Musical Theatre West Announces Cast Of 1776, Runs 7/8-25

In addition to the previously announced Steven Glaudini (John Adams), Tami Tappan Damiano (AbiGail Adams) and Davis Gaines (Richard Henry Lee), Musical Theatre West is pleased to announce the full cast of 1776 including Steve Vinovich (Benjamin Franklin), John Bisom (Thomas Jefferson), Andy Umberger (John Dickinson), and Robert J. Townsend (Edward Rutledge).

We are truly excited to bring you this show, which has one of the best books of a musical you'll ever experience. So good, in fact, that even though you know how this story ends, you'll wonder if they'll ever stop arguing and just sign the Declaration of Independence!

1776 will be directed by Ovation Award winner, Nick DeGruccio (MTW's RENT, THE ANDREWS BROTHERS, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES) with musical direction by Matthew Smedal (Cabrillo Music Theatre's LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS).

WHAT DID THE CRITICS THINK OF THE ORIGINAL 1969 PRODUCTION?

Clive Barnes of the New York Times wrote, "On the face of it, few historical incidents seem more unlikely to spawn a Broadway musical than that solemn moment in the history of mankind, the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Yet 1776... most handsomely demonstrated that people who merely go 'on the face of it' are occasionally outrageously wrong....1776 is a most striking, most gripping musical. I recommend it without reservation. It makes even an Englishman's heart beat faster... the characters are most unusually full... for Mr. Stone's book is literate, urbane and...very amusing...This is a beautiful mixture of pride, ambition, an almost priggish sense of justice."

John Chapman of the New York Daily News penned, "This is by no means a historical tract or a sermon on the birth of this nation. It is warm with a life of its own; it is funny, it is moving... Often, I sat enchanted in my seat... The songs and lyrics are, as I have indicated, remarkably original."

The New York Post noted, "In this cynical age, it requires courage as well as enterprise to do a musical play that simply deals with the events leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. And 1776... makes no attempt to be satirical or wander off into modern bypaths. But the rewards of this confidence reposed in the bold conception were abundant. The result is a brilliant and remarkably moving work of theatrical art."

Tickets are now on sale for this truly REVOLUTIONARY musical running July 9-25 at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center. Please click here to purchase: http://musical.org/

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