I have shared with you before how I have a strict set of rules around going to the theatre.  I do NOT peak!  1) I do NOT read any reviews, period!  What do I care what others think make good theatre?  I have a right to protect what will become MY opinion after all.  2) I don't look ahead to see who's in the cast.  I like being surprised.  3) If I'm unfamiliar with the show, I do nothing to educate myself about the plot, etc. ahead of time.  And, 4) I do not seek out press photography.  Again, I want to be surprised by the not only who the actors are, but what the sets and costumes, etc. look like.  

Well, I held my ground pretty well...and then I peaked!  This is a show I have never seen performed on stage before.  I have however, completely worn out 1 CD of the original Broadway cast recording and am well on the way of disintegrating a second!  I love every song and I've memorized them so thoroughly, that I already have an image of the whole musical in my head.  Now, imagine my surprise when I discovered that there are a lot of words in between the songs.  Upon arrival at the Ford's Theatre, I also discovered that the show is three hours long!  Yet, from the first actor to idly wander onto the stage set up to look like a museum exhibition to the final standing ovation--the presentation was exceptional!  

Scenic Design praise goes to Milagros Ponce de Leon. 

Then the stage transforms into the chamber in Independence Hall back in the summer of 1776!

The Ford's Theatre is the very one in which our 16th President was assassinated.  I tend to go on weekend matinees and any performance is always full of visitors to DC who marvel at it's 19th century size (it's small), and the fact that the presidential booth is maintained as a memorial right there, to the right of the stage.  While it always brings a certain gravitas to the production being staged, never more so than with a production like 1776.  For while the musical tells the story of that hot summer in Philadelphia as the Continental Congress debated declaring independence from King George and England, the true drama pivots on a compromise.  The decision to favor independence alone over both Independence and the manumission of enslaved people along with the abolition of the institution of slavery.

The cast was, to a person, pitch perfect.  I could not have loved them more.  Both Jake Loewenthal as Thomas Jefferson and Derrick D. Truby Jr. as Benjamin Franklin were convivial and understated in a way that enhanced their performance and brought a necessary balance to the work of the whole.  Michael Perrie, Jr. as Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee made the most of this solo thus establishing the volume of presentation needed to impress for the rest of the musical.  As a whole the choreography, by Luis Salgado was set on "Amazing" and made the grade from start to finish.  

Others worth celebrating individually include Casey Evans as the ever truculent Pennsylvania Delegate John Dickinson.  The last and the only hold out who in the end was out voted by his delegation and left the Congress firm in his commitment to avoid war, but ready to fight for the colonies if circumstances required.  I've seen Casey in nearly a dozen shows over the past decade, and I've never seen him deliver a finger performance.  His voice was in an excellent state.  Also, and arguably the most difficult to like delegate, Joe Mallon, as Edward Rutledge from South Caroline.  His rendition of "Molasses to Rum" which indicts the members of the Congress from New England for their complicity in the infamous slave triangle was bone chilling delivered.  His baritone, bellowed out during the recitative of place names meant to sound like the names of the men and women being auctioned off in the slave markets of Charleston, felt like a cyclone sucking up all the hypocrisy of mankind and laying it bare in a place without winners.

Finally, we come to Jonathan Atkinson who portrayed the irascible John Adams, delegate of Massachusetts.  What can be said?  For decades the amazing character actor William Daniels has been the person of John Adams in the role; as he did originate it on Broadway.  How I would have loved to have seen him experience Mr. Atkinson's portrayal.  It was, based on everything I know of the original version, on a scale 1 to 10, where the original was a tried a true 10--a 12.  Atkinson to this character by the horns and never stopped shaking new life out of it from the first "Sit Down John!" to the final "Is anybody there?"  On a championship team, Atkinson was the quarterback who through every ball to a touchdown.

So many hours later, I'm still glowing inside.  It was the best thing I've ever seen at Ford's Theatre, and I've seen some amazing productions from "Lincoln" with Scott Bakula to "Come Away From" with the original Broadway bound cast.  This production was for me a dream come true.

The number: "For God's Sake, John, Sit Down!"

John Adams of Massachusetts (Jonathan Atkinson)

Abigail Adams (Kanysha Williams)

As their diologue is taken from their actual letters to one another, they may appear to be together on stage, but they cannot, in the end, actually "touch" each other.

Richard Henry Lee of Virginia (Michael Perrie, Jr.)

Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania (Derrick D. Truby, Jr.)

Stephen Hopkins of Rhode Island (Stephen F. Schmidt)

Thomas Jefferson of Virginia (Jake Loewenthal)

In a contrivance of the production, Martha Jefferson, Thomas' young bride, is brought to Philadelphia by Adams and Franklin to help him over his "writer's block."

Adams, Martha Jefferson (Justine "Icy" Moral), and Franklin in the number "He Plays The Violin."

John Dickinson of Pennsylvania (Evan Casey)

The number: "Cool, Cool Considerate Men"

The Courier (Hunter Ringsmith) singing "Momma, Look Sharp".  The woman to right did everything she could to stench the flow of tears from her eyes.  I took a more passive stance and just let the warm, salty liquid run down my cheeks.

Jefferson, Franklin and Adams performing the song "The Egg."

Edward Rutledge of South Carolina (Joe Mallon) performing "Molasses to Rum".