RADO, James

(b. 23 January 1939 in Los Angeles, California), and Gerome RAGNI (b. 11 September 1942 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), d. 10 July 1991 in New York City), actors, librettists, and lyricists who cowrote the groundbreaking and controversial 1968 musical Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical, the first to show the counterculture to mainstream audiences.

Rado, born James Radomski, was one of two sons of Alex Radomski, a professor and sociologist. Rado began his theatrical career in college and was known as a "consummate musician" who dreamed of becoming a Broadway composer. He moved to New York City when he was in his early twenties and supported himself by writing pop music, performing in summer stock theater, and doing office work. His career blossomed after studying Method acting with Lee Strasberg, and he appeared in a succession of Broadway shows, including Marathon '33 (1963) and The Lion in Winter (1966).

Ragni, the son of Lawrence Ragni and Stephanie Williams, was born into a large Pittsburgh family; he had five brothers and two sisters. A stubborn and creative child, he showed interest in theater in high school and college. Ragni attended both Georgetown University and Catholic University in Washington, D.C., but did not graduate. Determined to become a stage actor, he moved to New York City when in his early twenties and quickly became involved in experimental and traditional theater. He helped organize the Open Theater from 1962 to 1963 and performed in a number of shows, including Hamlet (1964) on Broadway, and Viet Rock (1966) off Broadway. In 1963 he received the Barter Theater Award for best young actor and married Stephanie Williams on 18 May; the couple had one son.

Ragni and Rado met while performing in Hang Down Your Head and Die (1964) and the Chicago production of The Knack (1965). Ragni introduced Rado to experimental theater, and together they yearned to develop stage techniques that would present important social issues to mainstream audiences. As Rado said, "we wanted to create … something that translated to the stage the wonderful excitement we felt in the streets." Although both young men were "straight" in appearance—clean-shaven and short-haired—they shared strong antiwar sentiments and were intrigued by the Greenwich Village counterculture. For the next two years, Ragni and Rado spent time observing hippie ways of life in Greenwich Village, a type of research that sociologists call participant observation, and from these behavioral observations the seeds of Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical were planted.

By 1966 Ragni and Rado had written the first draft of the musical. Although the show evolved substantially, the central characters and message were apparent. Hair was a nearly plotless collection of sketches and songs about a group of New York City hippies. The main characters are Claude Hooper Bukowski, a middle-class dropout; George Berger, the charismatic leader; and Sheila, a New York University student protester and Berger's erstwhile girlfriend. In the first act, Claude questions whether to evade the draft (for the Vietnam War), and the tribe criticizes representatives of the establishment, including parents and school officials. The second act revolves around a party for Claude, who has decided to go to war. Claude eventually dies in Vietnam, a martyr to the middle-class establishment's mistaken values.

In 1966 Joseph Papp of the New York Shakespeare Festival made Hair the opening piece at New York's Public Theater. Galt MacDermot, a Canadian composer, was enlisted to write the electrified score. Director Gerald Freedman, who insisted on considerably editing the script, clashed relentlessly with Ragni and Rado. Although the authors were unhappy with the changes, the show opened on 17 October 1967 as a success. However, its run was limited to six weeks.

By this time, the show had come to the attention of Michael Butler, an experienced theatrical producer who was determined to get Hair on Broadway. Avant-garde director Tom O'Horgan replaced Freedman. Ragni, Rado, and MacDermot added thirteen songs, which downplayed the antiwar theme, focusing on the free-love, antiracist, prodrugs, hippie lifestyle symbolized in the song that now opened the show—"Aquarius."

The new show, which used experimental theater techniques unknown on Broadway, premiered at the Biltmore Theatre on 29 April 1968. Ragni, with his crown of brown curls and flashing eyes, took the role of Berger; wispy-blond Rado played Claude; and then-unknowns Diane Keaton and Melba Moore rounded out the racially mixed cast.

Mainstream critics universally praised Hair. Michael Smith wrote in the Village Voice, "I should simply report that something downtown, dirty, ballsy, and outrageous has hit Broadway at last." Hair influenced Broadway musical theater in a variety of ways. As well as being the first rock musical, it was one of the first "concept" musicals, in which a theme, such as hippie life, drives the show rather than a traditional plot. Controversially, it was the first Broadway production to show full-frontal nudity, which embroiled the show in court cases across the country. Most importantly, it was the first to deal with contemporary issues, including the Vietnam War and the generation gap. In contrast to the praise of the mainstream press, the alternative press roundly critiqued Hair for sugarcoating hippie life to make it palatable to middle-class tastes.

Hair earned Grammy Awards for best Broadway roadway show album and best score in 1968, and for record of the year for 1969 for Ragni and Rado, who were briefly barred from the show by Butler in 1969 for objectionable onstage behavior. The original cast album for Hair and the single "Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In" both became gold records. Hair continued for 1,742 performances on Broadway, closing on 1 July 1972 after earning net profits of more than $6 million and using more than 1,000 performers during its run. At the same time as the Broadway run, local companies adapted the show, performing it for an estimated 20 million people worldwide. In 1970 Newsweek's Jack Kroll called Hair "the greatest global cultural event of the '60s." In 1979 Oscar-winning director Milos Forman adapted Hair into a motion picture. Ragni and Rado wrote a screenplay, but Forman chose to use a version by Michael Weller, which added a coherent structure to the musical. Although the film did moderately well, Ragni and Rado both distanced themselves from it, feeling the changes, including having Berber switch places with Claude and dying in Vietnam in Claude's place, had ruined the meaning of the original.

After Hair, Ragni and Rado parted ways. In 1972 Rado wrote a musical called Rainbow that followed Claude after his death to "Rainbow Land." Ragni's post-Hair project, Dude, the Highway of Life (1972), was a plotless retelling of the Genesis story (with a 2,000-page script) that closed after sixteen performances. Ragni died of cancer in 1991. Rado was involved in a revival of Hair that played at the City Center in New York City in 2001.

Both Ragni and Rado will be remembered as the creators of the quintessential expression of countercultural life, Hair. Although the show skewered the politics and mores of the establishment, it was thoroughly popular with audiences, introducing them to the countercultural ideology of free love and peace.

For biographical information and a recounting of the history of Hair, see Lorrie Davis and Rachel Gallagher, Letting Down My Hair: Two Years with the Love Rock Tribe—From Dawning to Downing of "Aquarius" (1973); Stanley Richards, ed., Great Rock Musicals (1979); and Barbara Lee Horn, The Age of Hair: Evolution and Impact of Broadway's First Rock Musical (1991). Obituaries for Ragni are in the New York Times (13 July 1991) and the Los Angeles Times ( 15 July 1991).

Mary Rizzo