I’d always loved the musical, 1776, traveling in 1998 (when I lived in DC) to New York to see the Broadway revival with Brent Spiner as John Adams. When Glenn linked one song, I thought that in honor of this great day, let me provide another from the 1972 film version with William Daniels as John Adams, Ken Howard as Thomas Jefferson and Howard Da Silva as Benjamin Franklin.
And that eagle, long since hatched, has been flying high and proud for the better part of 233 years. Let’s just make sure not to keep her majesty tethered. For, in flight, she has not only embodied the principles of liberty our founders fought for over two hundred years ago, but has also inspired people around the world, including those who protest today in Iran.
This is one my favorite musicals! It’s not one that people hear about often. I think it’s pretty historically accurate, too–if you use Evita as a yardstick for historically accurate musicals.
I was Richard Henry Lee in our high school production.
Turner Classic runs it tonight…natural-LEE. 10:15 EDT/7:15 PDT
The only drawback to 1776, as with most historical drama, was that the actors were too-old for the most part. The American Founding Fathers weren’t middle-aged men, they were in their 30’s (Jefferson, 33) and some in their 40’s (Adams, 41)(RH Lee, 44). Franklin stood-out as an elder statesman at 70.
If accuarately filmed today, it would be Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt and the cast of Entourage….