1776 Film showing
“1776” is the movie based on the 1969 Broadway musical, which won the Tony Award for best musical.
A Broadway musical can be inspired by history and even attempt to be true to how things went down, to the extent they are knowable, but a musical or play won’t succeed unless it sells tickets. Its potential priorities to be accurate are inevitably tempered by the pressure to entertain people successfully, and changes are often made to suit the medium. In this case, Sherman Edwards - who wrote the music and lyrics - was a former history teacher and he took the subject matter very seriously, even detailing in the program notes when they adjusted the known facts and why.
It’s also useful to remember that no matter how timeless a book or painting or theater piece may become, it is always a product of the moment when it was created. And every time it’s revived, new audiences see it and experience it through their own moment. Meanings and impact change. “1776” premiered in 1969 and the movie came out in 1972. Given what the US was experiencing at the time - the Vietnam war, the Civil Rights Movement, widespread civil unrest, and in 1972 the Watergate scandal - you can imagine how a musical celebrating the efforts of the founding fathers to write the Declaration of Independence could be a useful and popular reminder of the country’s founding values. You will all get to experience how it feels in THIS moment in the nation’s history to see this piece made over 50 years ago.
The edition we watch today contains a song from the musical that was pointedly critical of conservative politicians and politics. It was filmed but cut from the original release of the movie due to direct pressure on the studio from President Richard Nixon. The footage was restored and included in this edition. When you watch the segment with the song “Cool, Cool Considerate Men” know that it survived Presidential censorship, and you can judge how it feels today.
-- Peter Glazer, Playwright, Director, and Emeritus Professor of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, https://www.peterglazer.us/
Read a note from Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone about the writing of 1776: https://americanrepertorytheater.org/media/historical-note-by-the-authors-of-1776/
Date - June 21, 2026
Price - FREE
Location - Adams Theater, Park Street, Adams, MA 01220
Time - 2:30 - 5:00 PM
