Gerome ragni gene lees essay

Shapiro introduced Ragni and Rado to composer Galt MacDermot, who took the script and returned three weeks later with music for the songs Ragni and Rado had written. Their agent, Janet Roberts, tried to sell the show to Broadway producers, but it was rejected.

Following the Broadway production, Ragni and Rado went to Los Angeles and played their original roles in a production of Hair for five months, making changes to the show as they performed. When they returned to the Broadway production, Ragni's practice of spontaneously changing the show became a nuisance.

Ragni was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, one of ten children in a low-income Italian-American family. He attended Georgetown University and The Catholic University of America. At Catholic, he discovered an interest in theater, and began studying acting with Philip Burton.

Viet Rock and experimental theatre inspired Ragni to work with Rado on a musical about hippie culture. As research, they associated with a group of youths in the East Village who were dropping out and dodging the draft.