Tom O'Horgan (May 3, 1924 – January 11, 2009) was an American

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...

and

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

and

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

. He is best known for his Broadway work as director of the hit musicals ''

Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and ...

'' and ''

Jesus Christ Superstar ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Life of Jesus in the New Testament, Gospels' accounts of Passion of Jesus, the Passion, the work interprets ...

''. During his career he sought to achieve a form of "total theater" described by ''The New York Times'' as "wittily physical", and which earned him a reputation as the "

Busby Berkeley Berkeley William Enos, (November 29, 1895 – March 14, 1976) known professionally as Busby Berkeley, was an American film director and musical choreographer. Berkeley devised elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geo ...

of the acid set".

Biography

Early years

Born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, Illinois, O'Horgan was introduced to theater by his father, a newspaper owner and sometimes actor, who took him to shows and built him footlights and a wind machine. As a child he sang in churches and wrote operas, including one entitled ''Doom of the Earth'' at age 12."Tom O'Horgan, 84, Director of ''Hair'', Is Dead"
by Douglas Martin, January 13, 2009, ''The New York Times'' O'Horgan received his degree from

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

where he learned to play dozens of musical instruments. After graduating he worked in Chicago as a harpist and also performed with

the Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise. It is the oldest improvisational theater troupe to be continuously based in Chicago, with training programs and live theaters in Toronto and New York. Since its debut in 1959, it has b ...

, the Chicago improvisational theater company. He moved to New York City and began acting downtown at places like

Judson Memorial Church The Judson Memorial Church is located on Washington Square South between Thompson Street and Sullivan Street, near Gould Plaza, opposite Washington Square Park, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhatt ...

. During this time he developed a night club act where he performed improvisational humor as he accompanied himself on the harp.

Career

O'Horgan thought of his work as "kinetic sculpture" and said that his goal was to be "able to blend all aspects of the theatre without letting any part become secondary to the others". Of contemporary commercial theater, he believed that people are "hung up on chandeliers because they insist that the one-dimensional, verbal

Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

ite theater is the only theater. But this is an aberration of the 19th century. If the ideas are the primary thing, it's not theater. Theater has always meant music, dance, art. That's what the Greek theater was." Shortly after ''Hair'' opened on Broadway, Eleanore Lester wrote in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'': "O'Horgan, a veteran of many years of experimentation and frustration in his search for The Way in theater, successfully incorporates a number of strands coming on strong in the rapidly evolving post-Miller-Williams-Albee and post-absurdist theater. Those trends, growing partly out of the intimate Off Off Broadway movement and partly out of the visceral political drama of be-ins, sit-ins and demonstrations, include the use of improvisational techniques, vigorous ensemble playing, a more physical style of acting, greater use of dance, music, and puppets, and Pop-camp comedy – plus the Total Theater concept in which the audience becomes more closely involved in the work." O'Horgan said that an element of his artistic gratification is "just getting the vicarious joy of turning people on, making them respond, turning them on to their own sensual powers that are buried under layers of cement. When you see how people in the streets will run to see a fire or an accident or a fight, hoping against hope to see something really happen, something that will prove that the people walking beside them are more than mere mannequins, you realize how much they want to break out of all their emotional rigidity." Though he would become well known for his Broadway work, he was more comfortable in the

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

world. As he told Lester in 1968, "Sure, I've been sent scripts from Broadway offices, but so far I haven't seen anything that I could possibly be interested in. Of course, I'll continue working with La MaMa. Where else can you work things out? Certainly not on Broadway where the meter is always running."

Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway

Most of his early career work was in

Off-Off-Broadway Off-off-Broadway theaters are smaller New York City theaters than Broadway theatre, Broadway and off-Broadway theaters, and usually have fewer than 100 seats. The off-off-Broadway movement began in 1958 as part of a response to perceived commerc ...

experimental theatre Experimental theatre (also known as avant-garde theatre), inspired largely by Richard Wagner, Wagner's concept of Gesamtkunstwerk, began in Western theatre in the late 19th century with Alfred Jarry and his Ubu Roi, Ubu plays as a rejection of bot ...

productions. One of his earliest projects was ''Love and Vexations'' at the

Caffe Cino Caffe Cino was an Off-Off-Broadway theater founded in 1958 by Joe Cino. The West Village coffeehouse, located at 31 Cornelia Street, was initially conceived as a venue for poetry, folk music, and visual art exhibitions. The plays produced at th ...

in September, 1963. Soon thereafter, his friend James Wigfall introduced him to

Ellen Stewart Ellen Stewart (November 7, 1919 – January 13, 2011) was an American theatre director and Theatrical producer, producer and the founder of La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. During the 1950s, she worked as a fashion designer for Saks Fifth A ...

