Review: Encores! Modern Dress, Diversely Cast 1776 Strikes Contemporary Chords

The first act of the new Encores! modern dress, diversely cast production of 1776 ends with a faded spotlight focused on a young black man in a hoodie, recalling how his two best friends were shot by soldiers on the village green.

The song that John-Michael Lyles sings so hauntingly, "Mama, Look Sharp," was a controversial one when Sherman Edwards (score) and Peter Stone's (book) masterful musical about the signing of the Declaration of Independence opened in 1969. The Vietnam War divided the nation and this personal view of battlefield death was seen as a direct attack of a government sending its young people to die in a conflict that was making less and less sense.

With a 2016 America having grown weary of its wars, the moment, while still a powerful one, loses its controversy in its original context, but without changing a word, director Garry Hynes takes us into intermission with a personal view of the causes behind the Black Lives Matter movement.

With the musical's members of congress now dressed in modern-day suits and ties and taking on contemporary attitudes, one of Broadway's finest-written musicals not only serves as a great history lesson, but also strikes many newly-relevant chords.

When John Adams, wonderfully played by Santino Fontana as a somewhat neurotic intellectual activist, complains that congress won't even favor him with the courtesy of a debate, the line drew a long laugh from the opening night audience that would not have been there six weeks ago.

In the musical's final scene, when Adams reluctantly compromises his morals by giving in to South Carolina's demand that a section of the declaration condemning slavery be removed, it brings to mind Hillary Clinton's self-description as "a progressive that gets things done."

Although Bryce Pinkham's preppy-styled John Dickinson is far from an impersonation of any current political figure, the property-owner's opposition to independence as a means of protecting his personal wealth and his belief that the public will support his view because "most men with nothing would rather protect the possibility of becoming rich than face the reality of being poor," certainly smells of the Republican front-runner.

When Adams yearns for his wife Abigail, back home taking care of their Massachusetts farm while he fights for the cause in Philadelphia, the vision he sees is that of a woman in jeans and work clothes, unhesitant to get down to the business of physical labor. The embracing vocals of Christiane Noll are coupled with the affectionately aggressive personality of a woman pushing her equal partner to achieve more than he thinks is possible.

Knowing what we now know about Thomas Jefferson and his slaves adds a discomforting layer when we see white actor John Behlmann, playing our eventual third president, passionately kissing black actor Nikki Renee Daniels, who charmingly sings the double entendre-laden "He Plays The Violin" as his wife, Martha.

Sporting a shaved head and a goatee, Alexander Gemignani's sneering portrayal of pro-slavery southern aristocrat Edward Rutledge resembles a contemporary skinhead, adding further chill to his thoughtful, acidic performance of the score's dramatic highlight, "Molasses To Rum," a damning condemnation of the north's opposition to slavery, given how their businesses indirectly profit from it via the Triangle Trade.

Edwards' only Broadway score is enhanced greatly by the marvelously detailed work of orchestrator Eddie Sauter, played by music director Ben Whiteley's 29-piece orchestra. The drum and fife spirit of '76 is perfectly captured in Richard Henry Lee's peppy march "The Lees of Old Virginia." But when Jubilant Sykes, who is black, performs the number, his voice and physicality give the moment a slick and low-key smoothness, suggesting a new type of all-American flavor that has evolved in the last 240 years.

More traditional performances, though no less effective, are given by John Larroquette as a Ben Franklin who revels in his own celebrity, Andre De Shields as crotchety rummy Stephen Hopkins, Michael McCormick as an exasperated John Hancock and Robert Sella, as the (mostly) unflappable congressional secretary, Charles Thomson.

The Encores! series is traditionally focused on the scores of its musicals, frequently trimming down the books. Musically, this 1776 succeeds greatly. However, this is the rare musical where the book is so strong that many of the evening's emotional high points are spoken, so in this case the numerous cuts decrease the drama's effectiveness. This is a musical for actors and the brief rehearsal period allotted for concert performances probably accounts for the static quality of some of the scene work on opening night, which is only the second time the cast performs in front of an audience.

But whatever kinks there may be, Santino Fontana's smart and empathetic performance is always winning, and the production has the makings of one that could really gel together into something fresh and invigorating.