"1776" The Muny, Reviewed by Denise Hill [summer 1999]
from
www.kdhxfm88.org/reviews.html"1776"
The Muny
Reviewed by Denise Hill
read more1776 is a musical story of the two months leading up to the
Declaration of Independence. It focuses on the efforts of John
Adams and Benjamin Franklin to convince a reluctant Continental
Congress to rebel against the British Crown. The play is
human and irreverent and the current Muny production absolutely does
it justice from Steven Gilliam's beautiful backdrop of
downtown Philadelphia to Jack Everly's lively musical direction.
Robert Westenberg and Victoria Mallory's John and Abigail Adams shone
as quite the sensible Boston couple who negotiate
pins for saltpeter while admitting that they miss each other. Their
duets were beautiful and well-staged and their characters
absolutely distinctive. In fact, one of the strengths of this
production is that all of the actors made their roles unique and every
one of them created a memorable character.
Gary Beach turned in a tour de force performance in the role of the
easily led Richard Henry Lee of Virginia and Jay Garner's
libidinous Benjamin Franklin was a crowd-pleaser. Mark Jacoby was the
perfect John Dickinson from Pennsylvania; my only
complaint was that there were some mic problems during "Cool, Cool,
Considerate Men" and I couldn't hear the richness of his
voice as well as I would have liked."Mama Look Sharp", which ended the first act in this production, was
haunting in no small part to the efforts of Cincinnati College
Conservatory of Music student Randy Harrison. Although a small role,
he has a beautiful voice and his Courier had stage presence; I look
forward to seeing his career blossom in the years to come.
read more1776 is a long show, with a runtime of about 3 hours. But this Muny
production keeps the pace lively and makes the time fly.
It's an evening of great fun and it's worth braving the St. Louis heat
to enjoy. 1776 runs at the Muny in Forest Park
through August 1st. Call 314-534-1111 for tickets.