Review: Troubled musical ‘1776’ arrives in Chicago, much improved from Broadway
Based on the fraught Congressional debate over the signing of the Declaration of Independence, “1776″ has long been considered an erudite, wise, mostly upbeat musical, especially beloved by fans of American history. But the genesis of the 2022 Broadway revival, directed by Diane Paulus and Jeffrey Page, occurred as notions of American exceptionalism were under fervent attack in the wake of the 2020 George Floyd murder and the subsequent racial reckoning. In the views of many radicalized theater artists, the questions raised by the New York Times series “The 1619 Project” had rendered the implied exceptionalism of 1776, and “1776,” hollow.
The show also was beset by internal upset; one of the leading performers gave an extraordinarily frank interview in which they critiqued the material (“a relic”), some of their directors’ choices (“a missed opportunity”) and even the theater, American Repertory Theatre (“they learned they messed up”), at which the production originated. One could intuit from this that there were many points of view and not much unity of purpose. And that was evident from what could be seen on stage.
That production, which I first saw in New York last fall and found very problematic, opened Wednesday night in Chicago as part of a national tour.
It has been greatly improved for the road. Very strikingly so.
Intentionally, the show was cast with entirely female, nonbinary or trans actors, a majority of whom were persons of color. Given the topic, of course, this invited comparison with “Hamilton,” a show with a very masculine energy that this “1776” seemed implicitly to be critiquing, or at least offering a contrasting P.O.V.
But “Hamilton” was an original piece with no white actors as Founding Fathers; moreover, the physical vocabulary of the show allowed the modern actors to be themselves. “1776” was a revival of a 1969 musical and thus was dealing with preexisting material that the directors clearly did not trust to come off as sufficiently progressive, especially when it comes to the great original sin of the famed document. That, of course, was the compromise made by Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and others in order to secure the support of the Southern states for their new nation; namely, the lost opportunity to abolish slavery therein and confer human rights on all Americans, including those hitherto seen as property.
Mistakes clearly were made, including asking the cast to assume a kind of theatrical masculinity, which undermined the show’s own radicalism and resulted not in organic performances but something closer to parody or caricature.
Happily, this touring cast (many of its members standbys in New York or new to the show), now has pulled all of that back. They appear more comfortable with each other, show more affection for their characters and for material that always was progressive, especially when it came to the shameful slavery compromise. The performances are also, on balance, better and more energetically sung and more befitting of what people think of as a Broadway musical — a consequence, perhaps, of playing to larger houses on the road and not so much staring coldly at the audience as caring about what they are feeling and pressing for a mutually enlightening connection.
Although far more minimal of design, the show now has more heart, more compassion for the Founding Fathers, a richer sense that imperfect humans consistently make mistakes, and more trust in the original material by Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone. Granted, it was hard to have less.
Not your father’s “1776,” you might say, in many senses of that cliché. But instead a newly centered production with the capacity to challenge, a vital attribute of our shared democracy.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
Review: “1776″ (2.5 stars)
When: Through March 12
Where: CIBC Theater, 18 W. Monroe St.
Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Tickets: $30-$98 at 800-775-2000 and www.broadwayinchicago.com
