1776: The New Broadway Cast Recording (1997)
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Free Music Notes for 1776: The New Broadway Cast Recording (1997)
Free Music Review: I Love It!
Hit: 5 Stars
The soundtrack will make you laugh, cry and sing along. You'll have goosebumps as you hear the songs of the men and women involved in the creation of our country.Free Music Review: Bets Music ever made!
Hit: 5 Stars
I have been listening to musicals for years and just love this one. I love it!Free Music Review: WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW!
Hit: 5 Stars
BUY THIS CD! It doesn't get any better.Free Music Review: My "Compliments" on this cast album's track additions
Hit: 4 Stars
I celebrate every 4th of July by watching my laser disc restored version of "1776" and finally got the chance last year to see the musical when it came to town. The touring company was a result of the 1997 Broadway revival and I finally got around to picking up the CD. I too have nothing to fault with Brent Spiner's performance as John Adams aside from the fact that he is not William Daniels, which is not meant as a slight to the former but simply a restatement of the fact that the latter's performance was one of those perfect unions of performer and performance that happily happens from time to time in Broadway musicals. Listening to Daniels do "Is Anybody There?" is one of a choice handful of tracks I can listen to that will get me teary eyed. So what is special about this revival cast album is that it includes, unlike the original, Linda Emond as Abigail Adams singing "Compliments." I do not even bother trying to explain it anymore, but anytime I am listening or watching this musical and she starts to sing "I am, as I have always been...," I get emotional. So the first time I listened to "Compliments" on this CD the tears were rolling down my cheeks. I also appreciate all of the other little additions, both musically and in terms of dialogue, that are included on this cast album. As with most revival casts the performances fall both below and above the originals. Pat Hingle is a fine character actor, but I think he is simply miscast as Benjamin Franklin. On the flip side of the coin I think Gregg Edelman as Edward Rutledge and Paul Michael Valley as Thomas Jefferson are improvements on the originals. I even like this version of "The Lees of Old Virginia" by Merwin Foard, and it is the one song in the show that usually grates on my nerves. Why anybody would have ever thought the story of the Founding Fathers haggling over the Declaration of Independence would work as a Broadway musical is beyond me, but Sherman Edwards (music & lyrics) and Peter Stone (book) most definitely pull it off. Few musicals can claim to be as educational as this one, while being as entertaining with a mix of humor ("But Mr. Adams" and "The Egg") and pathos ("Momma Look Sharp" and "Molasses to Rum"). So, overall, while not as good as the original, this version of "1776" certainly has its moments.
Free Music Review: brilliant in spots
Hit: 4 Stars
I disagree with some other reviewers in that I think Brent Spiner is absolutely brilliant here, at least insofar as I can tell from the recording (also, of course, it's fun to hear the erstwhile Commander Data showing such passion). Linda Emond as Abigail Adams is also wonderful, as is Gregg Edelman as Rutledge. I also like whoever plays Richard Henry Lee (his namee's not in the liner notes). It's true, though, that Lauren Ward's Marrtha Jefferson sounds shrill and empty-headed, and that Pat Hingle's Franklin comes across as a doddering old man, of not much importance to events.
I havn't seen the show with this cast, so my impressions are from the CD only. I did see 1776, in 1976, in an outdoor performance in Philadelphia. I was only 9 at the time (though, as a good Philadelphian, I of course knew a good bit of the history), and the majesty of the ensemble numbers and the pathos of Momma Look Sharp affected me most. Listening to the score now, I'm most struck by the evil power of Molasses to Rum to Slaves and the love as well as the squabbling in the well-drawn relationship between John and Abigail Adams (taken from their own letters).