Dude (The Highway Life) is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. It is an allegory about good and evil, the conflict between mankind's creative and destructive urges, the power of love, and the joy to be found in simple pleasures. Dude is an everyman who loses his innocence and fights to regain it. Background As soon as the musical Hair opened, Ragni began to work on Dude. MacDermot was busy with Two Gentlemen of Verona but finally began to compose the music. In March 1972, their studio cast album, Salome Bey Sings Songs from Dude, was recorded and released on Kilmarnock Records. The music was more influenced by country music than their previous musical, Hair. The rehearsal period was plagued with problems: Kevin Geer, the actor who had been cast in the leading role, Dude, was unable to sing the role acceptably and had to be replaced; the script (such as it was) was far from finished; Ragni's requests of the producers were bizarre (for example, 100 butterflies to be released at the beginning of each performance); and the cast threatened to walk out. Production In The Broadway Theatre, the musicians were divided, with brass and woodwinds against the wall of one side of the playing area and strings at the other. To accommodate the multimedia presentation, the theatre was gutted and reconverted, at a cost of $800,000, into a circus-like arena in the center (a theatre in the round) filled with fake dirt (real dirt had caused dust; wetting it had caused mud), ramps, runways, catwalks, columns, trapezes, trapdoors, bleachers, and various mechanical and electronic gear. Performers moved freely between the round playing area, representing "Earth", and the audience, seated in flanking "valleys and foothills," with "mountains and mountain tops" beyond and "tree tops and trees" (mezzanine) above. "Heaven and hell" were also represented. The overall effect was of a circus being performed in a primeval forest.

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Notable quotes

“La prima volta che vado a letto con un uomo succede quasi sempre che non si fa niente. Si preoccupano, si agitano, credono di dover fare i fenomeni. Pensano "Oddio, lo sto facendo con l'Arcuri", e non si conclude. Ormai lo so, sono rassegnata. Per questo concedo sempre una seconda chance.”
— The first time I go to bed with a man, most of the time nothing happens. They worry, they get agitated, they think they have to excel. They think, "Oh my God, I'm doing it with Arcuri", and then it's a total flop. Now that I know, I've resigned myself to the fact. This is why I always grant them a second chance.
“But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”
— Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) The Old Man and the Sea (1952), p. 113
“I have thought some of Nature's journeymen had made men and not made them well, they imitated humanity so abominably.”
— William Shakespeare, Hamlet (1600-02), Act III, scene 2, line 37
“The only competition worthy a wise man is with himself.”
— Anna Brownell Jameson, Memoirs and Essays, Washington Allston
“Der edle Mensch ist nur ein Bild von Gott.”
— The noble man is only God's image.
“Every man will be a poet if he can; otherwise a philosopher or man of science. This proves the superiority of the poet.”
— Henry David Thoreau, journal entry, April 11, 1852. The Heart of Thoreau's Journals, ed. Odell Shepard, p. 126 (1927)

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

Overview

Dude (The Highway Life) is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. It is an allegory about good and evil, the conflict between mankind's creative and destructive urges, the power of love, and the joy to be found in simple pleasures. Dude is an everyman who loses his innocence and fights to regain it. Background As soon as the musical Hair opened, Ragni began to work on Dude. MacDermot was busy with Two Gentlemen of Verona but finally began to compose the music. In March 1972, their studio cast album, Salome Bey Sings Songs from Dude, was recorded and released on Kilmarnock Records. The music was more influenced by country music than their previous musical, Hair. The rehearsal period was plagued with problems: Kevin Geer, the actor who had been cast in the leading role, Dude, was unable to sing the role acceptably and had to be replaced; the script (such as it was) was far from finished; Ragni's requests of the producers were bizarre (for example, 100 butterflies to be released at the beginning of each performance); and the cast threatened to walk out. Production In The Broadway Theatre, the musicians were divided, with brass and woodwinds against the wall of one side of the playing area and strings at the other. To accommodate the multimedia presentation, the theatre was gutted and reconverted, at a cost of $800,000, into a circus-like arena in the center (a theatre in the round) filled with fake dirt (real dirt had caused dust; wetting it had caused mud), ramps, runways, catwalks, columns, trapezes, trapdoors, bleachers, and various mechanical and electronic gear. Performers moved freely between the round playing area, representing "Earth", and the audience, seated in flanking "valleys and foothills," with "mountains and mountain tops" beyond and "tree tops and trees" (mezzanine) above. "Heaven and hell" were also represented. The overall effect was of a circus being performed in a primeval forest.

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Dude (The Highway Life) is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. It is an allegory about good and evil, the conflict between mankind's creative and destructive urges, the power of love, and the joy to be found in simple pleasures. Dude is an everyman who loses his innocence and fights to regain it.

Not who you're looking for? Others named Dude: individual, typically male · 2015 single by Lethal Bizzle & Stormzy · 2025 soundtrack album by Sai Abhyankkar · single by Shawnna and Beenie Man

Notable quotes

“La prima volta che vado a letto con un uomo succede quasi sempre che non si fa niente. Si preoccupano, si agitano, credono di dover fare i fenomeni. Pensano "Oddio, lo sto facendo con l'Arcuri", e non si conclude. Ormai lo so, sono rassegnata. Per questo concedo sempre una seconda chance.”
— The first time I go to bed with a man, most of the time nothing happens. They worry, they get agitated, they think they have to excel. They think, "Oh my God, I'm doing it with Arcuri", and then it's a total flop. Now that I know, I've resigned myself to the fact. This is why I always grant them a second chance.
“But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”
— Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) The Old Man and the Sea (1952), p. 113
“I have thought some of Nature's journeymen had made men and not made them well, they imitated humanity so abominably.”
— William Shakespeare, Hamlet (1600-02), Act III, scene 2, line 37
“The only competition worthy a wise man is with himself.”
— Anna Brownell Jameson, Memoirs and Essays, Washington Allston
“Der edle Mensch ist nur ein Bild von Gott.”
— The noble man is only God's image.
“Every man will be a poet if he can; otherwise a philosopher or man of science. This proves the superiority of the poet.”
— Henry David Thoreau, journal entry, April 11, 1852. The Heart of Thoreau's Journals, ed. Odell Shepard, p. 126 (1927)

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

Dude across IJR

On Watch

Dude Perfect EXPOSED!Dude Perfect

Studio characters

Alice Harvie DudenAsk the American dentist everything the interviews skip.Anne DudekAsk anything — within reason.

Ask Genius by OpenServe about Dude Create in Studio Build a game Watch videos