Radiant Baby is a musical

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

 about Keith Haring

Keith Haring

Keith Haring was an artist and social activist whose work responded to the New York City street culture of the 1980s.-Early life:...

, who was an artist and social activist in New York City. The music was composed by Debra Barsha, with lyrics by Ira Gasman

Ira Gasman

Ira Gasman is an American theatre writer and lyricist and newspaper columnist.Gasman was nominated for both Tony and Drama Desk Awards for his contributions to The Life, the 1997 Broadway musical that had its first production at off-Broadway's Westbeth Theatre seven years earlier.Gasman's other...

, Stuart Ross, and Debra Barsha. It was suggested by Keith Haring: the unauthorised biography by John Gruen.

Radiant Baby was partially developed at the 1998 O'Neil Music Theater Conference in Waterford, Connecticut

Waterford, Connecticut

Waterford is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. It is named after Waterford, Ireland. The population was 19,152 at the 2000 census. The town center is listed as a census-designated place .-Geography:...

. It had its New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 premier at The Public Theater in a production directed by George C. Wolfe

George C. Wolfe

George Costello Wolfe is an American playwright and director of theater and film. He won a Tony Award in 1993 for directing Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and another Tony Award in 1996 for his direction of the musical, Bring in 'da Noise/Bring in 'da Funk.-Early life and...

 with Daniel Reichard in the title role. Billy Porter also appeared in the New York production.