1776

I owned this album (yes, I said album...it's all we had "when I was a kid") and played it frequently for a few years. I got it after my 8th grade class took a field trip to the theater (imagine my delight, having rarely entered a REAL movie theater in my life). I was a bit shocked that our teachers came up with this plan all on their own considering how UN-educational it felt to be sitting in those flip-down seats munching hot buttered popcorn and watching a movie musical with the word "hell" in one of more memorable songs. We were sure that they must have made a mistake. It was, however, 1976 and we were working ourselves into a national lather to be sure we properly celebrated our nation's 200th birthday.



I loved the movie and especially the music. I honestly think I understood an era of history better after seeing it sung and danced that I ever had from a lecture or text book. I didn't know then that there were such things as learning styles.

Years later I ran across a VHS copy of the movie on sale somewhere (probably Blockbuster selling its previously viewed inventory) and snatched it up for posterity.

I plan to watch it today.

I went on Amazon.com to get the image of the album and see that a DVD version of the film (Director's Cut, Fully Restored) is available and that a NEW Broadway cast has recorded the music, now available on CD. Capitalism continues to flourish on line.

I pulled the following text from the movie review, in case you want to know.

Plot Synopsis: The film version of the Broadway musical comedy of the same name. In the days leading up to July 4, 1776, Continental Congressmen John Adams and Benjamin Franklin coerce Thomas Jefferson into writing the Declaration of Independence as a delaying tactic as they try to persuade the American colonies to support a resolution on independence. As George Washington sends depressing messages describing one military disaster after another, the businessmen, landowners and slave holders in Congress all stand in the way of the Declaration, and a single "nay" vote will forever end the question of independence. Large portions of spoken and sung dialog are taken directly from the letters and memoirs of the actual participants.