James Rado, co-creator and star of the hit Broadway musical Hair, died Tuesday morning, aged 90. Reports state that the star died due to cardio-respiratory distress, passing away peacefully in Manhattan surrounded by family.
James Rado is probably best known for co-creating the iconic rock musical Hair with fellow actor Gerome Ragini. Hair, fully titled Hair – The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical, follows a tribe of free-spirit hippies protesting against the Vietnam War and the drafts, among other issues of the time. The tribe is led by Claude Hooper Bukowski, a draft-dodging young man with disappointed parents – other prominent members include Sheila, a pregnant New York University student in love with Claude, and Berger, a free-spirited high school dropout. Rado would play Claude for the show’s Broadway debut, while Ragini stepped into the role of Berger.
The musical, which was groundbreaking in the musical theatre world with its Broadway debut in 1968, integrates themes of rock music and counterculture as the tribe members, including Claude, who receives his draft notice and is forced to choose between his own beliefs and upholding his parents’ standards, fight back against the pressures society has placed upon them.
How James Rado Met Gerome Ragini and Created ‘Hair’
According to The New York Times, James Rado and Gerome Ragini first met on stage during an Off-Broadway production of Hang Down Your Head and Die. The pair quickly bonded and set out to write a musical about the anti-establishment, free-spirited culture that was taking hold of Lower Manhattan in the 1960s – Rado, who was a musician as well as an actor, would be responsible for writing the lyrics to what would become hits on Broadway and the radio alike: songs like “Age of Aquarius” “Hair” “Ain’t Got No/I Got Life” and “Let the Sunshine In” among others listed on the Hair soundtrack. Rado and Ragini would later enlist Galt MacDermot, who passed away in 2018, to compose the melodies for their songs.
Following Hair’s Broadway debut, Rado, Ragini, and MacDermot were awarded a Grammy Award for Best Score from an Original Cast Show Album in 1969. According to Deadline, Rado was later involved in a 2008 revival of Hair, starring Jonathan Groff and Will Swenson and directed by Diana Paulus. The revival later moved to Broadway and won a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.
James Rado was born under the sign Aquarius in Venice, California, on January 23rd, 1932; he passed away surrounded by family on June 21st, 2022, at age 90. He is survived by his brother Ted Rado, sister-in-law Kay Rado, nieces Melanie Khoury, Emily DiBona, and Melissa Stuart, great-nieces, a great-nephew, and the legacy of Hair that has spread around the world.
