Your entertainment dollar today doesn't always deliver inspiration, but I got far more than I bargained for this week.
My phenomenal return on entertainment investment came when I was treated to a local community theater presentation of the Broadway play 1776, which won the 1969 Best Musical Tony. I'm a tad sheepish about admitting I'd never heard of the production, given how much I enjoy reading, researching and learning about the American Revolution era.
The play itself was wonderful for both its treatment of the subject matter and its artistic presentation, including the music of composer Sherman Edwards, who wrote a number of Top 10 hits in the 1950s and 1960s.
Writing a musical about the Continental Congress' adoption of the Declaration of Independence was a truly daunting task. It took Edwards 10 years to finalize it, probably because at first, second and even third blush it doesn't seem like a story easily told in song.
It's difficult to breathe life, much less music and lyrics and even choreography, into the legendary drafters, debaters and signers of the Declaration. Most of the characters are iconic to begin with, making humanization on stage challenging. Some have been stoically minted into our imagination from their profiles on U.S. coinage and currency. But Edwards managed the task magnificently, due in large measure to simply outstanding songs.
The first words of the show are spoken, not sung, by John Adams as he addressed the audience.
"I have come to the conclusion," he says, counting with his fingers, "that one useless man is called a disgrace--that two are called a law firm--and that three or more become a Congress."
His short soliloquy leads into the first number, "Sit down, John!" which sets the tone and timbre for the show, as Adams' nagging pleas for congressional consideration of independence has left the chamber in fatigue during May 1776.
The star-studded founders' names are all there, seated in session by state, including Pennsylvania's Ben Franklin and John Dickinson, Virginia's Thomas Jefferson and Richard Henry Lee, Maryland's Samuel Chase, South Carolina's Edward Rutledge, Connecticut's Roger Sherman, and New York's Robert Livingston.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of community theater is that the audience is often well acquainted with the cast.
I saw guys I knew transformed and transported, in costume and dialect, back in time to become founding fathers. The cast all have day jobs, and though all are volunteers, they sought, set and achieved very high standards for vocal and dramatic performance quality.
Jonesboro's theatrical ranks have risen to match the city's upward mobility.
A few years ago the Foundation of Arts, which presents the local theater productions, delivered spectacular performances of Les Miserables that left audiences literally awestruck when the curtain closed. Last year Jesus Christ, Superstar showcased some of the region's remarkable singing talents.
And this past Tuesday, cast member after well-outfitted cast member (another volunteer triumph: costume design committee) captured the spirit of '76 in rousing renditions, soft-spoken ballads, and witty dialogue demonstrating the arguments, compromises and mutual commitment of the founders in Congress.
Historical purists will note a few occasions of fact being sacrificed for drama's sake, such as when Martha Jefferson is sent for by Adams to help Thomas get past writer's block (she was actually ill at the time, and never visited Philadelphia that summer).
But overall, it's a true, in-depth telling of a supremely worthwhile history lesson. More than 500 Jonesboro-area elementary students were treated to a preview of the show prior to opening night. It'd be a blessing if children all over the state could see it, every year!
It's a play that accomplishes very well what Edwards said he set out to do: Present the colonial leaders in their "outermost limits" and portray how they "fought with each other ... [but] fought affirmatively."
There was not unanimity among the founders on most issues: industrial versus agrarian, slave versus free, urban versus rural, state rights versus federal authority, etc. But there was homogeneity in manners and method, and understanding that empathy and compromise are part of total commitment to a greater good--particularly fine and prescient thoughts in a contentious election year.
And ultimately, despite their differences, Congress unanimously approved independence and produced a world-changing Declaration.
I can heartily encourage more community theater troupes to take it on. It's not nearly as well-known as stage staples like Oklahoma, but it's easy to follow and exceedingly entertaining.
Somehow, while creating an irresistible urge to tap your foot to the music, it also manages to slip in some very interesting educational points, such as James Wilson's critical swing vote that delivers the Pennsylvania delegation, and eloquent exchanges between Adams and wife Abigail--taken nearly verbatim from actual letters.
When the liberty bell tolled in the final scene as the signers were polled, they froze in pose reminiscent of the famous Pine-Savage painting depicting the signing.
We the people in the audience stood and applauded.
I wish I hadn't seen the last performance of the run; I'd gladly give it an encore attendance.
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Dana D. Kelley is a freelance writer from Jonesboro.
Editorial on 09/16/2016