B: December 18, 1928 in Montréal, Québec
D: December 17, 2018 in Staten Island, New York
Galt MacDermot will remain forever famous for his breakthrough music for the stage play and subsequent movie, Hair. It was the first so-called “rock opera.” The play opened off-Broadway on October 17, 1967 presented by Joseph Papp & the Public Theater. It was a huge hit & performed to standing room only! It ran for 15 previews & 50 performances. The show then was re-worked and opened at The Cheetah, a converted disco, on December 22, 1967 and ran through January 28, 1968. It then re-opened with some cast changes on April 29, 1968 on Broadway – a date chosen by the producer’s astrologer – at the Biltmore Theater, where it went on to make Broadway history. The Canadian production of Hair was originally staged at The Royal Alexandra in Toronto where it ran for 53 weeks after opening on January 11, 1970. He also wrote the score to a Tony-winning adaptation of Two Gentlemen of Verona. He died at his home on Staten Island one day before his 90th birthday. The cause of death was not immediately known, according to his daughter Elizabeth MacDermot. |
Features & TV Movies: Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970) Moon Over the Alley (1980) Mistress (1992) |
|
