“On Broadway, I can’t tell you the number of people who came up after the show and said, ‘I saw the original. While some audience members prefer the traditional cast, she says others embrace the change. Mikel has been with the show since it was developed and premiered by the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University before playing on Broadway with Roundabout Theatre Company at the American Airlines Theater from – Jan 8, 2023. “I love my grandson, but society doesn’t aways see his beautiful self they see a Black man.” “As a Black mother and grandmother, it touches my heart,” she adds. The show also addresses the violence and loss of war in the song “Momma, Look Sharp,” sung by a soldier who routinely delivers messages from George Washington’s Continental Army camp. It was originally intended as a protest against the Vietnam War, but Mikel says it resonates differently in the era of Black Lives Matter. The issue of slavery was hotly debated by the men who signed the Declaration of Independence, and clause attacking slavery was ultimately removed from the document to help guarantee that delegates from Southern states, as well as those from Northern states who represented slave trading interests, would be on board with it. “He was always one of the wisest people in the room, but I don’t think he’s pompous about it.”Ī slaveowner at the time the Continental Congress convened, Franklin would eventually become a staunch abolitionist. “He was always three steps ahead of everyone else,” she says. In researching Franklin, Mikel discovered that he was a master chess player. “All these people were here then, (and we) reflect what America looks like today.” “This cast wouldn’t have been considered when the Declaration of Independence was written,” says Liz Mikel, who plays Ben Franklin. (Abigail Adams and Martha Jefferson are the two female characters in the show.) The cast is also more diverse, with a majority of people of color, in contrast to the all-white cast of the 1969 premiere production. The cast of this production, coming to the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts May 16-21, is made up of women, nonbinary and transgender actors playing mostly male characters. Planning a visit? Learn more about hours, tickets and programs.While the script hasn’t changed, the voices telling the story of “1776” in the national touring production are quite different than those of the Continental Congress members portrayed in the Tony-winning musical. There is much history to explore - from the Georgian architecture to fugitive slave hearings - in addition to the founding of the nation. Here, George Washington was appointed Commander in Chief of the Continental Army in 1775, the Articles of Confederation were adopted in 1781, and Benjamin Franklin gazed upon the "Rising Sun" chair in 1787. The Pennsylvania legislature loaned their Assembly Room out for the meetings of the Second Continental Congress and later, the Constitutional Convention. Built to be the Pennsylvania State House, the building originally housed all three branches of Pennsylvania's colonial government. The legacy of the nation's founding documents - universal principles of freedom and democracy - has influenced lawmakers around the world and distinguished Independence Hall as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.Ĭonstruction on the building started in 1732. Constitution were both debated and signed inside this building. Independence Hall is the birthplace of America.
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