(founder of La MaMa, E.T.C.), who would go on to become one of his staunchest supporters. The first play he directed there was ''

The Maids ''The Maids'' ( ) is a 1947 play by the French dramatist Jean Genet. It was first performed at the Théâtre de l'Athénée in Paris in a production that opened on 17 April 1947, which Louis Jouvet directed. The play has been revived in Fr ...

'' by

Jean Genet Jean Genet (; ; – ) was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright. His major works include the novels '' The Th ...

in 1964,Of Course, There Were Some Limits
Eleanore Lester, O'Horgan feature article in the NY Times, May 19, 1968, michaelbutler.com and he later led a La MaMa troupe that went to Denmark to showcase early plays by

Sam Shepard Samuel Shepard Rogers III (November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an American playwright, actor, director, screenwriter, and author whose career spanned half a century. He wrote 58 plays as well as several books of short stories, essays, ...

and

Lanford Wilson Lanford Wilson (April 13, 1937March 24, 2011) was an American playwright. His work, as described by ''The New York Times'', was "earthy, realist, greatly admired ndwidely performed". Fox, Margalit"Lanford Wilson, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Playwrigh ...

. He directed some 50 productions at La MaMa including ''The Architect and the Emperor of Assyria'' by Fernando Arrabal, a

surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

play about two men on an island, and ''Tom Paine'' by Paul Foster, a recounting of the life of the US Revolutionary War figure. O'Horgan directed and also composed music for the Rochelle Owens play ''Futz!''. He first directed the play off-off-Broadway for La MaMa in March 1967 and later took it to the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of Arts festival, arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the ...

and then to New York's Theater de Lys, an off-Broadway venue in June 1968."Futz!" Opens at the de Lys
Clive Barnes, New York Times, June 14, 1968, orlok.com O'Horgan also directed a film version of ''Futz!'' that was released in 1969. ''Futz!'' tells the story of the difficulties a farm boy encounters with the people of the town when he falls in love with his pig.

Clive Barnes Clive Alexander Barnes (13 May 1927 – 19 November 2008) was an English writer and critic. From 1965 to 1977, he was the dance and theater critic for ''The New York Times'', and, from 1978 until his death, the ''New York Post''. Barnes had sign ...

wrote in ''The New York Times'', "Mr. O'Horgan ... has visualized ''Futz!'' as some kind of Dionysiac dance, wild and fevered. He sends his actors mugging and careening across the stage in great joyous surges of energy." ''Hair'' authors James Rado and

Gerome Ragni Gerome Ragni (born Jerome Bernard Ragni; September 11, 1935 – July 10, 1991) was an American actor, singer, and songwriter, best known as one of the stars and co-writers of the 1967 musical ''Hair''. On June 18, 2009, he was inducted into the So ...

attended the La MaMa production of ''Futz!'' and it influenced them to choose O'Horgan to direct ''Hair'' on Broadway. In November 1974, he conceived and directed a stage adaptation of

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

' classic recording ''

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' (often referred to simply as ''Sgt. Pepper'') is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26May 1967, ''Sgt. Pepper'' is regarded by musicologists as an early concept ...

''. The show, entitled '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road'', played at the Beacon Theatre concert venue on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The production, developed in collaboration with ''Hair'' set designer Robin Wagner, featured 34 actors performing 29 Beatles songs with elaborate scenery, special effects and colorful costumes. The show was not well received by critics and closed in January 1975 after 66 performances. Among O'Horgan's other off-Broadway credits include the Second City revues at the Village East ''To the Water Tower'', ''When the Owl Screams'', and ''The Wrecking Ball'' as composer, as well as ''Masked Men'' (at the Westbeth Theatre) and ''Birdbath'' as director.

