- Performances: 1,217.
- Open / Close: March 16, 1969 – February 13, 1972
- Theater: The 46th Street Theatre (now the Richard Rodgers Theatre).
- Tony Awards: Won half (3) of the 6 nominations it received…sort of. It won for Best Musical, Best Direction (Peter Hunt) and Ronald Holgate won for Best Featured Actor for playing Richard Henry Lee (whose only significant contribution to the story is in the first act). However, William Daniels, who starred as John Adams, was ruled ineligible for a Best Actor nomination because his name was not billed above the title of the show. He was nominated for Best Featured Actor, but refused the nomination.
- Fun Fact: I’d say that weirdness with the Tonys counts as a fun fact. But another one, as discussed in the podcast, is that more than 30 minutes pass during the show between the song “The Lees of Old Virginia” and “But Mr. Adams”, the next song in the show. This is the longest interlude in a Broadway musical that does not feature any music.
Podcast
Am I too on the nose here? Pretty much any time seems like a good time to reflect on the founding of the United States of America, but boy howdy, does this current time we’re in seem like a specifically good time to do so. The musical “1776” is a not-quite-historically-correct dramatization of the drafting and ratification of the Declaration of Independence. It focuses on John Adams as the instigator, the leader who pushes a reluctant Continental Congress toward making a historic decision.
This is a show focused nearly-exclusively on men so it was fascinating and unexpected when Debra Clinton directed the 2016 Virginia Repertory Theatre production of the musical. Deb is an exceptional director (and actor and original show developer) and has some great insight into her experience of herding an oversized cast of alpha males toward a single artistic goal.