"1776" Kicks Off Lyric Season

The Lyric Stage Company of Boston will present the Tony Award-winning musical, "1776," as the first production of its 2006-2007 Season. Directed by Lyric's Producing Artistic Director Spiro Veloudos, the production will run September 8 through October 14. Tickets go on sale August 15.

Written by two-time Tony and Academy Award-winning book and screenwriter Peter Stone (known for such hits as "Two by Two," "Sugar," "Woman of the Year," "My One and Only," "Grand Hotel," "The Will Rogers Follies" and "Titanic"), "1776" is the jubilant celebration of our nation’s birth, told with humor, wit, emotion and song.

Music and lyrics are by Sherman Edwards, a former history teacher who came up with the original concept for the show. ("1776" was Mr. Edwards' only Broadway score.)

Originally produced on Broadway in 1969, the 26-role musical about The Declaration of Independence beat both "Hair" and "Promises, Promises" to win both the Tony and New York Drama Critics Circle Awards for Best Musical.

Although "1776" opened with no "star" names, its cast included such soon-to-be-known talents as William Daniels, Betty Buckley, Ken Howard, Ron Holgate and Howard Da Silva.

"1776" enjoyed a three-year run on Broadway, a two-year tour, a successful London production and a well-received film adaptation in 1972. The show also ranks as the first musical ever to be presented in its entirety at The White House (as a Command Performance for President Nixon).

As the show opens, it’s "hot as hell" in Philadelphia and The Second Continental Congress has convened to discuss, argue about, and vote on declaring independence from the tyranny of Britain. Massachusetts’ own John Adams – obnoxious, disliked, compelling, and heroic – must convince his peers to take this bold step using sheer determination and power of persuasion.

The events of May 8 through July 4 reflect the clash of Congressional wills within the colonies. As Benjamin Franklin points out, they are “ordinary men trying to get a job done.” But the job is far from ordinary.

"1776’s" songs, like the playful “The Egg” (featuring Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Franklin), tell the story of “hatching” a new nation. The sweeping “He Plays the Violin,” sung by Martha Jefferson, pokes fun at her husband’s sexual frustration, which impedes his writing of The Declaration. In the powerful and condemning “Molasses to Rum,” South Carolina Delegate Edward Rutledge implicates the New England colonies for their complacency in and profiteering from the slave trade. He accuses the northern colonies of hypocrisy as they try to abolish the institution while declaring their independence.

According to Veloudos, who has wanted to direct "1776" for more than 20 years, “This play melds two of my favorite subjects – musical theatre and history; and shows the founding fathers of this country not as demigods but as human beings, with foibles, doubts and flaws. This show is not a history lesson, but a passionate story of patriotic, but ultimately human men who struggled to found this nation.”

He continues, “Everyone knows the ending, and yet, the show builds such tension that the audience is at the edge of their seats until the last five minutes.”

For tickets and information, stop by The Lyric Stage Company Box Office, located in the YWCA Building at 140 Clarendon Street, call 617-585-5678 or visit www.lyricstage.com.

-- OnStage Boston

08/11/06

 
 
 
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