HAIR

The American Love-Rock Musical

Book and Lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado

Music by Galt MacDermot

Directed by James Vásquez

Original Choreography by Mayte Natalio

The Joan and Robert Rechnitz Theater

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LET THE SUNSHINE IN!

Let the sunshine in! During the Summer of Love, a group of young Americans dream of a beautiful future filled with harmony and understanding. The groundbreaking rock musical includes the Grammy Award™-winning hits “Aquarius,” “Good Morning Starshine,” and the title song’s ode to long, brilliant, beautiful “Hair!” Opening Two River Theater’s 30th anniversary season, Director James Vásquez (Old Globe Resident Artist, American Mariachi) and choreographer Mayte Natalio (Love in Hate Nation) bring their 2021 staging from the Old Globe Theatre, which was hailed as “A first-class production. A Hair to seek out (San Diego Story).” Peace now, freedom now, Hair now!

Hair is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Tams-Witmark LLC. www.concordtheatricals.com

This production contains nudity, adult language, drug references, strong racial language, and sexual references. There will be no nudity in the Student Matinee or Sensory Inclusive performances.

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THE CAST

THE CREATIVES

James Rado

James Rado (1932-2022) was an actor, songwriter and co-creator of the characters, story, dialogue and lyrics of HAIR. His daydream, since he was a teenager, was to write a Broadway musical. He taught himself how to write lyrics from intense study of Rodgers & Hammerstein, Rodgers & Hart, Cole Porter, etc., as well as pop music from the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. In college, he wrote the music and lyrics for two shows: Interlude at the University of Maryland and Cross Your Fingers at the Catholic University of America.

After a two-year gig in the U.S. Navy, in 1956 he moved to New York to be an actor. Five years later he got his first Broadway break when the famed director and teacher Lee Strasberg plucked him from an acting class for a small part in June Havoc’s Marathon ’33 starring Julie Harris. This led to a string of acting roles in Luther, Generation, The Knack and, in 1964, Hang Down Your Head And Die, where he met fellow actor Gerome Ragni. He told Ragni about his daydream of creating a Broadway musical and proposed that they team up to write a show about the hippies and the antiwar movement which was happening all around them. Ragni came aboard with some of his exciting experimental poetry.

In 1966, in the midst of writing HAIR, Rado got a leading role as Richard the Lionhearted in the James Goldman play The Lion in Winter, starring Robert Preston, Rosemary Harris and Christopher Walken. By 1967, Rado and Ragni had a presentable script of HAIR, which they gave to the producer Joseph Papp. Papp liked what he read and decided HAIR would be the inaugural production of his newly-founded New York Shakespeare Festival at The Public Theater on New York City’s Lower East Side. HAIR opened on Broadway in the spring of 1968 and starred Rado and Ragni in the lead roles. The rest is theatrical history. In his later years, Rado continued working on two other pieces: American Rainbow and Sun.

Galt MacDermot

Galt MacDermot was born in Montreal, Quebec, the son of a Canadian teacher and diplomat. He was educated at Upper Canada College and Bishop’s University (Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada). He received a Bachelor of Music from Cape Town University, South Africa and made a study of African music his specialty. He also studied the piano privately with Neil Chotem.

Galt MacDermot won his first Grammy Award for the Cannonball Adderley recording of his song “African Waltz” (the title track of the album of the same name) in 1960. He moved to New York City in 1964 where, three years later, he wrote the music for the hit musical HAIR, which he later adapted for the 1979 film. Its Broadway cast album won a Grammy Award in 1969. His next musicals were Isabel’s a Jezebel and Who the Murderer Was, which featured British progressive rock band Curved Air. Galt MacDermot had another hit with the musical Two Gentlemen of Verona, which won the Tony Award for Best Musical. For that show, MacDermot was nominated for a Tony for best music and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music. His later Broadway musicals included Dude and Via Galactica and The Human Comedy.

MacDermot’s film soundtracks include Cotton Comes to Harlem, a 1970 blaxploitation film starring Godfrey Cambridge, Raymond St. Jacques and Redd Foxx, based on Chester Himes’ novel of the same name; Rhinoceros starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, and directed by original Broadway Hair director Tom O’Horgan; and Mistress. He writes his own orchestrations and arrangements for his theatre and film scores.

In 1979, MacDermot formed the New Pulse Jazz Band, which performs and records his original music. The band was the on-stage band in the Broadway revival of HAIR. MacDermot’s work also includes ballet scores, chamber music, the Anglican liturgy, orchestral music, poetry, incidental music for plays, band repertory and opera. In 2009 Galt MacDermot was inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame. In 2010 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from SOCAN.