MUSIC | BROADWAY
‘HAIR,’ Home, and the Vietnam War
The anti-war Broadway musical that shocked our nation, while shaping my convictions and giving my feelings a place to call home
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Whether building a house or writing a Broadway musical, a person's commitment to realize their vision is an act of creative volition. On April 29, 1968, Gerome Ragni, James Rado and Galt MacDermot completed a years-long collaboration, and their American tribal love-rock musical HAIR opened on Broadway to acclaim.
Six weeks later, my parents committed to a collaborative vision of their own — by breaking ground on the construction site for their first self-designed home. Two separate milestones, yet each would have great impact on the way my convictions developed as a ten-year-old.
I was just a kid along for the ride, but the summer of 1968 was simmering with transition, and I too was primed for change. So when my parents said they needed to sell our starter home before they could finance our dream home, I agreed with enthusiasm to join them for a year, living out of a suitcase at my grandmother’s house in Connecticut. I imagined us as gypsies — few possessions but flashing with color through the…
