University of Virginia Library

Pleasant Music

The music of 1776 is pleasant
enough, but not especially
noteworthy and far too topical to
ever stand on its own outside of the
show. The production, produced by
Stuart Ostrow, was very good and
surprisingly close to the original
form done in New York. The acting
was also fairly good, with special
praise deserved by Don Perkins,
whose John Adams was mature and
Bostonian enough to carry the
major role. Paul Tripp was adequate
as Ben Franklin, although he lacked
a certain calm benevolence that the
role demands.

In conclusion the production
was a well done version of a very
funny and enjoyable musical.
University Hall is far from an ideal
place to see anything but a
basketball game, but in this case
most of the echoes were from
laughter.