1776 (1978)[Past Shows] [Prev] [Next]  | Elm Street Junior High April 14-16, 1978 Music and Lyrics by Sherman Edwards Book by Peter Stone Based on a Concept by Sherman Edwards Original Production Directed by Peter Hunt Originally Produced on the Broadway Stage by Stuart Ostrow
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The CastMembers of the Continental Congress President
John Hancock Howard Jones New Hampshire
Dr. Josiah Bartlett Alfred Erickson Massachusetts
John Adams Frank Graham Rhode Island
Stephen Hopkins Maurice Coutu Connecticut
Roger Sherman John Baird New York
Lewis Morris Robert Narkunas Robert Livingston Carlos Vargas-Mass New Jersey
Rev. Jonathan Witherspoon Albin Tamulonis Pennsylvania
Benjamin Franklin Jay Cormier John Dickinson Donald E. Sisson James Wilson Paul Asente Delaware
Caesar Rodney Wayne Vanier Col. Thomas McKean Joel Levesque George Read Bruce May Maryland
Samuel Chase David Crockett Virginia
Richard Henry Lee Sid Basha Thomas Jefferson David Pierce North Carolina
Joseph Hewes Mark Plamondon South Carolina
Edward Rutledge Michael Davids Georgia
Dr. Lyman Hall John McAllister Secretary
Charles Thompson Terry Toland Custodian"
Andrew McNair John Doherty Abigail Adams Robin MacDonald Martha Jefferson Bonnie Weymouth A Leather Apron David Wood A Painter David Wood A Courier Russell Perrins OrchestraViolin Bozina Bruziak Cello Rowena Carr Bass Paul Pesce Flute Heather Pyle Clarinet Alison Price Oboe Gail Grycel Trumpet Dale Floman Trombone Don Wallin, Alan Shepard French Horn Ellen Michaud, Janet Mentus Keyboard Jo Millett Percussion Peter Marsh Acknowledgments Garrett Players Nashua Auto Co., Inc. Hampshire Music Street Car Players The Anselmian Summer Theater Church of the Good Shepherd Peerless Electrical Distributors Machinist's in Manchester New Hampshire Consistory 32nd Degree | Production and Staff ListDirector-Choreographer Lorraine Graham Musical Director Adrith Provencher Pianist Jo Millett Assistant Rehearsal Pianist Wendy Mahoney Cast Coordinator Franceska Bosowski, assisted by Bob Narkunas Set Design Joan Seller Set Construction Justin Crowley,
Warren Tomasian,
Maurice Jennings,
Frank Graham,
Bill Schultz,
Ray Tackett,
George Marineau Set Painting John Prendergast,
Pam St. Laurent,
Mary Gardner,
Joan Marchie,
Kay Goranson,
Jim Sharkey,
Chuck Stein,
Lorraine Graham,
Jewel Shanahan,
Elaine Duhamel Lighting Richard Meaney, David Gilmore, Bruce Tatro Sound Ray Tackett Stage Manager Bill Schultz Stage Crew Justin Crowley,
George Marineau,
Warren Tomasian,
Scott Benjaminson,
Scott Shanahan Costume Design Mary Vargas, assisted by Margaret Tamulonis Costume Committee Inez Martinez, Betty Jones, Diane Rosenblum Properties Elaine Duhamel, Mary Lou Tackett, Jewel Shanahan Make-up Chairman Jackie Maynard Character Make-up Pearl Ware, Claire Anderson Make-up Committee Wendy Mahoney,
Barbara Michaud,
Linda Chojnowski,
Inez Martinez Hair Design Catherine Andruskevich Stylists Fernand Croteau, Lorraine Graham Program Linnea McAllister, assisted by Francesca Bosowski Program Ads Dan Pelletier,
Bob Narkunas,
Lorraine Graham and
Members of the Board
Patrons Albin Tamulonis Tickets Denise Duhamel Publicity Chairman Anne Way, assisted by Dan Pelletier Posters, Program Cover, and Collage Arrangement Joel Saren Cast Photographer Millie Wright Studio Photographer Richard Croteau House Chairmen Frances and Ernest Peterson Ushers Gisele LaFrance,
Linnea McAllister,
Barbara and Donald Page,
Margot Long,
Edgar and Betty Badeau,
Everett Millett,
Margaret Tamulonis,
Dianne Albright,
Ena and Dan Carraher,
Kay and Ed Goranson,
Janice Rockwell,
Bob and Carol Croatti,
Clare Farr,
Sue Baird Concessions Jane & Valerie Vaskas, Fran Bosowski Refreshments at Rehearsals Dan Pelletier Membership Chairman Linnea McAllister Bank Window Display Sally Ann Moyer Afterglow Margaret Tamulonis,
Bill Williamson,
Susan Dumont,
Jackie Maynard Auditions Bob Narkunas, chairman;
Carol Goss,
Lorraine Graham,
Adrith Provencher,
Susan Dumont,
John Liljeberg,
Dodie Slingerland Moving and Cleaning Crew Justin Crowley,
Warren Tomasian,
George Marineau,
Maurice Jennings,
Scott Shanahan,
Walter Marcella,
Members of the Cast
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Historical Notes
The first question we are asked by those who have seenor read1776 is
invariably: "Is it true? Did it really happen that way?"
The answer is yes.
Certainly a few changes have been made in order to fulfill basic dramatic
tenets. To quote a European dramatist, "God writes lousy theater."
However, let us list those elements of our play that have been taken, unchanged
and unadorned, from documented fact.
The weather in Philadelphia that late spring and early summer of 1776 was
unusually hot and humid, resulting in a bumper crop of horseflies incubated in the
stable next door to the State House (now Independence Hall).
John Adams was indeed "obnoxious and disliked"the description is his own.
