‘1776’: Revolutionary reboot misfires

‘1776’: The company. Photo: Joan Marcus.

1776
Book by Peter Stone
Music & lyrics by Sherman Edwards
Directed by Jeffrey L. Paige & Diane Paulus
Through January 8, 2023
American Airlines Theatre
227 West 42nd Street
(212-719-1300), www.roundabouttheatre.org

By David NouNou

1776, as originally written in 1969, was a masterpiece of American musical theatre. At the time it sounded absurd to write a musical about the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It had no advance sale but ended up winning the 1969 Tony Award for Best Musical and deservedly so. The book by Peter Stone is most interesting and illuminating. The score by Sherman Edwards is lilting and memorable. The direction by Peter Hunt was heart-stoppingly impeccable and he won the Tony Award for Best Direction.

In 1997, Roundabout did an excellent revival of the show, brilliantly directed by Scott Ellis. This year we get one of the most ill-conceived revivals of any musical. Most people know the signing of the Declaration of Independence and our forefathers from the painting by John Trumbull and the signatures boldly signed on the document. Anyone familiar with the picture and the show 1776 knows this is one of the most indelible portraits in American history. Historically, it is male-dominated and attired in the dress code of the day.

Directors are taking risks and reimagining musicals with mixed results. Case in point was last year’s gender-bending revival of Stephen Sondheim classic musical Company, directed by Marianne Elliott, changing Bobby, a male character, to a female lead, Bobbie. It worked because the character is interchangeable. However, when you uproot embedded history that strongly deals with sensitive issues like the abolition of slavery into “woke” standards of today, you are left with a very poor explanation/translation of American history.

The story needs no explanation but the ill-conceived reimagining direction by Diane Paulus and Jeffrey L. Page and absurd choreography by Mr. Page is a head-scratcher for the ages. Right or wrong, 1776 is inherently the most male oriented/dominated musical ever conceived. Where it really gets dicey is when directors have to deal with the score of a musical; just imagine if you heard a male Maria singing “I Feel Pretty” from West Side Story. 1776 has one of the most arresting and uncomfortable songs written for a musical, “Molasses to Rum to Slaves.” It is sung by a strong-willed, “distasteful” Edmund Rutledge from South Carolina (Sara Porkalob), refusing to sign the Declaration because he wants abolishing slavery to be stricken from the document. This song is not a throwaway; it has to be sung with hard, cold conviction and no gimmicks.

In another instance, “Momma Look Sharp” is a ballad and lament and is sung by a courier (Imani Pearl Williams) in a letter from George Washington to the congressional committee relating a soldier’s cry to his mother before dying. What is meant to be a tribute to the lost man here has been turned into a production number of a wailing mother and members of the cast in black jackets.

Another instance is the final song “Is Anybody There?” sung by John Adams (Crystal Lucas-Perry). It is a sincere,sad song about a letter from Washington to the committee about his losses, asking “is anybody there, does anybody care?” and Adams translates it into his vision of a monarch-free America but no one else seems to see his ideal; it now sounds like a “belt out” power-pop ballad on “American Idol.”

The biggest disappointment comes in the end. The ending usually is one of the most dramatic moments in musical history that sends shivers down the spine. As originally conceived, you hear each delegate being called by name to sign the document and take their place in the designated spot as in the Trumbull portrait in full regalia. With each name signing, you hear the Liberty Bell clanging, with each name the music builds and the clanging gets louder until the tableau is completed. You get to see the entire portrait that is frozen in time and the music swells to a full crescendo.

Don’t have any high expectations here. The costumes by Emilio Sosa look more like bargain-basement Halloween costumes and no goosebumps or portrait. The cast marches out, one by one, to sign a piece of paper with the signature on a projection. The end.

In all fairness, I have to single out one person, Eryn LeCroy as Martha Jefferson. Her rendition of “He Plays the Violin,” sung after a night of unbridled passion with her husband Thomas, is simply sublime. Ms. LeCroy delivers one of the few authentic moments in this revival of 1776, a brilliant musical that just comes across as a total misfire under the direction of Jeffrey L. Paige and Diane Paulus.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 10, 2022
Reviewed at October 9, 2022 press performance.

‘1776’: (left to right) Elizabeth A. Davis, Patrena Murray & Crystal Lucas-Perry. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘1776’: The cast. Photo: Joan Marcus.