1776
1776 Music and Lyrics by Sherman Edwards
Book by Peter Stone
Directed by Mark Edward Smith
Choreography by Sara Catherine Barnes
Musical Direction Heather Langs
Starring Laura Hodos, Karel K Wright, and Melisa Whitworth
Mad Cow Theatre, Orlando FL</strong>
It’s an odd musical, for sure. Acts end without big blow out songs, there’s not really a romance to drive the story, and there’s more political wrangling here than in “Call Me Madam.” In the sweltering June summer of 1776 Philadelphia, the Continental Congress argues the “Open Window” policy versus “Too Damn Many Horse Flies” policy. But the real question is revolution; should some or all of the 13 colonies split off from mother England? On one hand, the Brits are taxing the locals who are more used to smuggling, and on the other General Washington is getting his butt kicked in the field. Firebrand John Adams (Hodos) fumes and sputters, his confidant Ben Franklin (Wright) tamps him down, and sexually frustrated Thomas Jefferson (Whitworth) gets roped into writing the whole revolution recipe down on paper, so at least everyone knows what they are arguing about.
I went into the show with low expectations, but was fully in love with the experience by the end of the first scene. The all-female cast was so strong the issue of their off-stage gender never became an issue. The original text survived intact with no precious changes of pronoun or case, and Hodos’ anger and frustration flew out to the audience keeping us on the edge of our seats. There’s plenty of comic relief; Stephen Hopkins (Beryl Rochatka) consumed rum at a prodigious rate as the Custodian (Jac Le Doux) kept the booze flowing. Wright’s Franklin was at turns gouty and philosophical; he’s the trained diplomat that would eventually get France to come and break the military stalemate. Both Jefferson and Adams had young lonely wives at home (Hannah Laird and Jennifer Newberry); they added a surprisingly feminine note to this show. Lulu Picart plays John Rutledge of South Carolina; she spoke eloquently for slavery and that became the great moral compromise that Adams had to make to get his revolution. Ironically, if there had been no revolution, the American slaves would have been liberated in 1833. (Look it up.)
The best song of the show “Mama Look Sharp” comes from the Courier (Emile Jean Scheetz). It brings to earth the harsh reality of Adams’ idealism–actual people die in battle, often leaving their relatives unable to support themselves. Other noteworthy tunes included Rutledge’s rousing “Molasses to Rum” and the love song “Yours, Yours, Yours” by Hodos and Laird. Someone points out that “life is more than sexual combustibility” but really, that’s the main reason we do almost anything on some level. There’s both sexual combustibility and political infidelity, and together they make a great musical production.
For more information on Mad Cow, please visit http://www.madcowtheatre.com
