Near the start of the Roundabout Theatre Company’s Broadway revival of the musical 1776, a cast made entirely of actors who identify as female, transgender and nonbinary, with multiple representations of race and ethnicity, step into the gold-buckled shoes, literally, of the men who would come to be called the founding fathers. We can only imagine how things might turn out differently, both for the musical and in some alternate real-life universe.
In some ways, not much changes. Members of the Continental Congress still bicker, fight and ever so slowly hash out the details of what will become the Declaration of Independence. Slavery will remain enshrined in both the document and the new nation, and the musical’s rousing Sherman Edwards score is as vibrant and pleasing as ever.
What’s different, of course, are the voices singing those songs and hashing those historical details, and in that, at least,...
In some ways, not much changes. Members of the Continental Congress still bicker, fight and ever so slowly hash out the details of what will become the Declaration of Independence. Slavery will remain enshrined in both the document and the new nation, and the musical’s rousing Sherman Edwards score is as vibrant and pleasing as ever.
What’s different, of course, are the voices singing those songs and hashing those historical details, and in that, at least,...
- 10/7/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Broadway’s Roundabout Theatre Company has unveiled its post-shutdown production schedule, with both the much-anticipated revival of Caroline, Or Change starring Sharon D Clarke and the Broadway debut of Alice Childress’ 1955 play Trouble in Mind both beginning previews in October.
Birthday Candles, Noah Haidle’s new play starring Debra Messing, will begin previews in March, and the previously announced revival of 1776 will bow in fall 2022.
The Roundabout lineup was announced by Todd Haimes, Artistic Director/CEO.
In addition to the not-for-profit’s Broadway lineup, Roundabout also announced scheduling for its Off Broadway slate: Mansa Ra’s …what the end will be and Dave Harris’ Exception to the Rule (both April 2022) and Anna Ziegler’s The Wanderers (July 2022).
See below for specific dates and descriptions.
The Roundabout announcements are the latest in a rush of openings and reopenings since New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said last week that Broadway could reopen...
Birthday Candles, Noah Haidle’s new play starring Debra Messing, will begin previews in March, and the previously announced revival of 1776 will bow in fall 2022.
The Roundabout lineup was announced by Todd Haimes, Artistic Director/CEO.
In addition to the not-for-profit’s Broadway lineup, Roundabout also announced scheduling for its Off Broadway slate: Mansa Ra’s …what the end will be and Dave Harris’ Exception to the Rule (both April 2022) and Anna Ziegler’s The Wanderers (July 2022).
See below for specific dates and descriptions.
The Roundabout announcements are the latest in a rush of openings and reopenings since New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said last week that Broadway could reopen...
- 5/10/2021
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Hamilton will debut on Disney+ on July 3rd, the start of a long holiday weekend. The Walt Disney Company paid good money for the Broadway phenomenon, a reported $75 million for the rights to the film, which features performances by the original cast (we wrote a primer on the cast and where they are now).
If you’re healthily avoiding crowds and already had your fill of fireworks, here are 10 more movies and TV shows that explore the American Revolution from different angles.
1776 (1972)
Making the Founding Fathers sing was truly revolutionary when Sherman Edwards’s musical debuted on Broadway in 1969. The plot traced how the Second Continental Congress decided on independence; there are lots of fun character moments but really no other story. After the show won the Tony for Best Musical, Hollywood mogul Jack Warner hired most of the cast and director Peter Hunt to make a movie. Then...
If you’re healthily avoiding crowds and already had your fill of fireworks, here are 10 more movies and TV shows that explore the American Revolution from different angles.
1776 (1972)
Making the Founding Fathers sing was truly revolutionary when Sherman Edwards’s musical debuted on Broadway in 1969. The plot traced how the Second Continental Congress decided on independence; there are lots of fun character moments but really no other story. After the show won the Tony for Best Musical, Hollywood mogul Jack Warner hired most of the cast and director Peter Hunt to make a movie. Then...
- 7/3/2020
- by Chris Longo
- Den of Geek
Peter H. Hunt, who won a Tony Award for his direction in 1969 of the now-classic musical 1776, helmed the 1972 film version and numerous episodes of CBS’ Touched By An Angel, died Sunday at home in Los Angeles from complications of Parkinson’s disease. He was 81.
Hunt’s death was reported by his wife, Barbette Hunt, to the Los Angeles Times. HIs death was confirmed by the Williamstown Theatre Festival, where Hunt was the former artistic director. He was the uncle of actress Helen Hunt.
