Michael Butler (producer) - Hair

Hair

In 1967, Butler was preparing to run for the US Senate when he began to discuss the Vietnam War with a young student who worked as a gardener at his home. As a result of these discussions, Butler says, "I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the popular 'hawk' stand I had been taught as an axiom." Later that year in New York City on business related to Otto Kerner, Jr.'s Commission about Civil Disorders, he saw an ad in the New York Times for Hair at the Public Theater that featured a photo of five Indian chiefs. Thinking the show was about Indians he bought a ticket. Instead he saw what he described as "the strongest anti-war statement ever written" and decided to obtain rights to the show. Hair opened on Broadway in April 1968 and became a huge success, running for 1,750 performances and spawning numerous other productions. By the time the Broadway production closed in 1972, Butler had overseen nine national productions and nineteen international productions.