1776 Reviews- Page 4

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 12/5/22 at 3:51pm

joevitus said: "I'm a bit surprised Sondheim went for it. He famously refused the rights for a production that would have made the characters gay men--which actually I think would be more in synch with the material that giving it to a heterosexual woman."

This has gotten pretty off topic, but from what I understand, I think he didn't want it to be a gay man because he didn't want the experience of dealing with sexuality/struggling to come out to be part of the narrative, which could've taken away from the struggle to just be open and vulnerable.  Which is why he was also adamant that Bobby was not gay, even with the scene with Harry.

[bholtzinger544]

Posted: 12/5/22 at 6:16pm

Anyone happen to know about when intermission begins/ends? I may only be able to make the second act of this but would rather see that than miss out on seeing this at all. 

[Voter]

Posted: 12/13/22 at 6:03pm

Got a call at 5:30PM today that my 7PM performance was cancelled. No idea why. Had this ticket for a bit so we'll see if I end up with time to reschedule. 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 12/26/22 at 2:47pm

Tonight's performance is cancelled due to illness. They also cancelled Saturday's performance.

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 12/26/22 at 3:21pm

How on earth does an old pro like Carolee stand that place. 

[Falsettolands]

Posted: 12/26/22 at 3:59pm

BorisTomashevsky said: "How on earth does an old pro like Carolee stand that place."

Carmello (whom I love) has been in FAR worse than 1776

[JSquared2]

Posted: 12/26/22 at 4:06pm

Has "She Who Shall Not Be Named" ever returned to the show?

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 12/26/22 at 4:18pm

Saw it on the evening of the 16th and she was in. A good performance but I don't know if it was necessarily revelatory. Though I do agree with her about some cringey moments in the direction. 

I also thought Carolee Carmelo was a highlight, along with Kristolyn Lloyd so I'm glad to at least have seen her in the role 

[quizking101]

Posted: 12/26/22 at 4:41pm

According to BroadwayCovers Twitter:

Tonight’s performance of @Musical1776 has been cancelled due to illness

https://twitter.com/broadwaycovers/status/1607453807415263232?s=46&t=63ATItu5nerLeTC2UqkcXA

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 12/26/22 at 4:54pm

It was cancelled on Christmas Eve, as well.

[Bill Snibson]

Posted: 12/26/22 at 5:27pm

Carolee is the highlight of this mis-guided production. She’s probably happy to see it come to an end after all the drama and lackluster reception. They were lucky to get her tbh

[Dylan Smith4]

Posted: 12/26/22 at 6:28pm

TaffyDavenport said: "It was cancelled on Christmas Eve, as well."

I'm supposed to see this again on Wednesday. Hopefully, the cast is well. 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 12/26/22 at 7:11pm

The show has just 5 standbys for all of those roles(with others as u/s). With flu, COVID & RSV cases way up, I'm assuming they just don't have enough covers.

 

It's at least good to know Ms. 75% isn't doing the tour.

https://twitter.com/sporkalob/status/1602800088476258305

[bdn223]

Posted: 12/27/22 at 11:08am

Finally saw this, and I can see why the show itself is held in such high regard because I think even a table reading of the show would work if you have expressive actors. Due to that I think its because the musicals bones that the production itself manages to even seem competent. The casting of only non cis-men to play all of the roles wasn't really explored as much as you'd want in such an "experimental" production. If the directors truly wanted to explore the theme of gender, it would have been interesting to have Abigail Adams and Martha Jefferson to be played by men in drag. In truth though it felt that Page and Paulus actually wanted to explore race in this production with the Barrels of rum iconography that honestly causes the shows final moments to fall apart. I think the issue with that is casting an all black ensemble might be too similar to Hamilton, but it would give the show's big "barrels" moment more emotional punch because the founding fathers did care more about those barrels of rum then they did the performers on the stage if they were all black. 

Also after seeing it, note Porkalob was out, but I don't understand how she could only be giving 10% until Molasses to Rum this is a true ensemble piece where your characters reactions are 30% of what it going on on stage. Those reactions inform the audience of your character/founding father's view point until their moment to shine in Molasses to Rum, but it also makes sure that song/character just doesn't come out of no where, as Rutledge has been in the room the entire time. There are shows where Porkalob is right, where a performer can be giving it 10-30% in the background, but 1776 is not one of those shows. Having also watched some interviews with her from opening night after seeing the show finally, why did Porkalob sign onto and agree to do the show, when its clear she hates the material?!?! You could honestly feel her distain and fundamental misunderstanding of the musical in nearly every interview she does by writing off all the founding fathers as "dead white guys"?  Central conceit of 1776 is shattering the notion that the founding father's were these mythical demi-gods that could do no wrong, and instead cautioning against placing people on a pedestal. The musical forces audiences to examine that American History is not black and white, but Porkalob clearly only sees them as villains. 

Back to the production itself though, if anything positive comes out of this, its that in truth I would not mind/didn't notice that the characters were played by non-cis men. As such hopefully this may open the doors to more roles becoming gender fluid.

[kdogg36]

Posted: 12/27/22 at 5:18pm

bdn223 said: "Also after seeing it, note Porkalob was out, but I don't understand how she could only be giving 10% until Molasses to Rumthis is a true ensemble piece where your characters reactions are 30% of what it going on on stage."

I know the exact numbers hardly matter, but for the record, Porkalob claimed to be giving 75% except for "Molasses to Rum," where the figure jumped to 90%.

[Dylan Smith4]

Posted: 12/28/22 at 7:41pm

Saw the show again this afternoon. This show is still as great as when I saw it in previews. I know there are people on here that don’t really care for this show but I hope you can hear me out. I think the point of this production is to show that it doesn’t matter what your gender is when it comes to playing a part. What matters is the message the show is trying to tell to the audience. As long as it works and makes sense, it should be given a chance. Now, the cast was very different from my last experience. The obvious one is for the role of John Adams. As amazing as Kristolyn was in the role, I still prefer Crystal Lucas-Perry 100%. With that being said, Nancy Anderson was really good as Jefferson and it’s basically a tie for me between her and Elizabeth Davis. Also, there we’re a bunch of understudies on today. Dawn L. Troupe brought her A-game as Ben Franklin. Lastly, I was blown away (again) by Sara Porkalob singing her big Act II number. For the record, I am aware about the news coverage she received a couple months ago, but she’s still an amazing actress and should be supported for her work. Anyway, I hope you can catch it in NY as it enters its final week. Probably won’t be able to see the tour in Philly, but can’t wait to hear what more people say about it. Now, there will be some disagreements to my review here, and that’s ok. All I ask is that you give the show a chance. Even if it’s not as good as you would expect it, you should still give it a chance. Thanks for listening! 

[Nicticorax]

Posted: 12/28/22 at 9:53pm

The idea that more roles should be open to gender-blind casting is a great one! But I don't think the intention of this production was to show it doesn't matter what gender you are. The production purposefully cast no men in the show to make a point about the text of the show. Now, there's certainly been a lot of debate over whether that works dramaturgically, but the show's point isn't that it doesn't matter.