A Broadway lighting designer through much of the 1960s, Hunt made his directorial breakthrough with the smash hit 1776, the Revolutionary War-era musical by Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone. The original Broadway cast included such stars-in-the-making as William Daniels, Betty Buckley and, as Thomas Jefferson, Ken Howard. Ronald Holgate, as Richard Henry Lee, won the Tony Award...
Hunt’s death was reported by his wife, Barbette Hunt, to the Los Angeles Times. HIs death was confirmed by the Williamstown Theatre Festival, where Hunt was the former artistic director. He was the uncle of actress Helen Hunt.
A Broadway lighting designer through much of the 1960s, Hunt made his directorial breakthrough with the smash hit 1776, the Revolutionary War-era musical by Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone. The original Broadway cast included such stars-in-the-making as William Daniels, Betty Buckley and, as Thomas Jefferson, Ken Howard. Ronald Holgate, as Richard Henry Lee, won the Tony Award...
- 4/28/2020
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Broadway can expect 1776 in 2021. But first the revival of this most American musical, to be directed by Diane Paulus will stage engagements in various cities from Boston to Los Angeles before landing in New York.
A co-production of New York’s nonprofit Roundabout Theatre Company and the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University (where Paulus is artistic director), 1776 will play the A.R.T.’s Loeb Drama Center from May 22 – June 28, 2020, before traveling on to a handful of other venues, including Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles during July, 2020.
The Broadway staging will begin in spring 2021 at the Roundabout’s American Airlines Theatre. Additional dates, cities, and cast and creative team will be announced at a later date.
“This is an exciting opportunity for us at Roundabout, to bring this beloved musical back to the Broadway stage in partnership with our colleagues at the A.R.
A co-production of New York’s nonprofit Roundabout Theatre Company and the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University (where Paulus is artistic director), 1776 will play the A.R.T.’s Loeb Drama Center from May 22 – June 28, 2020, before traveling on to a handful of other venues, including Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles during July, 2020.
The Broadway staging will begin in spring 2021 at the Roundabout’s American Airlines Theatre. Additional dates, cities, and cast and creative team will be announced at a later date.
“This is an exciting opportunity for us at Roundabout, to bring this beloved musical back to the Broadway stage in partnership with our colleagues at the A.R.
- 5/6/2019
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
(See previous post: Fourth of July Movies: Escapism During a Weird Year.) On the evening of the Fourth of July, besides fireworks, fire hazards, and Yankee Doodle Dandy, if you're watching TCM in the U.S. and Canada, there's the following: Peter H. Hunt's 1776 (1972), a largely forgotten film musical based on the Broadway hit with music by Sherman Edwards. William Daniels, who was recently on TCM talking about 1776 and a couple of other movies (A Thousand Clowns, Dodsworth), has one of the key roles as John Adams. Howard Da Silva, blacklisted for over a decade after being named a communist during the House Un-American Committee hearings of the early 1950s (Robert Taylor was one who mentioned him in his testimony), plays Benjamin Franklin. Ken Howard is Thomas Jefferson, a role he would reprise in John Huston's 1976 short Independence. (In the short, Pat Hingle was cast as John Adams; Eli Wallach was Benjamin Franklin.) Warner...
- 7/5/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Today in 1997, the first Broadway revival of 1776 opened at Criterion Center Stage Right, where it ran for 333 performances. 1776 is a musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. The story is based on the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It focuses on, and partly fictionalizes, the efforts of John Adams to persuade his colleagues to vote for American independence and to sign the document. The production was nominated for five Tony Awards and won three, including the Tony Award for Best Musical. The musical was made into a film of the same name in 1972.
- 8/14/2016
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club, celebrates the 4th of July 4th with '54 Sings 1776,' a celebration of the music from Broadway's Tony Award-winning Independence Day musical by Sherman Edwards...
- 6/16/2016
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Today in 1969, 1776 opened at the 46th Street Theatre now the Richard Rogers Theatre, where it ran for 1217 performances. 1776 is a musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. The story is based on the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It focuses on, and partly fictionalizes, the efforts of John Adams to persuade his colleagues to vote for American independence and to sign the document. The production was nominated for five Tony Awards and won three, including the Tony Award for Best Musical. The musical was made into a film of the same name in 1972 and was revived on Broadway in 1997.
