One show on Broadway is making—and re-making—history every night.
The Tony Award-winning Best Musical 1776 has catapulted to blazing new life in a thrillingly new production, and New York Magazine/Vulture says, “it’s an absolute blast!” Suddenly, the songs, humor, and passion of this musical masterpiece soar as never before.
A glorious multiracial cast of female, transgender, and nonbinary actors portrays the fiery founders of this country, putting history in the hands of the humans who were left out the first time around—and the result is an epic show of passion, debate, and roof-raising musical fireworks. Experience “a 1776 worth celebrating!” (Variety) “It pulsates with energy and snaps with attitude.”
“AN ABSOLUTE BLAST. IT WINS YOU OVER IN MINUTES! I’m glad to have witnessed it. I want other people to witness it.” – James Frankie Thomas, New York Magazine
“FOUR STARS! YOU LEAVE THE PRODUCTION AMAZED!” – Adam Feldman, Time Out
“VERY FUNNY, WITH A JAUNTY AND TUNEFUL SCORE. A WIN FOR LIFE AND LIBERTY!” – Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly
“A 1776 WORTH CELEBRATING! It pulsates with energy and snaps with attitude.” – Frank Rizzo, Variety
It wins you over in minutes. Though I spent the opening number puzzling over what the nontraditional casting was doing for the show - what statement it was making, how literally we were meant to interpret it, whether it was working too hard against the text - I soon ceased to notice it at all. The talent level is so high that the casting feels less conceptual and more incidental. Led by the charismatic Crystal Lucas-Perry as John Adams, the ensemble cast is a thrilling mix of Broadway veterans (including Carolee Carmello, resplendent in villain mode as John Dickinson) and newcomers. My favorites - it's the kind of show that encourages you to pick favorites - were Shawna Hamic, bombastic as Richard Henry Lee, Brooke Simpson, sparkly and adorable as Roger Sherman, and Patrena Murray, whose wry, understated performance as Benjamin Franklin feels definitive. But the shared energy and chemistry transcend any individual performance, and under the direction of Page and Paulus, everyone onstage seems to be having the time of their life.
Countering these assets is the staging. Nuance and subtlety have been discarded in favor of a brash, bold, hit-'em-on-the-head presentation. 1776 was written as a protest musical mixing a strong anti-Vietnam message with a bitter view of then-President Nixon and his administration, the successful implementation of which contributed to the musical's resounding success. 'Momma Look Sharp,' an outspoken folk-tinged pacifist dirge which stands out as a quiet change-of-pace moment in this relatively explosive musical, is here handed over to a stage full of black-cloaked, keening mothers. Effective? Kind of- but more effective than the authors' image of a lonely corpse lying forgotten in the tall grass in the meadow by the red maple tree?
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