Broadway

=''Hair''

= O'Horgan made his Broadway directorial debut in 1968 with the ground-breaking

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

, ''

. B''ased on his growing reputation with ''Futz!'' and other off-off-Broadway plays he directed, Hair authors Ragni and Rado sought out O'Horgan to direct the Off-Broadway production of the show when it opened at

The Public Theater The Public Theater is an arts organization in New York City. Founded by Joseph Papp, The Public Theater was originally the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954; its mission was to support emerging playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: ...

in the fall of 1967, but O'Horgan was working in Europe at the time and was unable to accept the invitation. When the show made the transition uptown to Broadway, O'Horgan was called again and this time he was able to accept. ''Hair'' underwent a massive overhaul from its downtown version to its Broadway opening in April 1968. The Off-Broadway book, already light on plot, was loosened even further, and 13 new songs were added. O'Horgan said that "I see 'Hair''as a singspiel, a popular opera." In rehearsals, he used techniques passed down by

Viola Spolin Viola Spolin (November 7, 1906 — November 22, 1994) was an American theatre academic, educator and acting coach. She is considered an important innovator in 20th century American theater for creating directorial techniques to help actors to be ...

and

Paul Sills Paul Sills (born Paul Silverberg; November 18, 1927 – June 2, 2008) was an American director and improvisation teacher, and the original director of Chicago's The Second City. Life and career Sills was born Paul Silverberg in Chicago, Illinois ...

of improvisational "games" and role playing theories that encouraged freedom and spontaneity. Many of these improvisations were incorporated into the Broadway script. He prepared actors by having them undress in slow motion, praying to God and Buddha and jostling one another. He had them deliver lines while being carried around or doing handstands. The

Playbill ''Playbill'' is an American monthly magazine for Audience, theatergoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most copies of ''Playbill'' are printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the ...

for the 2009 Broadway revival of ''Hair'' says O'Horgan and new choreographer Julie Arenal infused the production with a sense of "freedom and spontaneity, introducing an organic, expansive style of staging" that had never been seen before on Broadway.Haun, Harry. "Age of Aquarius", Playbill, April 2009, from ''Hair'' at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre Also, O'Horgan had used nudity in many of the plays he directed, and he helped integrate the idea into the fabric of the show.The Peace, Love and Freedom Party
Patrick Pacheco, June 17, 2001, latimes.com Some credit him with transforming "a mildly successful off-Broadway musical into a Broadway hit". O'Horgan said that the experience gave him the opportunity to help create "a theater form whose demeanor, language, clothing, dance, and even its name accurately reflect a social epoch in full explosion". He believed that the actors in ''Hair'', some from "right off the street", made an important contribution to Broadway theater. He said that "the kids are talking their own language, they're expressing their real sex attitudes and they're laying it on the line about race and miscegenation. The kids on stage are authentic and people sense this." Of its wider impact, he contentiously stated that "''Hair'' is an assault on the theatrical dead area: Broadway. It's almost an effort to give Broadway mouth-to-mouth resuscitation."

=''Lenny'' and ''Jesus Christ Superstar''

= The next Broadway project for O'Horgan was to direct the Julian Barry play ''Lenny'', with Cliff Gorman as controversial

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

satirist This is an incomplete list of writers, cartoonists and others known for involvement in satire – humorous social criticism. They are grouped by era and listed by year of birth. Included is a list of modern satires. Early satirical authors *Aes ...

Lenny Bruce Leonard Alfred Schneider (October 13, 1925 – August 3, 1966), better known by his stage name Lenny Bruce, was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, and satirist. He was renowned for his open, free-wheeling, and critical style of come ...

. ''Lenny'' opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in May 1971, across the street from the Biltmore Theater where ''Hair'' was still running. The play followed Bruce's nightclub career through run-ins with the police and the courts, and put the same language on a Broadway stage that had gotten Bruce—who died in 1966—arrested in nightclubs just a few years earlier. ''Lenny'' ran on Broadway for 453 performances until June 1972 and won Gorman a Tony for best actor in a play. That same year O'Horgan would also direct the 1971

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948) is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End theatre, West End and on Broadway theatre, Broad ...

musical ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' that became popular with audiences and that, like ''Hair'', would later be made into a movie. ''Superstar'' was notable for the performance of

Ben Vereen Benjamin Augustus Vereen (né Middleton; October 10, 1946) is an American actor, dancer and singer. He gained prominence for his performances in the original Broadway productions of the musicals ''Jesus Christ Superstar'', for which he received ...

Judas Iscariot Judas Iscariot (; ; died AD) was, according to Christianity's four canonical gospels, one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. Judas betrayed Jesus to the Sanhedrin in the Garden of Gethsemane, in exchange for thirty pieces of sil ...

– whom O'Horgan directed previously on Broadway in the role of Hud in ''Hair''. According to playwright

Robert Patrick Robert Hammond Patrick (born November 5, 1958) is an American actor. Known for portraying villains and authority figures, Patrick is a Saturn Award winner with four other nominations. Patrick dropped out of college when drama class sparked his ...

, O'Horgan didn't want to accept the job but relented finally because he said "Bob ... You wouldn't believe the money they just offered me."

