Broadway Musical

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Broadway Musical

Grammy award winning musical,Broadway musical

'Hair' is a Grammy award winning musical by Galt McDermot. It was a Broadway musical that first came to light in 1967. The book and the lyrics were done by the creators themselves, Gerome Ragni and James Rado. Once they had their masterpiece finished, they went out and found a most wonderful composer by the name of Galt McDermot. Within three months time he created the music that, up to now, defines the Broadway musical whenever it's heard

Hair was a product of the 60's. It was a different time, a time of freedom of expression, a time of challenging the 'status quo'. It was rebellious and peaceful at the same time. Drugs, especially marijuana and LSD, were driving forces in shaping these times of 'free love' and 'power to the people'. Anyone who's familiar with the 60's remembers the happenings around Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco. Many of the 'hippies' would band together and travel around to concerts and protests. They were called 'flower children'. Hair is about one of these groups of people, who were from New York's 'East Village'.

This Grammy award winning musical portrays this group as similar to an Indian tribe. It was a time of questioning authority, and protesting government decisions, and coming against society as it then existed. Wars, especially Vietnam, bore the brunt of their anti-government conspiracies. This group (and all like them) wanted to bring about a change in the world they lived in. And not be told how to live and how it was supposed to be by those who didn't understand them.

This Broadway musical depicts this era as a time of self-discovery, fueled by hallucinogens and a longing to be free. Marijuana ruled the day, with incense burning and meditation being their religious experiences. Soul-searching, laughing, loving, colors and designs, were all part of the 'Hair' experience that was the basis for this Grammy award winning musical. Crashing in the streets and in parks was commonplace. It was a rebellion against the home life and the authority of parents. Men wore long hair, and bright psychedelic colors were added for viewing under black lights. The hippie movement is what 'Hair' is all about.

The time this Broadway musical tries to capture was a time where young people lived by the code of 'peace and love'. They were all on a spiritual journey to discover themselves, to take a look inside, to form their own experiences with God and make their own traditions. Freedom was their guiding light, and they forged their way toward it at all cost. They studied astrology and horoscopes, and came to believe that their culture sprang out of a coming of age, the 'Age of Aquarius'. Thus, the song 'Age of Aquarius' became the first song in this Grammy award winning musical known as 'Hair'.

Yes, 'Hair' is a Grammy award winning musical. But its success is based on a time that will never be experienced again. It lives on in this play, and in the minds of those who are still alive, and were there to see it happen. The sixties were a burst of creativity and mind expansion. The spirit of this era will live on in this Broadway musical that still gets plenty of air-time today. Its songs instantly transport us back to this uniquely wonderful time in American history. It was indeed a 'happening'.