THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
September 7-9, 2001
'1776'
By Ed Kaufman
As the first show of its fifth season, REPRISE! Broadway's Best is presenting the American epic history musical, "1776," a thoughtful, touching, terrific celebration of the creation and signing of the American Declaration of Independence.
With a book by Tony/Oscar/Emmy Award winner Peter Stone and a score by ex-high school teacher Sherman Edwards (who never wrote another Broadway musical), "1776" is certainly unique as far as American musical are concerned.
Although many American musicals use historical characters in a fictional setting, "1776" emerges right from the historical pages of that hot, humid summer of 1776, when the delegates of the original American colonies met as the Continental Congress to debate the destiny of the nation. All the while, Gen. George Washington, with a woefully small army of volunteers, was waging a seemingly hopeless war against the British in upstate New York.
All is told in a single set (the design of Gary Wissman) in the chamber of the Continental Congress. As the show begins, agitator and abrasive Massachusetts delegate John Adams (the wonderful Roger Rees, star of TV's "M.A.N.T.I.S.") berates the assembly for its torpor and inaction. As he does, the others sing "For God's Sake, John, Sit Down." We get to see and hear patriots as everyday people.
This number sets the tone of "1776": It's a matter of Adams, the wise and witty Benjamin Franklin (the endearing Orson Bean) and the quiet scholar Thomas Jefferson (the talented Thomas Ian Griffith) and a few others who argue for a complete break and declaration of war against the British while the other delegates are content to "Piddle, Twiddle" - as Adams sings his annoyance.
Soon the debate rages: It's Adams vs. the reluctant Pennsylvania delegate John Dickinson (the talented Mark Ryan, who leads the conservative faction in "Cool, Cool Considerate Men") and Adams/Franklin vs. the delegates from the Southern slave states (Kevin Earley is a standout as South Carolina delegate Edward Rutledge as he sings the ironic "Molasses to Rum"). Add to this all the fractious bickering, intrigue and self-interest that somehow still brought about the final compromise and the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Along with his patriotic/political persona, Adams (and, to a lesser degree, Jefferson) is also cast as a private man as he ruminates in his mind for his loving wife, Abigail (the lovely Marcia Mitzman Gaven), as they sing the touching duets "Till Then" and "Yours, Yours. Yours."
Credit Gordon Hunt for the savvy direction, Peter Matz for the expert musical direction, Scott A. Lane for the colorful costumes and Kay Cole for the choreography.
DAILY NEWS
LA LIFE
Friday, September 7, 2001
Spirit of ‘1776’
Talented cast captures the drama behind our country’s struggle for independence
By Evan Henerson
Theater Critic
In a hot and stuffy room during the summer of 1776 in Philadelphia, the colorful members of the Second Continental Congress bantered, bickered, wheedled, orated and nearly came to blows before emerging on July 4, with a rather significant document. Sherman Edwards, a former history teacher with an itch for the revolution, decided the summer of 1776 might make for – of all things – a compelling musical.
Edwards was right, although the subject matter and its treatment all but guaranteed that the musical “1776” (which opened in 1969) would fall out of favor when feelings of patriotism weren’t exactly part of the social climate. To say nothing of production costs. How many companies out there can spring for a 25-person cast with wig budget to match?
The scaled down Reprise! series at UCLA, however, can work through ticklish casting and production demands, and they simply love tricky musicals. Not surprisingly, Reprise! has opened its fifth season with a quite creditable staging of “1776.” In Gordon Hunt’s production, you can see why the work was a hit that ran for three years on Broadway…and why less-adventurous companies with budgets for musicals might steer around it like they would a coiled rattlesnake.
“For God’s Sake, John, Sit Down” is the first number sung by the exasperated congressional delegates who, by June of 1776, have long since wearied of one member’s independence-minded harangue. The John in question is future president Adams (played to the fulminating nines by Roger Rees), a righteous, browbeating Massachusetts lawyer who simply won’t let the question of independence rest. Consequently, Adams finds himself respected but not especially liked. Benjamin Franklin (Orson Bean) old but still quite randy, is the jovial good cop to Adam’s head cracker while a couple of Virginia delegates, Thomas Jefferson (Thomas Ian Griffith) and Richard Henry Lee (John Scherer) are poised to bring new energy to the battle.
The opposition is led by Franklin’s fellow Pennsylvanian John Dickinson (Mark Ryan) and South Carolina’s Edward Rutledge (Kevin Earley), who is especially worried about Jefferson’s inclinations toward abolishing slavery.
There are, needless to say, a ton of personalities for Edwards and author Peter Stone to keep straight in 2 1/2 hours, and Hunt’s very strong cast does remarkable work with what is, in many cases, a bunch of cameos. Even so, personalities come through. These men know each other and have spent much time together in too-close quarters. They are battlers as well as brothers. And, as so many make clear, they are patriots.
Sonte doesn’t really know what to do with the pair of women. Abigail Adams (Marcia Mitzman Gaven) is reduced to singing encouragement via letters to her husband (boy could those two have used email) while Bets Malone’s Martha Jefferson arrives for one scene to give her writer’s-block-stricken husband some physical refueling and to sing, expertly, a song about Jefferson’s violin-playing abilities.
Never the most melodic score anyway, the music of “1776” is parceled out judiciously between long scenes. Lee has a semicomic number endlessly punning his name while Earley’s Rutledge perches on a couple of chairs while belting out the show stopper: “Molasses to Rum.” In “But Mr. Adams,” a quartet of congressmen try to beg off being asked to draft the Declaration of Independence. Griffith’s Jefferson, a solid and quiet presence throughout, loses.
Ultimately, “1776’s” effectiveness comes not from its music but from the ability of a cast and crew to, once again, make a jaded audience understand the weight of what was taking place. To that end, Hunt and his company succeed admirably, “1776” may be a familiar story with an ending that we know going in, but the Reprise! company treats it with the perspective and dignity it deserves. And that make good drama.
