Notes on 1776
The play was written by Peter Stone with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and was first produced in 1969. The play and the 1972 film were directed by Peter H. Hunt. The show was nominated for five Tony awards and won three: Best Musical, Best Featured Actor in a Musical and Best Direction of a Musical. It ran for 1217 performances and was revived in 1997. Many of the original actors also appeared in the film.
Much of the play is historically accurate, including the character traits of the historical characters, and the fact that Jefferson did indeed play the violin. Of course, there were many more delegates to the Continental Congresses than appear in the play. Some inaccuracies include the fact that Martha Jefferson did not travel to Philadelphia to visit her husband as she was actually quite ill during the summer of 1776. Also, the polling of delegates in the final scene is not as it happened and the signing took weeks, not minutes, after the final vote.
Peter Stone (1930-2003) was a writer for television, theater and the movies. He attended Bard College starting in 1947 and received a Masters Degree from Yale University in 1953.
Sherman Edwards (1919-1981) was a song-writer born in New York City. He earned an undergraduate degree in history at New York University and did graduate work at Cornell. He even taught history at a high school in New York. He began working as an actor and as a pianist, playing for a number of well-known singers and in the bands of the likes of Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and Louis Armstrong. In the late 1950’s he began to write songs including some that became hits. 1776 was his only Broadway score.
The following material is from a study guide produced to accompany a performance of 1776 at West End Theatre in Alexandria, Virginia. It includes some information about the causes of the Revolution and the formation of the Continental Congresses, an essay on the slave trade, and a chronology of events surrounding the formation and signing of the Declaration of Independence.
