1776 Previews Tonight — Page 5

Who sings "Mamma Look Sharp" in this?

I saw the show last night with a friend, with neither of us having any prior knowledge of the musical (well, I guess you could argue that I had a bit more exposure to the material beforehand but only in that I knew the musical was somehow uniquely structured and that there was a half-hour songless period).

Both of us loved the musical and thought the modern dress was highly effective. I was actually half-expecting to be bored by the show -- given its length, content, and some less-than-stellar preview videos -- but I found myself pleasantly surprised by the show's humor, gripping tension, and stark relevance to today's political climate ("history is doomed to repeat itself", anyone?).

Only a few week points stood out for me, none of which really affected my overall enjoyment of the production: John Larroquette was good but not great as Franklin (didn't seem fully in character all the time); Christiane Noll, as Abigail Adams, was dressed a bit too trendy and put-together to portray someone struggling to keep the family and farm afloat; Nikki Renée Daniels' casting carries (unfortunate) connotations; and when the book was clunky, it was really clunky (most notably for me, the courier's lines immediately before Mama Look Sharp).

Still, what I will come away remembering are the overwhelming positives: the terrifyingly good performances of Bryce Pinkham and Alexander Gemignani; the wit of the book (at its best); and the skill of Santino Fontana to convincingly portray the genuine spirit of John Adams in what could have been a truly miscast turn.

All in all, I will affirm that, even with the creative liberties taken with casting and costuming, this 1776 newbie still came away with a great appreciation for the show.

Updated On: 4/3/16 at 11:14 AM

I'm so excited to see this tonight.

I also wondered whether the multi-racial casting was color-blind or if they made intentional decisions to cast black actors in specific roles. I have to think the casting of Lyles was intentional and I thought it was extremely powerful and affecting. He also sang it absolutely beautifully. Definitely brought the tears. I think that was my favorite moment of the night. I also thought it could be intentional that the congressman who stops the tense moment in Molasses and Rum and says "enough!" (Sorry I don't remember who it was) was portrayed by a black actor. Maybe not but I definitely found the tension behind it heightened. I know prior posters have mentioned there were unfortunate implications in casting Nikki Renee Daniels as Martha Jefferson in light of Jeffersons's hypocrisy regarding slavery but could that have been intentional as well? I'm not sure what message there could have been, but all of this just got me thinking about what artistic visions I may have missed. Maybe it was just color blind and these folks were all just great for the roles--if so no complaints here that's for sure! They were all fantastic.



This was my first time seeing 1776 other than the movie years ago and my first time at an Encores presentation. I thought it was marvelous. The entire cast was fantastic with not a bad choice to me. I know others have mentioned Laroquette isn't the strongest singer but I didn't care as I didn't think that was a role that required it and I thought his portrayal was spot on. I found it very moving and poignant in light of what is going on in government today. I would love it if they would do a full Broadway revival. So glad I saw this!! I will definitely be snagging tickets to future Encores presentations when I'm in town.

As much as I loved Santino Fontana, Bryce Pinkham and John Larroquette, the production still felt very white to me, as all the "leading" roles were white men. They could have cast a person of color in Alexander Gemignani's role and that would have been very meaningful.

For me, Alex was the only weak one in the cast. He felt incredibly wooden to me. I would have loved to see someone else in that role, but I agree that casting a non-white person to sing Molasses to Rum would have been a really interesting choice.

Kad said: "I think Philip Boykin would be an excellent choice for Rutledge, too.

He's even more perfect than Lewis!

This was so good!! Easily one of the favorite things I've seen. Wish it was around for a while because I would certainly recommend it to other people

Glad I read about the lack of costuming, so I was prepared for it. Rather than being surprised, I ended up feeling it worked quite well.

I thought the casting was really on point. I really enjoyed Santino Fontana's portrayal of John Adams and John Laroquette really nailed Benjamin Franklin's characterization. Everyone else was great. I'll also call out Alex Gemignani to disagree with someone's comment above! His "Molasses to Rum" was intense and powerful, and the loud, held audience applause at the end of it indicates the rest of the audience felt this way, too. Quite a number of standout moments all around.

So funny whenever the audience cheered when a colony moved their vote from Nay to Yea. I'm like, you guys... spoiler alert: they voted yes for independence.

I wonder if they were worried that there would be too much comparison to Hamilton by color blind casting in those roles.

I did like Gemignani's performance, which I thought was effective and menacing. But I did miss the sound of a deep, rich voice singing "Molasses to Rum." It lends the song a greater gravitas, a greater implication.

I benefit from having very little frame of reference to how it was originally done and therefore very little bias. I only watched a handful of movie clips after purchasing my Encores ticket, mainly rewatching "Sit Down, John" because I totally fell in love with that song.

mpkie said: "So funny whenever the audience cheered when a colony moved their vote from Nay to Yea. I'm like, you guys... spoiler alert: they voted yes for independence."

I remember reading somewhere an anecdote, that someone had gone to the theatre during the original run of '1776', and there were two ladies seated in front of him. During one of the tense moments in the second act one of the ladies leaned over to her companion and whispered, "Do you think they'll sign it?"

Also, I need to take issue with all of the little children in the theater. I'm told that City Center heavily papered the house to school groups and while that's all well and good, there were what seemed like hundreds of restless little kids last night talking, texting and standing (blocking everyone's view behind them). Who thought it would be a good idea to bring kids under 10 years old to a three hour semi-staged reading of a historical musical? Seriously.