“We hold these truths to be self
evident: that all men are created equal; that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable
rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness…”
The Declaration of Independence
Those words founded a nation, inspired generations and served a purpose that
the founding fathers couldn’t possibly have anticipated in their wildest
dreams – those words provided the basis for a musical.
Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone’s 1776 is that musical. Against the backdrop
of the Vietnam War, in an era when people were being encouraged to “tune
in, turn on, drop out”, this patriotic look at the debates, intrigue and
compromises involving the delegates to the second Continental Congress in the
summer of 1776 seemed like the most unlikely of candidates for a successful musical.
But like their forefathers before them, Mr. Edwards, Mr. Stone et al. battled
seemingly insurmountable odds and came out victorious.
1776 was the brainchild of Sherman Edwards. Edwards was a high school history
teacher who gave up teaching to play piano for the bands of Benny Goodman, Louis
Armstrong and Tommy Dorsey. During that time he also began to write contemporary
songs. He had hits with “Wonderful! Wonderful!”, “See You in
September” and “Broken-Hearted Melody” (which he wrote with
Promises, Promises lyricist, Hal David). It was also during this time that he
began formulating the idea for a musical about the signing of the Declaration
of Independence.
The Revolutionary War had served as the background for a few other musicals:
Ben Franklin in Paris (1964), Arms and the Girl (1950) and Dearest Enemy (1925).
But while those shows were set during the time period, their plots had little
to do with the events themselves. Here was a show that wasn’t concerned
with the typical “boy meets girl” storyline but instead focused on
the actual historical event.
Edwards had spent seven years researching and writing the show which was slated
for a opening in late 1966 but the libretto was thought to be unworkable and
Peter Stone was brought in to do some rewrites. Stone had been previously represented
on Broadway with the books for Kean and Skyscraper.
Together they came up with a show that was based on historical fact, but had
just enough dramatic license thrown in to provide intrigue and suspense to an
historical event of which the audience already knew the outcome. Their most noted
alterations of history included: having the debate on the wording of the Declaration
take place before, not after, the vote for independence; having Martha Jefferson
come to Philadelphia to romantically inspire Thomas Jefferson into writing the
historical document (Jefferson did in fact see his wife during this time period,
but he visited her in Virginia - Edwards and Stone felt is served the play better
to keep all activity set in the one locale); and finally, as the Liberty Bell
tolls, having the names of each of the delegates called to come forward and add
his signature to the document on the Fourth of July. In reality most of the signatures
were added to the Declaration over a period of months, with a great many being
added on August 2.
1776 opened March 16, 1969 at the 46th Street Theatre (now the Richard Rodgers
Theatre). It won the Tony Award that year for best musical beating out Hair,
Promises, Promises and Zorba. The show played a total of 1217 performances and
made two moves during its run (to the St. James Theatre in 1970 and the Majestic
Theatre in 1971) before closing on Feb. 13, 1972.
The cast included Broadway veterans William Daniels and Howard Da Silva as John
Adams and Benjamin Franklin, respectively, Ken Howard as Thomas Jefferson, long
before his days on ‘70s TV as The White Shadow and two celebrated actors,
Paul Hecht playing John Dickinson and Ron Holgate as Richard Henry Lee, at the
beginnings of their careers. It also featured Betty Buckley in her Broadway debut
in the role of Martha Jefferson.
Also in the cast was the original Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd, Edmund Lyndeck;
I’m Getting My Life Together and Taking It On the Road composer, Gretchen
Cryer and William Duell, who has the distinction of being the only person to
appear in both the original 1969 production and the 1997 revival.
Much of the libretto was taken from historical records and letters from the time.
And Adams’ summation of his dream of independence in the song, “Is
Anybody There?”, is taken from a letter that he wrote to his wife Abigail.
In the letter Adams expressed how he believed Independence Day should be celebrated
in the future. Edwards paraphrased it thus:
“
I see fireworks!
I see the Pageant and Pomp and Parade!
I hear the bells ringing out!
I hear the cannons roar!
I see Americans, all Americans,
Free! For evermore!”
