James Rado dead: Hair music co-writer dies after cardiovascular arrest

Playwright, actor and composer James Rado – who is best known as the co-creator of the musical Hair – died in a hospital in Manhattan on Tuesday.

James Rado has passed away at the age of 90.

The playwright, actor and composer – best known as the co-creator of the musical Hair – died in a Manhattan hospital on Tuesday.

Journalist and his longtime friend, Merle Frimark, confirmed the sad news to New York Timesrevealed that he died of cardio-respiratory arrest.

Rado first began writing the hit rock music Hair in 1964 with his friend Gerome Ragni, whom he met while co-starring in the off-Broadway production of Hang Down Your Head and Die.

Ragni died in 1991.

Opening up about their friendship at the time, he said, “We’re great friends. It’s a kind of passionate relationship where we channel our creativity, our writing, our work. created this piece. We put the film between us on the stage.

“There’s a lot of excitement in the streets, parks and hippie areas, and we thought if we could get this excitement on stage that would be great…. We hung out with them and to their Be-Ins [and] for our hair to grow. “

The musical first premiered off-Broadway in the fall of 1967 and opened on Broadway a year later.

Hair has enjoyed incredible success over the years and has even been adapted into a movie.

It was revived in 2009 for Broadway, which won a Tony Award for best revival. It has also opened in London’s West End.