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‘Let the Sunshine in’ will be in Boulder April 19th and 20th at the Dairy Arts Center

When Galt MacDermot passed in December, he left behind a legacy of kindness, joy and rock-and-roll—all of which inspired Tamara Meneghini and Eric Svejcar to give him a proper send-off.

That tribute performance, called Let the Sunshine In, is a celebration of MacDermot’s 50-year career in the form of three performances of a rock-and-roll cabaret. These performances, which are directly inspired by and informed by MacDermot while he was alive, will take place only at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder over the weekend of April 19 and 20.

MacDermot is best known as the musical creator of Hair, a fun rock musical that helped revolutionize the musical theatre scene in the late 1960s, and paved the way for such musicals as Jesus Christ Superstar, Grease and Rent. MacDermot, however, had an extensive career, and one that Meneghini and Svejcar are eager to bring to a wider audience.

Galt MacDermot revolutionized rock-and-roll musicals when he created the music for Hair. Photograph by annulla/.

“Galt MacDermont wrote way more than Hair, and his other stuff is just as good, if not better. If people like Hair, they should come,” said Meneghini, an associate professor of theatre at the University of Colorado Boulder and one of the performers. “You’re going to hear so many other tunes that are just as catchy as Hair.”

Meneghini first got introduced to MacDermot through Svejcar when they worked creatively together in New York City. At the time, they were creating cabarets, which are small, intimate musical performances in tiny venues like a pub, restaurant or nightclub, when Svejcar wanted to try something new. Svejcar, already a big fan of MacDermot’s vast expanse of work, including his musicals, soundtracks and jazz and funk compositions, wanted to create a cabaret in the same vein as MacDermot’s music.

The duo eventually met MacDermot, who, among other things, wrote a song for Meneghini’s wedding, invited them over to his home, and helped work on a cabaret inspired by his music.

At the time, MacDermot remarked that, “Eric and Tammy perform with the vigor and enthusiasm that music from the ‘60s needs but with an expertise and insight that is unique and gives the songs new life.”

And for Meneghini, that mentorship and feedback meant a lot.

“Galt influenced me as a musician, and then also as a teacher and a mentor because he was never, ever too busy or too famous to help people,” commented Meneghini. “And, not just with us, but with other people, he was just really generous with his gift and his talents.”

While best known for his work on Hair, MacDermot worked on other, lesser-known but critically acclaimed musicals during his musical career, including Isabel’s a Jezebel, Two Gentleman in Verona, Via Galactica and the Human Comedy.

Before moving to New York City to work on musicals, MacDermot received a bachelor of music from Cape Town University, with an emphasis on African music, and had already received a Grammy award for “African Waltz” in 1960.

MacDermot, best known for his African-inspired music and intricate, fun beats, also worked on a number of film soundtracks and jazz and funk songs. This led his music to be highly sampled by other artists over the years, particularly in ‘90s hip-hop. The most notable of which include Busta Rhyme’s "Woo hah!!" and Run DMC’s Grammy Award-winning “Down with the King” which used “Space” and “Where Do I Go” from Hair, respectively.

In the beginning, no one really knew about MacDermot’s other compositions besides Hair—that is, except Svejcar, according to Meneghini. Over the years, MacDermot’s music influenced Svejcar’s own style, which can be heard in his new musical podcast series, . He also is now the go-to person in New York for rock-and-roll musical rehearsals and auditions because he can play the intricate rhythms, and the foremost MacDermot expert.

Let the Sunshine In is a creative collaboration between Svejcar and Meneghini, and Svejcar is coming out from New York City to perform on the keyboards. In addition, he is in charge of music direction for the show, and Meneghini will provide vocal accompaniment. The duo has also recruited three local musicians from Boulder: Peter Hennig on bass, Rick Pruitt on guitar and Paul Smiddy on drums.

“People should come to understand that music in the way it should be understood because he (Svejcar) gets the intricacies of the rhythms of Galt MacDermot’s music really well,” said Meneghini.

Tickets are available for purchase at the Dairy Arts Center. They are $20 for general admission, and $15 for students and seniors. There are also group rate tickets available for groups of 10 or more at $15 each.

Top photograph from a performance of the musical, Hair. Photograph by GisleHaa/.