In sharp contrast to the nearly endless discussion and debate that dragged on in Philadelphia in 1776, several departments at the UNC School of the Arts are collaborating harmoniously to perform the musical "1776." It opens Wednesday.
In Philadelphia, the weather flared hot and tempers were hotter until the second Continental Congress discussed, argued and finally signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4.
Men talking about politics may not sound like the stuff of a musical comedy. But "1776," music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards, book by Peter Stone, won the Tony Award for Best Musical when it premiered on Broadway in 1969. It was revived on Broadway in 1997.
John Langs, a UNCSA alumnus who graduated in 1997, is the director.
"To me, to be able to go back at this time and touch this material, when there's so much of this going on in the world, is just extraordinary," Langs said. He encouraged his student-actors to focus on the recent political change in Egypt and on the political divide in this country.
"This show is particularly exciting to me because of where we are in this country right now," Langs said. "In 1776, there was this enormous congressional divide. There were backroom political negotiations and all the things that are still going on here."
Kevin Stites, the musical director and an artist-in-residence at the school, said the collaboration among UNCSA departments has been strong.
"We've gotten great cooperation from the new dean of the school of music (Wade Weast). He understands the benefit of his musicians doing other work."
This production will have a 23-member, Broadway-style orchestra instead of the usual eight-piece band often used for shows at Performance Place. The orchestra consists of music students, UNCSA alumni and a violin student in the high school program, Dustin Wilkes-Kim.
"There's even a film student playing trumpet," Stites said. "He heard that we were looking for players and auditioned. So we've got people from all over the place."
The cast is made up of 25 men and two women, all juniors and seniors in the college theater program.
"An interesting challenge in the show is that there are only two women — Abigail Adams and Martha Jefferson — and they aren't in it very much. Mrs. Jefferson has only one song and is in only one scene. Abigail Adams floats in and out of John's mind. They communicate through letters. But they're never even in the same room together.
"Musically, it's an interesting challenge to keep variety in predominantly men's voices throughout the night."
Stites said that the music is used economically and avoids being predictable and hokey.
The writers "were very crafty about when they used music and when they didn't," he said. "There aren't songs in the obvious places. There's no clichéd anthem at the end when they sign the Declaration."
The music has enough Mozart-style flourishes and modalities to establish it in the Baroque period, but the chord structures are from the standard vocabularies of 1969 shows, Stites said.
"There's also the use of harpsichord in the orchestra, not all that usual for musicals."
Despite the musical score, the subject is serious. In addition to the business of separating violently from England, slavery was at the heart of the debate. The Southern states would not sign a document that didn't allow slavery.
John Adams protested that posterity would not forgive them if they didn't abolish slavery. But compromises had to be made.
Benjamin Franklin argued that the representatives were human and that history would forgive them.
"It wasn't demigods who made this country," Langs said. "It was men and women like you and me who moved through the fear and founded a nation."
Still, there are plenty of light-hearted moments. "It's such a wonderfully written comedy," Langs said. "The modern audience won't go with you right into their hearts if you don't get to their funny bones first."
The skill of the book contributes to the show's success, Stites said.
"We know what's going to happen. We know they're going to sign it. But it's still a page turner."
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