=Other Broadway work

= Additional Broadway directing credits include the Tony Award-winning ''Inner City'' (1971), a musical conceived by O'Horgan based on controversial poetry book ''The Inner City Mother Goose'' by Eve Merriam; the musical ''

Dude ''Dude'' is Regional vocabularies of American English, American slang for an individual, typically male. From the 1870s to the 1960s, dude primarily meant a male person who dressed in an extremely fashionable manner (a dandy) or a conspicuous ...

'' (1972), written by ''Hair'' author Gerome Ragni with music by ''Hair'' composer Galt MacDermot; ''The Leaf People'' (1975), a Joe Papp-produced play by Dennis Reardon depicting the first contact by white men with a hostile tribe of Amazonian Indians; and ''

I Won't Dance "I Won't Dance" is a song with music by Jerome Kern that has become a jazz standard. The song has two different sets of lyrics: the first written by Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach in 1934, and second written by Dorothy Fields (though Jimm ...

'' (1981), a murder whodunit play by Oliver Hailey. At one point in 1971, there were four simultaneous O'Horgan-directed productions on Broadway – ''Hair'', ''Jesus Christ Superstar'', ''Lenny'', and ''Inner City''.Tom O'Horgan, Groundbreaking Director of Superstar, Hair and More, Has Died
Kenneth Jones, Jan 12, 2009, playbill.com

Film

O'Horgan directed and composed the score for the screen adaptation of ''Futz'' with Frederic Forrest, Sally Kirkland, and

Jennifer O'Neill Jennifer O'Neill (born February 20, 1948) is a Brazilian-born American author, model, and former actress. Born in Brazil, and moving to the United States as an infant, she first came to prominence as a teenaged model (person), model, and for he ...

, and directed the film version of

Eugène Ionesco Eugène Ionesco (; ; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre#Avant-garde, French avant-garde th ...

's ''

Rhinoceros A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...

'' starring

Zero Mostel Samuel Joel "Zero" Mostel (February 28, 1915 – September 8, 1977) was an American actor, comedian, and singer. He is best known for his portrayal of comic characters including Tevye on stage in ''Fiddler on the Roof'', Pseudolus on stage and o ...

Gene Wilder Gene Wilder (born Jerome Silberman; June 11, 1933 – August 29, 2016) was an American actor, comedian, writer, and filmmaker. He was mainly known for his comedic roles, including his portrayal of Willy Wonka in ''Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Fa ...

, and

Karen Black Karen Blanche Black (née Ziegler; July 1, 1939 – August 8, 2013) was an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She rose to prominence for her work in various studio and independent films in the 1970s, frequently portr ...

(and which featured a score by ''Hair'' composer

Galt MacDermot Arthur Terence Galt MacDermot (December 18, 1928 – December 17, 2018) was a Canadian-American composer, pianist and writer of musical theater. He won a Grammy Award for the song "African Waltz" in 1960. His most successful musicals were ''Hair ...

). O'Horgan composed the score for Paul Mazursky's '' Alex in Wonderland'' starring

Donald Sutherland Donald McNichol Sutherland (17 July 1935 – 20 June 2024) was a Canadian actor. With a career spanning six decades, he received List of awards and nominations received by Donald Sutherland, numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award ...

and

Ellen Burstyn Ellen Burstyn (born Edna Rae Gillooly; December 7, 1932) is an American actress. Known for her portrayals of complex women in dramas, she is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and two Primetime Emmy A ...

. In addition, he is credited with "stage production conceived and adapted by" for the 1978 ''

'' film.

Awards

O'Horgan won three

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Awards are among the most esteemed honors in New York theater, recognizing outstanding achievements across Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway productions within the same categories. The awards are considered a signific ...

s for his direction of ''Lenny'' and off-Broadway plays ''Futz!'' (1969), and ''Tom Paine'' (1968), and was also named Theatrical Director of the Year by ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'' in 1968. He was awarded the 1967

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given since 1956 by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theater artists and groups involved in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. Starting just after th ...

for best off-off-Broadway director of the year and the 1968 Brandeis Award for Creative Arts. In 1969 he was nominated for a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

for best director of a musical for ''Hair'' but lost out to Peter Hunt who directed ''

1776 Events January–February * January 1 – American Revolutionary War – Burning of Norfolk: The town of Norfolk, Virginia is destroyed, by the combined actions of the British Royal Navy and occupying Patriot forces. * January ...

''. In 2006

presented O'Horgan with the Artistic Achievement Award from the

New York Innovative Theatre Awards The New York Independent Theater Awards (also known as NYIT Awards and IT Awards) are accolades given annually by The League of Independent Theater to honor individuals and organizations who have achieved artistic excellence in Off-Off-Broadway ...

