Character guide
Hud
from Hair
Hud is a member of the tribe in Hair, the 1968 rock musical with music by Galt MacDermot.
- Show
- Hair
- Broadway premiere
- 1968
- Role
- Supporting
- Music by
- Galt MacDermot
Hud on stage vs screen
Broadway compared with the 1979 film
The 1979 film gives Hud a family he never has on stage. In Milos Forman's film, Dorsey Wright plays LaFayette Hud Johnson, whose fiancée, with whom he has a son, LaFayette Jr., wants to marry him as they had planned. She also gets the song Easy to Be Hard, sung by Cheryl Barnes, which on stage belongs to Sheila.
On stage, Hud is a militant African American who is carried in upside down on a pole, and he leads Colored Spade, which Wright also sings in the film. Lamont Washington created the role on Broadway in 1968.
Who is Hud?
Hud is a member of the tribe whose perspective brings the Black experience and the era's civil rights and Black Power movements into the show's mix of countercultural voices. He is outspoken and assertive, using humor and confrontation to challenge the assumptions of those around him, tribe and outsiders alike.
Within the show's loosely structured scenes, Hud's presence broadens Hair beyond a single narrow view of 1960s youth culture, reflecting the wider range of movements and grievances that defined the period.
Hud's role in Hair
Hud is a supporting role that requires strong comic timing and a commanding stage presence within the tribe's ensemble scenes and songs. The part gives voice to themes of race and identity that run alongside the show's more prominent focus on the draft and the sexual revolution.
Lamont Washington originated the role in early productions of Hair. Hud remains notable for how directly the show uses the character to address race, an element that stood out amid the era's mostly white countercultural imagery.
Hud: frequently asked questions
What show is Hud from?
Hud is a supporting character in Hair, which opened on Broadway in 1968.
Is Hud a lead or supporting role?
Hud is a supporting role within the tribe of hippies.
Who wrote the music for Hair?
Galt MacDermot composed the music, with book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni.
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