Benjamin Franklin, the oldest member of the Congress, suffered from gout in
his later years and often "drowsed" in public.
Thomas Jefferson, the junior member of the Virginia delegation, was
entrusted with the daily weather report.
Rhode Island's Stephen Hopkins, known to his colleagues as "Old Grape and
Guts" because of his fondness for distilled refreshment, always wore his round
black, wide-brimmed Quaker's hat in the chamber.
Portly Samuel Chase, the gourmand from Maryland (pronounced Mary-land
in those times), was referred to (behind his back, of course) as "Bacon-Face."
Connecticut's Roger Sherman always sat apart from his fellow Congressmen,
sipping coffee from a saucer-like bowl.
Caesar Rodney of Delaware, suffering from skin cancer, never appeared in
public without a green scarf wrapped around his face.
George Washington's dispatches arrived on an average of three a day, and
almost all of them were "gloomy" to the point of despair.
Edward Rutledge of South Carolina, the youngest member of Congress, was
the leading proponent of individual rights for individual states.
Adams knew he would not receive his proper due from posterity. He wrote
that "the whole history of this Revolution will be a lie, from beginning to end."
And, equally, he knew that Franklin was the stuff of which national legends are
built. They would certy that "Franklin did this, Franklin did that, Franklin did
some other damned thing... Franklin smote the ground and out sprang George
Washington, fully-grown and on his horse... Franklin then electrified him with his
miraculous lightening rod and the three of themFranklin, Washington and the
horseconducted the entire Revolution by themselves."
The Declaration of Independence was debated by the Congress for three full
days. It underwent eighty-six separate changes.
Jefferson, though a slaveholder himself, declared that "nothing is more
certainly written in the Book of Fate than that this people shall be free." And
further: "The rights of human nature are deply wounded by this infamous
practice."
The deadlock existing within the Delaware delegation was broken by mortally
ill Caesar Rodney, who, in great pain, had ridden all night from Dover, a distance of
some eighty miles, arriving just in time to save the motion on independence from
being defeated.
When the motion on independence had passed, John Dickinson of
Pennsylvania, the leader of the anti-independence forces, refused to sign the
Declaration, a document he felt he could not endorse. But asserting a fidelity to America,
he left the Congress to enlist in the Continental Army as a privatethough he was
entitled to a commissionand served courageously with the Delaware Militia.
The conversion of James Wilson of Pennsylvania from the "Nay" to the
"Yea" column at the last minute is an event without any surviving explanation. All
that is definitely known is that Wilson, a former law student of Dickinson's and
certainly under his influence in Congress as his previous voting record testifies,
suddenly changed his position on independence and, as a result, is generally credited
with casting the vote that decided this issue. But why? A logical solution to this
mystery was found when we imagined one fear he might have possessed that would
have been stronger than his fear of Dickinson's wraththe fear of going down in
history as the man who singlehandedly prevented American independence. Such a
position would have been totally consistent with his well-known penchant for
caution.
The exchanges, spoken and sung, between John and Abigail Adams are the
result of distributing, as dialogue, sections and phrases from various letters. The list
of their children's diseases, the constant requests for "saltpetre for gunpowder"
(and the counter-request for pins), the use of the tender salutation "Dearest
Friend," the catalogue of Abigail's faults, the news of the farm in Braintree failingeven
certain song lyrics transferred intactall these were edited and rearranged in
an attempt to establish a dramatically satisfying relationship.
This same process was used to construct George Washington's dispatches from
the field. Literally dozens were selected, from which individual lines were borrowed
and then patched together in order to form the five communiques that now appear
in the play.
And finally, John Adams' extraordinary prophecy, made on July 3, 1776,
describing the way Independence Day would be celebrated by future generations of
Americans and written in a letter to his wife on that date has been paraphrased
and adapted into lyric form for the song "Is Anybody There?" sung by Adams in
Scene 7. The original lines are:
I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations
as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the
day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It
ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games,
sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illumination, from one end of this
continent to the other, from this time forward for evermore.
You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well
aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us to maintain
this Declaration and support and defend these States. Yet, through all
the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that
the end is more than worth all the means. And that posterity will
triumph in that day's transaction, even although we should rue it,
which I trust to God we shall not.
We have attempted, in the paragraphs above, to answer the question, "Is it
true?" What we cannot answer, however, is how such a question could possibly be
asked so often by Americans. What they want to know is whether or not the story
of their political origin, the telling of their national legend, is correct as presented.
Don't they know? Haven't they ever heard it before? And if not, why not? As we
say, it's a question we cannot answer.
The Time May, June and July, 1776 The Place
A single setting representing the Chamber and an anteroom of the
Continental Congress, a Mall, High Street, and Thomas Jefferson's
Room, in Philadelphia; and certain reaches of the mind of John Adams.
The Musical NumbersACT IScene 1 The Chamber of the Continental Congress Sit Down, John John Adams and the Congress Piddle, Twiddle and Resolve John Adams Till Then John and Abigail Adams Scene 2 The Mall The Lees of Old Virginia Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams Scene 3 The Chamber But, Mr. Adams John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston Scene 4 Thomas Jefferson's Room on High Street Yours, Yours, Yours John and Abigail Adams He Plays the Violin Martha Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams Scene 5 The Chamber Cool, Cool Considerate Men John Dickinson, Edward Rutledge, Lyman Hall, Joseph Hewes, Robert Livingston, Lewis Morris, George Read and James Wilson Momma, Look Sharp Courier, Andrew McNair and Leather Apron | ACT IIScene 6 A Congressional Anteroom The Egg Benjamin Franklin, John Adams Scene 7 The Chamber Molasses to Rum Edward Rutledge Compliments Abigail Adams Is Anybody There? John Adams |
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