Review: ‘1776′ – Revolutionary musical, evolutionary production

Most of the time, seeing signatures affixed to a piece of paper is about as entertaining as watching paint dry. But when the paper is the Declaration of Independence, and the show is “1776,” audience members have to think again. The new Broadway revival of “1776,” playing through March 12 at the CIBC Theatre in Chicago as part of a national tour, is no longer strictly based in the 18th century or even the 20th. “When in the course of human events … ” When? Now.

Allow me to explain.

The Tony Award-winning musical has always been a favorite of mine ever since I saw the film of the same name – featuring many of the original Broadway actors – over 50 years ago. I even got an LP of the film’s soundtrack as an early teen. What impressed me back then was how composer/lyricist Sherman Edwards and playwright Peter Stone brought our Founding Fathers to life in the pivotal year of 1776, using humor, passion – for spouses and for independence – and piercing dramatic sequences. When I had the opportunity to act in a TownSquare Players production of the musical 13 years ago this month, it was a dream come true.

The relative lack of male actors available in most communities to play all the members of the Second Continental Congress in “1776″ means that the show isn’t staged as often as works with a smaller number of male characters. This new production, which just wrapped up a 105-performance Broadway run in January before starting the national tour, took a different approach to casting: instead of having just two actresses (to play Abigail Adams and Martha Jefferson), every person on stage is a female, transgender or nonbinary individual. They’re still playing male characters ranging from Massachusetts delegate – and future president – John Adams to a New Jersey delegate, the Rev. Jonathan Witherspoon, but before they don their period costume pieces in front of us, the audience gets to see this determined, strong ensemble in 2023 attire. It’s a powerful moment.

The cast also includes multiple races and ethnicities. For example, Brooke Simpson, who plays the courier, is a Native American and member of the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe who comes downstage before the show even begins to formally pay tribute to the Indigenous peoples who used to live in the area where the CIBC Theatre now stands.

With the blessing of the estates of Peter Stone and Sherman Edwards, Abigail Adams – lovingly played by Tieisha Thomas (who also plays Witherspoon) – has some additional dialogue in her long-distance communication with her independence effort-leading husband John (the multi-talented Gisela Adisa). The dialogue includes actual empowerment quotes from Abigail Adams: “If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.” The wording of the declaration may still say “All men are created equal,” but this production gives some voice and representation to “the ladies.”

What hasn’t changed is that the musical numbers are outstanding and varied, ranging from songs of frustration with John Adams (“Sit Down, John” and “But, Mr. Adams” – in which John is described multiple times as “obnoxious and disliked”) to songs of love (such as “He Plays the Violin,” a tribute by Martha Jefferson [Connor Lyon] to her husband, Thomas [Nancy Anderson]) to songs that point out the agony of war (Simpson’s tear-jerking rendition of “Momma, Look Sharp”) and the economic/personal aspects of slavery (“Molasses to Rum,” sung by South Carolina delegate Edward Rutledge [Kassandra Haddock], who demands that anti-slavery wording be removed from the resolution on independence before he will vote for it). I also loved Shawna Hamic’s Richard Henry Lee showpiece, “The Lees of Old Virginia,” as she, Adisa, and Liz Mikel (the embodiment of Ben Franklin) mine every piece of humor gold from Richard’s ancestral pride and the homonym-like last syllable of adverbs (“-ly”). The orchestra, under music supervisor/director Ryan Cantwell, gives consistently excellent support.

Projection Designer David Bengali also deserves a shout-out. Whether it’s the famous John Trumbull “Declaration of Independence” painting being projected on a curtain that’s appropriately pulled aside by John Adams, or it’s the fast-paced look at photographs/video clips from the next 200-plus years (Martin Luther King Jr., protests, Kamala Harris and Joe Biden) near the end of the catchy “The Egg” (about their anticipation of the birth of a new nation), Bengali’s efforts truly enhance the show.

A couple things to keep in mind before you bring the entire family to this excellent show: It’s about two hours and 40 minutes long, and the slavery-related staging and lyrics (“Black gold”) of “Molasses to Rum” can be upsetting. For both reasons, I suggest teens and adults as the ideal audience.

I may not be a signer, but I have no problem making this particular declaration: the diverse cast of “1776″ – with some 21st century touches to dialogue and projections – makes this history-based musical more relevant than ever. Go see this entertaining history before it’s truly in the past.

• Paul Lockwood is a singer, local theater actor (including the recent Theatre 121 adaptation of “A Christmas Carol”), Grace Lutheran Church (Woodstock) and Toastmasters member, theater reviewer, podcaster, columnist, business proposal writer, and past president of TownSquare Players. He’s lived in Woodstock for over 22 years.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: “1776″

WHERE: CIBC Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St., Chicago

WHEN: Through March 12

INFORMATION: www.broadwayinchicago.com