Review: 1776 at Ahmanson Theatre

In contemporary theater - as in life - optics matter. A lot. Given current trends in theatrical programing, the musical 1776 would probably never get staged. Granted, Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone's 1969 take on the sturm and drang surrounding the Second Continental Congress's decision to form a new nation may be a patriotic Tony Award-winner. It's also a 20 plus character tale that may qualify as the whitest male-est tale ever to grace a Broadway stage. Try pitching this to a producer with a limited budget: you've got musical in which our founding fathers wrote a section formally condemning slavery into the fricking Declaration of Independence...and then crossed it out?! The thematic thorns, the casting demands and with audiences still not exactly flooding back to live theater? Are you kidding me?

That's what made director Diane Paulus's, er, revolutionary idea of re-thinking 1776 so intriguing. Originally a co-production between American Repertory Theatre (where Paulus serves as artistic director) and the Roundabout Theatre, the production casts our founding fathers - Monsieurs Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Hancock and the whole lily-white assemblage - entirely with performers of diverse genders, races and ethnicities. Not a single Caucasian male graces the stage of the Ahmanson Theatre where the touring company of 1776 is parked through May 7. Paulus and co-director Jeffrey L. Page have pointed out that members of these groups were left out of the Declaration. They would not even have been permitted to step foot inside Independence Hall in 1776.

And indeed, one of the coolest moments of this often-rousing production is the prologue when the short curtain is drawn back and we see the that full multi-colored, female, trans and non-binary lineup standing in a row holding out their topcoats, which they swing over their shoulders in perfect synchronization and then put on, arming for battle. The movement, Page's sweet choreography and several of the ensuing visuals are proof positive that this will not be your father's 1776.

Entertaining and occasionally exciting, this 1776 most decidedly is. Foundation-rattling, not so very much. The creators can argue until they are red, white and blue in the face that theirs is not an effort to capitalize on the approach and popularity that Lin-Manuel Miranda's HAMILTON's used to such musical theater (and historical) game-changing effect. And, yes, while there is a time period overlap, this is a different story, different spin. But as we watch a Black actor (in this case Gisela Adisa) playing John Adams passionately arguing to the actor (Kassandra Haddock) portraying South Carolina delegate Edward Rutledge that people should no longer be property, the desired effect may not be what Paulus and Page intended.

There is much to chew on certainly, but this rendering of the birth of our nation often bounces out of one era to get us thinking - while still in the moment - about another. 1776, furthermore, was conceived as Adams's story and the touring production is hamstrung by the fact that the aforementioned Adisa doesn't always have the magnetism to carry it. More on that presently.

Regardless of how long it's been since our last American history class, we already know the outcome of 1776, but not necessarily the steps to get there. Holed up in a Philadelphia statehouse over three sweltering months from May to July, the delegates of the 13 colonies at the Second Continental Congress try to chart the blueprint for the new nation's future while dispatches from General George Washington provide updates about the increasing rift with Great Britain.

Adams has been flogging independence for so long and so aggressively that everybody is sick to death of him, and allegiances are forming pro and con. The Carolina delegates Rutledge and Joseph Hewes (Candice Marie Woods) have formed a block of opposition and are trying to recruit the newly arrived Georgia delegate Dr. Lyman Hall (Connor Lyon) to their side. Delaware's Caesar Rodney (Nykila Norman) is ailing while New York's Robert Livingston (Tiffani Barbour) is frustratingly unwilling to cast a yea or a nay vote on any subject. Pennsylvania's John Dickinson (Joanna Glushak), ever loyal to the crown, is steadfast in his belief that a reconciliation with England is not only possible but essential. Rhode Island's Stephen Hopkins (Julie Cardia) would happily spend the entire proceedings soused at the local tavern. On it goes.

As he comes to the realization that he lacks the charisma or support to push anything through, Adams shunts the task of moving his independence agenda over to his like-minded delegates from Virginia. Who's going to actually draft the document? Jovial Richard Henry Lee (Shawna Hamic) is like-minded, but not interested in doing any actual work. Pennsylvania's Ben Franklin (Liz Mikel) declares himself not the right man for the job. Practically by process of elimination, that leaves the scholar-farmer Thomas Jefferson (Nancy Anderson) who wants nothing more than to pack up his violin to return to his wife Martha (Lyon again) who he has not seen in six months. Once Adams shrewdly brings Martha Jefferson to Philadelphia, the no-longer-lonely Jefferson gets to work. And the rest truly is history. Not that this will pas easily. Congressional President John Hancock's (Oneika Phillips) decree that the vote for independence must be unanimous in order to pass makes the prospect of a United States of America practically DOA.

While all of this is happening, Adams stews publicly and privately. He hates that he's getting nowhere but can't get out of his own way. Via written conversations with his wife Abigail (Tieisha Thomas) back in Boston, he pours out his heart in a series of duets and receives some sage advice from his Missus that the Congress's business would do well to "remember the ladies." Adisa is at her best in these quieter tete-a-tete scenes with Thomas. She is less effective when stirring the pot with the delegates, turning Adams into something of a caricature. The play originally carried the title THE AGGRAVATION OF John Adams, but we could stand to see more of why people like this character as much as others despised him.

1776 is a show that you probably need a scorecard in order to keep everyone straight, particularly when the whole group is together. Even with this many people, librettist Stone has given most of the delegates an opportunity to stand out. The smaller scenes with Adams's group play smoothly as well. Phillips' Hancock is a modicum of strength and decorum, with a little ego thrown in there as well. Hamic moves gleefully through her showcase number "The Lees of Old Virginia." And while the play wants to make villains of the opponents to independence, Glushak infuses Dickinson with such a wealth of dignity that the man comes off as coldly charismatic.

And speaking of people being on the wrong side of history, kudos also to Haddock's work as Edward Rutledge. Any actor who has to belt out the 11 o'clock number "Molasses to Rum," thereby making the musical case for the importance of slavery to the economy of the south, will tread a difficult path. During the Broadway run, the staging of this number drew some behind-the-scenes controversy. In addition to singing the stuffing out of the song, Haddock makes Rutledge a deal-making slickster, a man whose rhetoric could keep butter cool even on an unbearable Philadelphia July day.

Ironic it certainly is that the play's most historically famous character is - in Stone's account - a man of very few words. Employing a sly gaze and a stately slow burn, Anderson makes Jefferson's silences speak volumes, particularly as the Declaration of Independence that he has written is going through its "rewrite" phase.

Between Page's choreography, a video montage (by David Bengali), strategic glimpses of paintings and outlines of the real life figures and - yes - that wonderful cast, this 1776 wants very badly to feel contemporarily relevant, perhaps a bit too hard. Regardless, it remains a powerful tale, skillfully told. If you don't see it while it's still "hot," it might be a minute before you get another opportunity.

1776 plays through May 7 at the Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles.

Photo of the company by Joan Marcus.

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