Sit Down, John

I'd like to say that our impending trip to Hershey and Gettysburg in Pennsylvania spurred us on to see the musical 1776. While there may be a smidgeon of truth to that, I've wanted to see this production since Musical Theatre West's season was announced last year, and I think I wore down Caesar enough that he caved in, too. So we called our friends Clark and Rob, and on Saturday night, we headed for the Carpenter Center.

A quick synopsis of the show: in 1776, John Adams tries almost in vain to get the Congress to support a proposition of independence from England. John Adams of Massachusetts tries everything he can to convince the southern Colonies that it's the right thing to do. But his fellow Congressmen from the South find him obnoxious -- and they're holding out for a possible reconciliation with King George. Meanwhile, General George Washington sends missives to Congress of his downtrodden troops as they await the onslaught of the English military.

When the idea of writing a declaration of the need for independence arises, along with the potential for it to gain the approval of the southern Colonies, Adams -- along with Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania and the young Thomas Jefferson of Virginia -- work together to draft the declaration, and then to convince the rest of Congress to adopt it.

This turned out to be a very effective and funny show. Even in the last few scenes, knowing full well what would happen, I still gripped the arm rests on my seat, wondering if Adam, Franklin and Jefferson would be able to get the southern approval, especially after being shown the hypocrisy of their desire abolish slavery. From all the gasping in the audience, I think many others felt the same.

The cast was amazing: Steven Glaudini as John Adams on the verge of a nervous breakdown thanks to a Congress that can't get anything done; Stephen Vinovich as Benjamin Franklin, spouting his good-humored wisdom and keeping Adams grounded; John Bisom as Thomas Jefferson who watches his words take shape then get ripped to shreds; Robert J. Townsend as Edward Rutledge of South Carolina, whose slick smarminess with the song Molasses To Rum shoved the hypocrisy back in Adams' face; Davis Gaines as a happy-go-lucky Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, so sure of his family's standing in the colonies that he has no doubt of his ability to convince Virginia to follow the path to independence; and the rest.

I liked the use of shutters throughout the production. It was so hot in Philadelphia that the windows needed to be open, but that allowed the myriad flies to swarm about the room; Martha Jefferson throwing open the shutters after spending the first night in a long time with her husband and conversing with Adams and Franklin on the street below; a large shutter unfolding to hide the stage when not needed. And a main song dealing with opening up a window.

The only minor drawback was the orchestra which at times seemed to overpower the performers, but I'd seen the movie enough to understand what was being sung. And yes, the First Act lasted almost two full hours, but for such a wonderful show, that didn't matter too much.

Image from the film version of 1776 from MovingPictureBlog.