyt. Zach Woodlee will serve as associate director and associate choreographer. Additional casting is to be announced.

Kristen Bell is best known as Veronica Mars, and for voicing Anna in Disney's Frozen. She also stars in Showtime's House of Lies and the feature Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Hunter Parrish, who is best known for playing Silas Botwin on Showtime's Weeds, appeared on Broadway as Melchior in Spring Awakening and Jesus in Godspell; his feature films include 17 Again, It's Complicated, and Freedom Writers. He next appears in Still Alice opposite Julianne Moore, Kristen Stewart and Alec Baldwin.

Amber Riley, best known for her role of "Mercedes Jones" on FOX's Golden Globe and SAG Award winning musical comedy Glee, recently won season 17 of ABC's hit competition series Dancing with the Stars. In 2012, she made her New York stage debut at City Center in Duke Ellington's Cotton Club Parade.

Jenna Ushkowitz plays Tina Cohen-Chang on Glee. She is the co-winner of the 2010 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series for Glee. She appeared on Broadway in Spring Awakening and in The King and I starring Donna Murphy and Lou Diamond Phillips.

Beverly D'Angelo, who plays Mom, was Sheila in the 1979 Milos Forman film version of Hair, Ellen Griswold in the National Lampoon's Vacation series, Doris Vinyard in American History X, and Patsy Cline in Coal Miner's Daughter, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination.

Lon Hoyt was the music supervisor for nine national and international productions of Hairspray, and also the Hollywood Bowl production of 2011. He also conducted the 2009 Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of Hair. In film, he has provided music direction for Hairspray, Joyful Noise, and the upcoming Annie.

Zach Woodlee is one of today's most sought-after choreographers in the entertainment industry. Currently, Zach has just finished working on Sony's musical remake of Annie. Zach was an integral part in developing the hit television and Emmy-award winning series, Glee, serving as a producer and choreographer for the first four seasons. Along with his television success, Zach has contributed his talents to such notable films as Hairspray, 27 Dresses, 17 Again, Eat Pray Love, Life as We Know It and Real Steel.

Adam Shankman (previously announced) directs and choreographs the Hollywood Bowl production of Hair. He is an acclaimed director, choreographer, and dancer whose directing credits include the film versions of Hairspray, which received three Golden Globe nominations including Best Picture-Musical or Comedy, and Rock of Ages, starring Tom Cruise. His other film directing credits include A Walk to Remember and The Wedding Planner. Adam has also directed episodes for the hit television series Glee and Modern Family and choreographed the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Shankman says, "I'm over the moon about the cast we are assembling. The talent that I witnessed throughout the auditioning and overall casting process has been both mind blowing and deeply humbling. I'm in love with all of them. I can't wait to get in there with everyone and rock the Bowl this summer, in ways that have never been done there before."

From its stunning Broadway premiere in 1968, Hair defined the "rock musical," exuberantly celebrating the hippie counterculture, anti-war movement and sexual revolution of the 1960s with a rainbow score of hits - including "Aquarius," "Good Morning Starshine," and "Easy to be Hard" - that have become ingrained in pop culture. Audiences will celebrate this groundbreaking American journey as we "Let the Sunshine In."

Hair will have three performances at the Hollywood Bowl this summer - Friday and Saturday, August 1 and 2, at 8 PM, and Sunday, August 3, at 7:30. Subscriptions and single tickets for the 2014 Hollywood Bowl season are now on sale. Tickets can be purchased in-person at the Hollywood Bowl box office, online at HollywoodBowl.com and via credit card phone order at 323.850.2000. The box office hours are Tuesday - Sunday, 12 PM to 6 PM.

Hair has book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado and music by Galt MacDermot. Conceived by James Rado and Gerome Ragni, Hair was the opening production at the new Public Theatre in New York City's East Village in 1967. Hair opened on Broadway, at the Biltmore Theatre, on April 29, 1968 and ran for 1,750 performances, closing on July 1, 1972.

The recent history of Broadway musicals at the Hollywood Bowl is nothing short of spectacular, including Chicago starring Ashlee Simpson, Drew Carey, Lucy Lawless and Stephen Moyer, directed by Brooke Shields; Rent starring Vanessa Hudgens, Nicole Scherzinger and Wayne Brady, directed by Neil Patrick Harris; Hairspray starring Harvey Fierstein, Drew Carey, John Stamos and Nick Jonas, directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell; and The Producers starring Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Richard Kind, Rebecca Romijn and Dane Cook, directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman.

One of the largest natural amphitheaters in the world, with a seating capacity of nearly 18,000, the Hollywood Bowl has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since its official opening in 1922, and plays host to the finest artists from all genres of music. It remains one of the best deals anywhere in Los Angeles; to this day, $1 buys a seat at the top of the Bowl for many classical and jazz offerings. The venue offers something for everyone, from its sizzling summer evening concerts to the daytime arts festival for children, "SummerSounds: World Music for Kids at the Hollywood Bowl," now in its 47th season. In February 2014, the Hollywood Bowl was named Best Major Outdoor Concert Venue for the tenth year in a row at the 25th Annual Pollstar Concert Industry Awards. For millions of music lovers across Southern California, the Hollywood Bowl is synonymous with summer. http://www.HollywoodBowl.com







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