Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Hamilton staged a musical revolution this year. The audacious hip hop musical about America’s (formerly) most underrated Founding Father broke box office records and won 11 Tony Awards. However it’s not the first major Broadway musical about the Revolutionary War. That would be 1776.
Now it should be said that 1776 is a particularly nerdy Broadway musical. Not only is it filled with more traditional musical numbers, but its lyrics are eloquent tongue twisters that provide deft punchlines couched in some seriously heavy exposition. There are songs about the Conservative right, slave trade, and the death of a boy soldier on the battlefield. There are also recurring bits about flies and salt peter. What I’m saying is that it’s not exactly as cool and trendy as Hamilton, but it provides an equally vibrant look at the Founding Fathers.
Alexander Hamilton doesn’t show up in 1776, unless you want to imagine that he’s the one penning General Washington’s ominous correspondents, but John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson all get the full hero treatment. Each man is presented as flawed and fully human, but Adams is the hero of the show. It’s his drive for colonial independence that pushes the other characters to finally pull it together and declare independence.
1776 works as a great bookend to Hamilton, but it also stands by itself as a pitch perfect Fourth of July film. It’s fun, it’s silly, it’s informative, and it’s about the birth of our nation. Check out 1776 this Independence Day.
