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Actually, the music is very pretty and sometimes VERY dramatic (”Molasses To Rum to Slaves”) and moves the plot forward as it is required to do. A lot of the lyrics come from the letters of John Adams.

This is the original Broadway cast. I saw it in 1968 when I was 13 years old. William Daniels was out that night and John Cullum (who plays the South Carolinian in the movie - gee, I forgot his name!) took over as John Adams. Brilliant and handsome as only John Cullum could be. Virginia Vestoff who plays Abigail died tragically young and instead of the bland Blythe Danner as Jefferson’s wife, we had the great singer Betty Buckley. Superb!

I’m so very glad they preserved this cast in the movie. It has one of the strongest “books” (that’s what the dialogue is called in a musical) to ever come out of a musical.

While the movie was very unsuccessful in its day, I notice that’s it’s grown in stature. The staging is very close to the play - which is why it looks so very stagey.

John Collum’s an incredible performer; I love him in anything. Blythe Danner, on the other hand ...awful.

My only series gripe is the character, not the performer, of Richard Henry Lee. That’s pretty seriously wrong.

Here we are, in this little isolated community in Fairbanks, AK, and we did an astonishing production of 1776 when it was brand new and fresh - in the auditorium of a local high school. The costuming was perfect, the talent was amazing. All the principals are great voices, 'John Adams' and 'Rutledge' and too long a list. I wasn't prepared for what I was about to see, and I came out breathless and teary-eyed. I'll never forget when the stage lights were dimmed, everything in shadow except Rutledge on the table. A very young man, a powerful, incredibly haunting voice, his sweeping body language evoked the conflict that devastated the nation 90 years later. You could have heard a pin drop in the audience. And I'm picky. I'll tell you when I think a performance is amateurish.

Actually, the music is very pretty and sometimes VERY dramatic (”Molasses To Rum to Slaves”)

I saw the stage play of this in Chicago when I was going into senior year of high school. My mother took me and I still remember the number "Molasses to Rum to Slaves". If you think it is dramatic on the screen, you should have seen it in person. It was electrifying.