Today is the 40th anniversary of the Broadway opening of "1776." Reading this post on Big Hollywood and watching the video clips there made me realize that I never watched the film in its entirety. I knew I not seen the stage play, but I sort of assumed I had seen the film at one time or another. Apparently, what memory I have of the musical must have come from highlights I saw in compilations. I hope to rectify this soon. Here is how the review begins:

"1776″ uses the character of John Adams as the main protagonist in telling the story of his legendary fight to convince the continental congress to adopt a resolution calling for independence from King George. The show follows the journey of Adams' victories in convincing congress to form a committee to draft the Declaration of Independence, the ensuing debate over the contents of the declaration, the conflict between the Northern states and the Southern states over slavery and finally, the climactic scene depicting the signing of the declaration.

The brilliance of the drama in this show is not "will they do it?" since everyone in the audience knows they will… the drama lies in "how are they gonna pull this off?" The show uses a simple but very theatrical and dramatic device by showing a giant day calendar on the wall above John Hancock's desk. Each new scene shows the calendar page ripped away revealing what day we are witnessing. Everyone with at least a 1st Grade education knows that we are all counting down to July 4th and the tension genuinely builds as we see the day coming closer and yet it doesn't seem like Adams and his coalition will get all of the states to favor a declaration in time.

"1776″ is unique in many ways. Most striking is the fact that the stage is populated by many, many men and there are only two women in the show: Abigail Adams and Martha Jefferson. And Abigail only appears through her letters with John--she does not actually interact with the rest of the cast. Martha only appears for one scene, a somewhat apocryphal moment when Franklin and Adams send for her to provide Jefferson a much needed conjugal visit so he can re-focus on the writing of the declaration.

So, other than that, it's a 2 1/2 hour long musical with a bunch of wig-wearing guys sitting around debating in 18th century aristocratic costumes. No chorus, no dancers, no special effects, no leggy dancers… not really the recipe for musical theatre success.

Because the film was such a faithful replica of the stage production including using most of the same principal actors, clips from the film should provide you with a great taste of what it was like to witness this show live at the 46th Street Theatre (now the Richard Rodgers) 40 years ago. Here is the great opening number, "Sit Down John!":

Given what I now know about constitutional history, that there would be a whole number about Richard Henry Lee is quite remarkable.

History tells us that one of the strategies Benjamin Franklin and John Adams used to move the Declaration of Independence along was to get Richard Henry Lee to make the motion in congress. He was so respected and carried so much weight that he would be accepted as the sponsor of the resolution (where as Adams was hated by all). It was up to Lee to ride to Virginia to get the approval of the House of Burgesses to make the motion. Here's how "1776″ portrays the man and the moment:

Lots more commentary and clips are at Big Hollywood.

Update: Here's a link to the "Director's Cut" of 1776: