July 9-25, 2010
Directed by Nick DeGruccio
(recreating his Ovation Award-winning staging)
Musical Direction by Matthew Smedal
MTW Artistic Director/Producer, Steven Glaudini reprises his Ovation Award-winning turn as John Adams, featuring Broadway veteran Steve Vinovich as Benjamin Franklin, MTW favorites John Bisom as Thomas Jefferson and Tami Tappan Damiano as Abigail Adams, Broadway veteran Andy Umberger as John Dickinson, and Ovation Award-winner and MTW favorite Robert J. Townsend as Edward Rutledge. With Davis Gaines, star of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, as Richard Henry Lee.
“Brilliant and remarkably moving”
The New York Post
Join us as we celebrate the founding of America in the Tony Award-winning 1776! Watch the sparks fly as John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin fight for our freedom and draft the Declaration of Independence before your very eyes. You may know how this story turns out, but you’ll still be on the edge of your seat! A riveting musical filled with history, humor and romance!
The 1972 film version of 1776 was unique for a movie musical. The same creative team as well as many of the actors from the Broadway production were used. William Daniels once again starred as John Adams, with Ken Howard as Thomas Jefferson, Howard Da Silva as Benjamin Franklin, John Cullum as Edward Rutledge, Ron Holgate as Richard Henry Lee, and Virginia Vestoff as Abigail Adams. It is a rarity for many of the original Broadway performances to be preserved on celluloid as the cast of 1776 was.
“1776-History is a Hit!”
From the Chicago Sun Times
Performance Dates & Times:
Friday, July 9 (Preview) 8:00pm
Saturday, July 10 (Opening) 8:00pm
Sunday, July 11 2:00pm
Thursday, July 15 8:00pm
Friday, July 16 8:00pm
Saturday, July 17 2:00pm
Saturday, July 17 8:00pm
Sunday, July 18 2:00pm
Sunday, July 18 7:00pm
Thursday, July 22 8:00pm
Friday, July 23 8:00pm
Saturday, July 24 2:00pm
Saturday, July 24 8:00pm
Sunday, July 25 2:00pm
ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES/
REHEARSAL HALL
4350 East 7th Street
Long Beach, CA 90804-5546
(southwest corner of Ximeno Avenue,
across from Wilson High School)
Hours: Monday-Friday
12:00 Noon-6:00 PM
GENERAL QUESTIONS:
BOX OFFICE
(including single tickets, subscriptions and group sales)
(562) 856-1999 x4
tickets@musical.org
ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE
(562) 856-1999 x5
info@musical.org
PRODUCTION OFFICE
(562) 856-1999 x6
production@musical.org
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.”
WHAT WILL YOU THINK?
WILL YOU VOTE YEA OR NAY?
THE FINAL DECISION IS UP TO YOU.
Join us for this truly revolutionary musical.
You’ll have a new appreciation for the faces on our currency.