. This honor was bestowed to O'Horgan on behalf of his peers and fellow artists "in recognition of his significant artistic contributions to the Off-Off-Broadway community". When receiving the honor O'Horgan said "I'm in love with this whole game."

Personal life

O'Horgan lived in a loft in Manhattan at 840 Broadway (at 13th Street) that was famous for parties and events attended by artistic figures like

Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American writer, journalist and filmmaker. In a career spanning more than six decades, Mailer had 11 best-selling books, at least ...

and

Beverly Sills Beverly Sills (born Belle Miriam Silverman; May 25, 1929July 2, 2007) was an American operatic soprano whose career peak was between the 1950s and 1970s. Although she sang a repertoire from Handel and Mozart to Puccini, Massenet and Verd ...

. The walls were covered with his impressive collection of unusual musical instruments from throughout the world. His loft was visited by children's television host

Fred Rogers Fred McFeely Rogers (March 20, 1928 – February 27, 2003), better known as Mister Rogers, was an American television host, author, producer, and Presbyterian minister. He was the creator, showrunner, and host of the preschool television s ...

on a 1985 episode of ''

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood ''Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'' (sometimes shortened to ''Mister Rogers'') is an American half-hour educational children's television series that ran from 1968 to 2001. It was created and hosted by Fred Rogers. Its original incarnation, the se ...

''.Episode 1550
IMDB, accessed June 7, 2015. Many instruments were displayed in order of their history, from antique to current. There was also an alcove of gongs, including the one used in ''Jesus Christ Superstar''.
Robertson, Campbell. "For Sale: Odds and Ends of a Life in the Theater". ''New York Times''. November 1, 2007 He and his friends rang in many a New Year there, where at midnight everyone would take an instrument off the wall, or find a drum or a gong, and celebrate with an abandon and joy that O'Horgan so often set the stage for (both personally and professionally). He also held the weddings of two close friends there. Martha Wingate married Hunt Taylor there in 1980, and Soni Moreno married Harry Primeau there a few years later. Tom O'Horgan was the initial representation of a father figure to one underaged John Galen McKinley, aka. Jack McKinley who dropped out of high school and ran away from home in the rural Maryland to the big city when he was only 16 years old. It was Tom O'Horgan with whom young and handsome McKinley found not just lodging but also homosexual love after arriving alone and virtually broke in New York's Greenwich Village. The 16 year old lived with O'Horgan only for a few weeks, when he met the famous Harvey Milk and moved into his apartment only 3 weeks later to begin a brand new homosexual love affair. O'Horgan and Jack McKinley got together multiple times later in life. It was before Tom O'Horgan even set foot on Broadway and just started producing experimental plays in his Lower East Side loft and at Ellen Stewart's emerging Cafe La Mama, that McKinley was tending to the technical aspect of theater and learning the basics of stage managing. Harvey Milk would occasionally loan some money to Tom O'Horgan to encourage him to be more ambitious and take on a major production. At that time O'Horgan, McKinley, and Harvey Milk became an indivisible trio: the teenaged high school dropout, the avant-garde director, and a Wall Street businessman. By the time Tom's first Broadway musical "Hair" was being produced, Jack was hired as stage manager for the show, as well as other famous shows of Tom O'Horgan played from New York to California, including the world renowned and controversial "Jesus Christ Superstar". In his later years O'Horgan suffered from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

. The disease began to show signs in 2002 and by 2007 he was deeply in debt and unable to care for himself.Tom O'Horgan
MasterworksBroadway.com, accessed June 7, 2015. He came under the care of friends Marc and Julia Cohen, his loft and collections of instruments were sold, and he moved to Venice, Florida, where he died on January 11, 2009. A small group of close friends scattered his ashes in San Francisco Bay, where they had scattered the ashes of his lifelong friends

Harvey Milk Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978) was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Milk was born and raised i ...

and Galen McKinley years before. He was 84 years old.

Notes

Sources *

References

''New York Times'' obituaryPlaybill Obituary

External links

* * *
Tom O'Horgan
a
La MaMa Archives

pisode featuring Tom O'Horgan and his instrument collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Ohorgan, Tom 1924 births 2009 deaths American male composers American theatre directors Broadway theatre directors Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in Florida DePaul University alumni Drama Desk Award winners Film directors from Florida Film directors from Illinois Musicians from Chicago People from Venice, Florida 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians Deaths from dementia in Florida