THEATRE REVIEW:
KPBS
AIRDATE: July 04, 2003
Timing is
everything, onstage or off. So, there's no better moment to celebrate our
Independence than to revisit the signing of its Declaration, by seeing the
patriotic musical, "1776." This isn't the way Miss Bigbottom taught
it to you in junior high. She never told you that Ben Franklin was a dirty old
man. Or that John Adams was a despised rabble-rouser. Or that newlywed Tom
Jefferson could barely stay out of bed long enough to write the famous
document. But some things haven't changed. Like the political
in-fighting, pet-peeves, high-flying egos, behind-the-scenes intrigues and
tempestuous turf battles that still characterize our Congress.
Composer/lyricist Sherman Edwards spent 9 1/2 years researching and creating
the show, with librettist Peter Stone. The result garnered four Tony Awards,
including Best Musical, when it opened on Broadway in 1969 and it ran for three
years. As hot as it was in Philadelphia that historic summer and as blistering
as the tempers became, last year's productions at Starlight Musical Theatre and
Lamb's Players Theatre left me cold. But there's been a transplantation and a
transformation. The Lamb's production has moved into the Lyceum Theatre in
Horton Plaza, and the effect is liberating -- and often exhilarating. Half the
cast of 25 has been changed or shifted, and the piece is lighter and tighter.
The humor sparkles, and coming down the aisles into the audience allows the
story to become almost conspiratorial. We can feel the heat in that room, both literally
and figuratively.
Robert Smyth is
even more commanding as the pugnacious Adams, and he's in far better voice. Tom
Stephenson is ever-more delectable as the libidinous Franklin, and
good-looking, lanky Matt Davis remains delightfully haughty as Richard Henry
Lee, who stops the show with "The Lees of Virginia." David S.
Humphrey makes a dashing addition as the sober but sensual Jefferson, and
understudy Sandy Campbell brings her striking voice and presence to Abigail
Adams. As the courier from Gen. Washington's dying troops, Michael Elliott does
a heart-wrenching job on "Momma Look Sharp." And John Polhamus
reprises his song of the South, "Molasses to Rum," which implicates
the north in the slave trade. This scene illustrates a crucial lost opportunity
in our history, when the slavery paragraph was struck from the Declaration to
assure its passage. Overall, a thrilling story, beautifully told, gorgeously
costumed, attractively designed, wonderfully sung. It's amazing that, 227 years
later, the outcome still holds us in suspense. Incredible what a motivated
Congress can accomplish in mere weeks, even days. Would that it were so today.
But let's celebrate the past, if not the present. Exercise your freedom: Go to
the theater.
I'm Pat Launer, for KPBS news.
©2003 Patté Productions Inc.