Several Broadway producers were approached, most notably David Merrick and Robert Whitehead. Mr. Merrick rejected HAIR, Mr. W. said “not my cup of tea.”
Joseph Papp, founder of the New York Shakespeare Festival, produced free Shakespeare at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park for quite a few years, and, in 1967, was planning to open a new theater complex in the East Village, to be named The Public Theater. He wanted to extend his reach, to produce new plays. He taught a class at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. At the same time, Jerry Ragni was in a play at Yale, the Open Theater production of Megan Terry's VIETROCK. On a fateful train ride back to New York City, Jerry encountered Joe and handed him the script of HAIR. (It had been bound by Studio Duplicating in a soft yellow cover with the title in gold letters. Jim said, “I always loved the magical look of that binding.”) A couple of days later, the authors got a call from Mr. Papp's office saying he was interested in the show. With Galt at the piano, Jerry and Jim sang the score of HAIR for Joe in his new Lafayette Street office. In the meantime, Jim had won the lead in a new Broadway musical HALLELUJAH BABY opposite Leslie Uggams. His picture appeared in the New York Post announcing his sudden elevation to “stardom”. But Jim found himself at a decisive crossroad and he had to turn down the part, because Joseph Papp had chosen HAIR to be the Public Theater's opening attraction. HAIR was the first play Joe produced other than Shakespeare.
At the Anspacher Theater, the first of three theaters to open within the Public Theater, HAIR premiered in the off-Broadway category on October 18, 1967. The musical itself was set in October, 1967. It was very much a play of the present.
