1776 The Musical Comes To The Soraya Next Month

La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts and McCoy Rigby Entertainment present the award-winning and revolutionary 1776 THE MUSICAL at the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts (The Soraya), February 8 through 10. 1776 THE MUSICAL, the Tony Award winner for Best Musical (1969) and has music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and book by Peter Stone. It is directed by Glenn Casale with musical direction by Jeff Rizzo.

This production of 1776 THE MUSICAL continues at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts through Sunday, February 3, 2019. The La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts is at 14900 La Mirada Blvd in La Mirada.

Before Hamilton, there was 1776 THE MUSICAL, the electrifying musical about the founding of America. Featuring a thrilling cast, this Tony Award-winning smash begins with a deadlocked Congress. Its attempts to adopt the Declaration of Independence are boiling over in heated confrontations. Sound familiar? Spoiler alert: by the evening of July 2nd, the two sides are still miles apart!

Lin-Manuel Miranda said in Playbill, 1776 certainly paved the way for Hamilton not just in that it's about our founders, but also in that it engages fully with their humanity. It's also I think, one of the best books if not the best ever written for musical theatre in that you long to see them talk to each other. Which almost never happens in a musical. Most musicals, you're waiting for the next song to start. That book is so smart, and so engaging.

But remarkably, these contentious Founding Fathers harness their shared determination to do the right thing for a fledgling nation. Soraya Executive Director Thor Steingraber said, "The imperfect men who strived for a more perfect union -- 1776 reminds us that democracy has always been a messy proposition filled with compromise and competing interests. I personally revisit this musical every now and then, and am stunned at how relevant it remains. In the end, the American spirit wins the day."

Composer-lyricist Sherman Edwards said, "I wanted to show [the founding fathers] at their outermost limits. These men were the cream of their colonies. ... they disagreed and fought with each other. But they understood commitment, and though they fought, they fought affirmatively.

Edwards worked for ten years on his musical, when the Broadway producer of 1776, Stuart Ostrow, introduced him to book writer Peter Stone, who had written the films Charade, Father Goose, and would later write the musicals Woman of the Year, My One and Only, The Will Rogers Follies and Titanic.

When it opened John Chapman in the Daily News said, A stunningly original musical. It is far, far off the Broadway path and far away in time. It is warm with a life of its own; it is funny, it is moving. The songs and lyrics are remarkably original.

Walter Kerr said in The New York Times, 1776 is the most independent new musicals in years, and if you've got any character of your own you probably want to see it instantly, just to keep its independence company., it has a mind of its own. An original, strangely determined, immensely pleasing evening

The New York Post said, In this cynical age, it requires courage as well as enterprise to do a musical play that simply deals with the events leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The result is a brilliant and remarkably moving work of theatrical art.

The Cast of 1776 THE MUSICAL will feature James Barbour as Edward Rutledge, Peter Van Norden as Benjamin Franklin, Andy Umberger as John Adams, Teri Bibb as Abigail Adams, Caleb Shaw as Thomas Jefferson, Ellie Wyman as Martha Jefferson, Nick Santa Maria as John Hancock, Peter Allen Vogt as Samuel Chase, Victor E. Chan as Robert Livingston, Brad Rupp as George Read, Gordon Goodman as Stephen Hopkins, Jason Chacon as Dr. Josiah Bartlett, Jordan Goodsell as Charles Thomson, Jordan Schneider as Dr. Lyman Hall, Jotap Lockwood as Lewis Morris, Matthew Kimbrough as Colonel Thomas McKean, Michael Dotson as Roger Sherman, Michael Rothhaar as Andrew McNair, Michael Starr as Richard Henry Lee, Michael Stone Forrest as John Dickinson, Mitchell McCollum as Reverend John Witherspoon, Ted Barton as James Wilson, Rodrigo Varandas as Leather Apron/Painter, and Nick McKenna as Courier.

The Design Team for 1776 THE MUSICAL is as follows: Scenic Design by Stephen Gifford; Lighting Design by Jared A. Sayeg; Co-Sound Design by Leon Rothenberg & Phil Allen; Costume Design by Shon LeBlanc; Hair/Wig/Makeup Design by EB Bohks; Properties Design is by Kevin Williams. The Casting Director is Julia Flores and the Production Stage Manager is John W. Calder III.

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