Gerome Ragni - Dude

Dude

Ragni had been working on a musical called Dude, The Highway Life ever since Hair had opened. He had bulging notebooks filled with scribbles of dialogue and lyrics written in between meals at Max's Kansas City. Combined it was a 2,000-page script. He discussed doing the score with MacDermot after the L.A. opening, but MacDermot was doing Two Gentlemen of Verona at the time. Once done, he wrote the music to 50 of the songs in the show. Producing the musical would entail having the interior of the Broadway Theatre scooped out and turned into a free-wheeling environmental theatre representing heaven and hell. The 2,000 pages were cut down to 200, a second act was written, more songs were added, and although in a constant state of change and plagued with backstage problems the show opened at The Broadway Theatre in October 1972. It was produced by Peter and Adela Holzer and starring Nell Carter, Rae Allen, Salome Bey, Ralph Carter, Nat Morris, and Allan Nicholls, and closed after 16 performances. The cast album on Columbia Records did not fare very well on the charts either.