- 3/16/2016
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
Today in 1997, the first Broadway revival of 1776 opened at Criterion Center Stage Right, where it ran for 333 performances. 1776 is a musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. The story is based on the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It focuses on, and partly fictionalizes, the efforts of John Adams to persuade his colleagues to vote for American independence and to sign the document. The production was nominated for five Tony Awards and won three, including the Tony Award for Best Musical. The musical was made into a film of the same name in 1972.
- 8/13/2015
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
Today in 1969, 1776 opened at the 46th Street Theatre now the Richard Rogers Theatre, where it ran for 1217 performances. 1776 is a musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. The story is based on the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It focuses on, and partly fictionalizes, the efforts of John Adams to persuade his colleagues to vote for American independence and to sign the document. The production was nominated for five Tony Awards and won three, including the Tony Award for Best Musical. The musical was made into a film of the same name in 1972 and was revived on Broadway in 1997.
- 3/16/2015
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
Today in 1969, 1776 opened at the 46th Street Theatre now the Richard Rogers Theatre, where it ran for 1217 performances. 1776 is a musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. The story is based on the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It focuses on, and partly fictionalizes, the efforts of John Adams to persuade his colleagues to vote for American independence and to sign the document. The production was nominated for five Tony Awards and won three, including the Tony Award for Best Musical. The musical was made into a film of the same name in 1972 and was revived on Broadway in 1997.
- 3/16/2014
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
Today in 1997, the first Broadway revival of 1776 opened at Criterion Center Stage Right, where it ran for 333 performances. 1776 is a musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. The story is based on the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It focuses on, and partly fictionalizes, the efforts of John Adams to persuade his colleagues to vote for American independence and to sign the document. The production was nominated for five Tony Awards and won three, including the Tony Award for Best Musical. The musical was made into a film of the same name in 1972.
- 8/14/2013
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
Today in 1969, 1776 opened at the 46th Street Theatre now the Richard Rogers Theatre, where it ran for 1217 performances. 1776 is a musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. The story is based on the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It focuses on, and partly fictionalizes, the efforts of John Adams to persuade his colleagues to vote for American independence and to sign the document. The production was nominated for five Tony Awards and won three, including the Tony Award for Best Musical. The musical was made into a film of the same name in 1972 and was revived on Broadway in 1997.
- 3/16/2013
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
Today in 1997, the first Broadway revival of 1776 opened at Criterion Center Stage Right, where it ran for 333 performances. 1776 is a musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. The story is based on the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It focuses on, and partly fictionalizes, the efforts of John Adams to persuade his colleagues to vote for American independence and to sign the document. The production was nominated for five Tony Awards and won three, including the Tony Award for Best Musical. The musical was made into a film of the same name in 1972.
- 8/14/2012
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
Today in 1969, 1776 opened at the 46th Street Theatre now the Richard Rogers Theatre, where it ran for 1217 performances. 1776 is a musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. The story is based on the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It focuses on, and partly fictionalizes, the efforts of John Adams to persuade his colleagues to vote for American independence and to sign the document. The production was nominated for five Tony Awards and won three, including the Tony Award for Best Musical. The musical was made into a film of the same name in 1972 and was revived on Broadway in 1997.
- 3/16/2012
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
Not that we're ever overtly patriotic here on GreenCine, but certainly the 4th of July conjures up both a fondness for things Americana and thoughts (okay, brief thoughts) about our founding fathers. Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone's dated but still amusing musical, and its subsequent movie version directed by Peter Hunt, 1776 features some fine songs (who knew those founders could be so musically adept?) but one of the numbers from the film was excised from the theatrical version due to a complaint from then-president Richard Nixon (who soon would have a little less pull, but at the time was friends with producer Jack Warner).
(Click on for more and for the clip.)...
(Click on for more and for the clip.)...
- 7/4/2009
- by underdog
- GreenCine
Not that we're ever overtly patriotic here on GreenCine, but certainly the 4th of July conjures up both a fondness for things Americana and thoughts (okay, brief thoughts) about our founding fathers. Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone's dated but still amusing musical, and its subsequent movie version directed by Peter Hunt, 1776 features some fine songs (who knew those founders could be so musically adept?) but one of the numbers from the film was excised from the theatrical version due to a complaint from then-president Richard Nixon (who soon would have a little less pull, but at the time was friends with producer Jack Warner). The "Cool Considerate Men" sequence was more recently put back in the restored version of the film, as seen on DVD. The song allegedly drew parallels between opponents of American Independence in 1776 and the modern conservative movement. It doesn't seem all that thinly veiled, even.
- 7/3/2009
- GreenCine Daily
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