Galt Mac Dermot

Gerome Ragni, James Rado and Gait MacDermot wrote the groundbreaking Broadway show HAIR: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical which turned out such pop hits as “Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In,” “Hair,” “Easy To Be Hard,” and “Good Morning Starshine.”

Gerome Ragni (co-author of HAIR Book & Lyrics) was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in a family of six sisters and two brothers. After a stint in the Air Force, as a young actor he won the Barter Theater Award, together with Barbra Streisand. He appeared on Broadway in the John Gielgud/ Richard Burton Hamlet, and starred off-Broadway in The Knack. He studied acting with Nola Chilton and was a founding member of the Open Theater with Joseph Chaikin. He starred in a movie, Agnes Varda’s Lions Love. Following Hair, he wrote the Broadway show Dude, with music by Galt MacDermot, and after that, with James Rado, for the next 15 years or so, co-authored the book and lyrics for Sun, an environmental epic-musical yet-to-be-seen. Ragni played the role of Berger in the original production of HAIR.

James Rado (co-author of HAIR Book & Lyrics) was born in Venice, California and raised in Rochester, NY and Washington, D.C. In college, he wrote 3 stage musicals. After 2 years in the U.S. Navy, he migrated to New York, studied acting with Paula and Lee Strasberg and appeared on Broadway as Richard the Lionhearted in The Lion in Winter, alongside a young actor named Christopher Walken. He befriended Gerome Ragni and the duo created HAIR.

Needing a composer for their lyrics, they were led through a mutual friend, Isabel Blue, to Galt MacDermot. James was featured in Agnes Varda’s film Lions Love’ with Gerome Ragni and Viva (the first “Superstar” of Andy Warhol.) Following HAIR, in 1972, he wrote the music and lyrics of the OffBroadway RAINBOW, co-authoring the book with his brother Ted Rado. In 1974 he teamed up once again with Gerome Ragni to create the book and lyrics of “the comedic/ Orwellian spectacle,” SUN. He is currently working at getting up a production of his new show, AMERICAN SOLDIER, The White Haunted House, book co-authored by Ted Rado. Rado played the role of Claude in the original production of HAIR.

Grammy and Tony-award winning composer, Galt MacDermot is best known for the music he wrote for HAIR and Two Gentlemen of Verona. He was born and raised in Montreal and received a Bachelor of Music from Cape Town University, South Africa. He moved to New York in 1964 and, three years later, wrote the music for HAIR which he later adapted for the screen. More recently, Galt’s music has found a new venue with rap artists who find the rhythms of the HAIR score perfect for setting their lyrics, as in Run DMC’s Grammy award-winning Down With The King, and Billboard’s top chart-buster, Woo-Hah!! Got You All In Check by Busta Rhymes. MacDermot formed the New Pulse Band in 1979, which features his original music played by some of the world’s best musicians.