If you want to brush up on your American history and be entertained, you have options at local theaters.
At Wake Forest University, the theater department takes on the Great Depression in "The Grapes of Wrath." The UNC School of the Arts has two offerings: "A Soldier's Play," the story of a troop of black soldiers during World War II; and "1776," a musical that tackles the events leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The latter, which opened Thursday night, is a resounding success.
Playwright Peter Stone, director John Langs and musical director Kevin Stites leaven the seriousness of the proceedings of the Continental Congress with generous helpings of music, humor and humanity. The scintillating script — and the actors who embody it — puts flesh on the dry bones of the Founding Fathers.
From the momentous entry into the chamber of the Continental Congress at the beginning of the show to the equally momentous signing at the end, the 23-piece orchestra and 27-member cast had the opening-night audience whooping and applauding enthusiastically.
Individual performances are solid. Patrick Osteen is appropriately "obnoxious and disliked" as the firebrand John Adams. Ari Itkin is hilariously over-the-top in a gorgeous silver wig as the rowdy Stephen Hopkins. Andrew Wells Ryder is the crowd-pleaser as the witty Benjamin Franklin, and it's just plain fun to hear all those famous Franklin bon mots uttered as conversation.
Will Schnurr as Edward Rutledge is chilling in his big solo, "Molasses to Rum." Zack Cook is marvelous as the deliberative but passionate Thomas Jefferson, and Drew Moyer is maddeningly vivid as the obstructionist John Dickinson.
Luke Smith gives a rollicking and delightful performance as Richard Henry Lee in an ensemble number with Osteen and Ryder. He never met an adverb he didn't love so long as it ends with "ly" (Lee).
Just when you think you can't stand to hear another male voice, fine as they are, there will be the rustle of petticoats, and Kira Walters as Abigail Adams or Kathryn Saffell as Martha Jefferson will appear to banter with or romance her man. Walters generates real heat in her scenes with Osteen, and she has a rich, flexible soprano. Saffell has only one song — with Osteen and Ryder — but it is memorable: She waxes rhapsodic as she tells them how wonderfully "He (Jefferson) Plays the Violin."
The full orchestra, conducted by Stites, pushes the revolutionary fervor into the realm of pageantry and exaltation. Listen especially for the harpsichord on "The Egg." It's not every day that you get to hear a harpsichord in a musical-theater production.
The sets by James Edward Burns are beautiful. The costumes by Corinne M. Hauxhurst are beautiful. The choreography by Mollye Maxner is just intricate enough to be interesting but do-able. "1776" is all that, and it's relevant too.
There's no bad time to remind ourselves how difficult it was to forge a new nation, what courage it took and what imagination. But right now seems like an especially good time.
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