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1776 (musical): Difference between revisions
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{{tropelist}}
* [[Absentee Actor]]: On the original Broadway cast recording, thanks to Howard da Silva's heart attack just before opening night. That's his understudy, Rex Everhart, singing Franklin.
* [[AcCENT Upon the Wrong SylLABle]]: "The Lees of Old Virginia."
* [[Acting for Two]]: Standard practice in the straw hat circuit tours during the 1970s. Livingston and Morris, the delegates from New York, were frequently played by the same actor. And in a production number cut after the initial tryout, most of the cast doubled as (mostly incompetent) soldiers.
* [[American Accents]]: Ranging from the Deep South to New England, naturally enough.
* [[American Political System]]: In its infancy, at least.
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** Many historical figures were dropped from the production, as the entire compliment of the Congress would have been too unwieldy for Broadway (particularly as some, like John Adams' firebrand cousin Samuel, would have been crying out for a signature scene or song).
** The debate over American Independence did not boil down to an argument over the phrasing of the Declaration and whether slavery ought to be legal, as it more or less does in the movie. While the wording of the Declaration ''was'' debated, Congress had, in a surprisingly lucid moment, decided to vote on the issue first and argue the wording of the document after the fact, i.e. Congress had already voted in favor of independence before making changes to the Declaration. The fictionalized debate did serve to make the musical more politically correct by modern standards, and more dramatic since it added an element of "what are you willing to compromise?" to the mix. And it set up one of the musical's most profound comments on American Politics, Franklin's "Whether you like it or not, John, these men will become part of the country you hope to create" (a very, very significant line in this era where phrases like "un-American" are used so frequently in political debate). Still, historically speaking, slavery was not in any way the point on which the issue of independence hinged. It probably ''could'' have been, but the Revolutionary leaders, as a whole and by silent agreement, passed the buck for [[The American Civil War|the next generation to deal with]].
** As admitted in the [[DVD Commentary]], Martha Jefferson never visited her husband in Philadelphia.
** There was no vote mandating that a motion for independence had to be unanimous ... but, as Hancock acknowledges in the play, there was an understanding that acting on anything less than unanimity risked a fatal split in the colonies.
* [[As the Good Book Says...]]
* [[Batman Gambit]]: Franklin asking John Hancock to poll the Pennsylvania delegation.
* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: The arrival of Reverend John Witherspoon (and the rest of the New Jersey delegation) in Congress before the resolution on independence is struck down.
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* [[Blood on the Debate Floor]]: Adams and Dickinson calmly talking out their differences. With [[Cane Fu|canes]].
* [[Bowdlerise]]: Up until recently, the only version of the movie to reach TV was a severely-edited copy that obscured or completely removed many of the raunchier bits, including the whole "New Brunswick" sequence and the latter half of Franklin's "it's like calling an ox a bull" exchange with Dickinson. Even the version that hit the theatres was badly chopped, among other things excluding lines that made it clear Rutledge's opposition to the slavery clause was not due to mindless evil, but because he saw it as a betrayal of a promise that the independence faction would allow states to govern themselves as they saw fit.
* [[Catch Phrase]]
** MacNair: "Suh-weet Jesus!", echoed at least once by Franklin
** Adams: "Oh good ''God''" and "''In''credible."
** Lewis Morris: New York abstains... courteously.
* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: The absence of the delegation from New Jersey is repeatedly brought up, which keeps their arrival from being a deus ex machina.
* [[Chessmaster]]: Franklin. The director's commentary points out that Franklin is often staged in the background of the big debate scenes, observing.
* [[Composite Character]]: The John Adams in this musical is something of an amalgam of the real John Adams and his cousin Samuel Adams.
* [[Cool Horse]]: Lee's horse, especially during "The Lees of Old Virginia". It begins when Lee remarks "may my horses turn to glue..." -- at which point the horse nudges Lee in the chest. And it ends when Lee rides away -- because any horse capable of standing still whilst someone runs up behind him (in his ''blind spot'', no less) and leaps onto his back without bucking, rearing, or bolting automatically qualifies for the description.
* [[Crowd Song]]: No one in Congress likes John Adams, apparently. "''Sit down, John!''"
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** And half of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM9KcAS5_K4 "Piddle, Twiddle and Resolve,"] which didn't even get restored on the DVD.
* [[Darkest Hour]]: This musical does ''not'' end on the triumphant note you'd expect. The British have landed at New York, the newly formed U.S. of A. is facing the British Imperial Navy at a time when it was the biggest, best, most dominant navy in the world, over a quarter of the ''colonists'' are on the British side, and every man in that room is at risk of being hanged for treason. Nobody expected to win that war. "Darkest Hour" indeed...
* [[David Versus Goliath]]: A comical version in "But, Mr. Adams," seeing as how Ken Howard (Jefferson) stands a full eleven inches taller than William Daniels.
** [[George Washington]] doesn't actually appear, just writes [[The Eeyore|despondent dispatches]].▼
** [[John Adams]]▼
** [[John Quincy Adams]] is referenced in one of Abigail's letters: like his siblings, he's come down with measles.▼
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Mostly Franklin, but Adams and Jefferson get their moments in.
{{quote|'''Adams:''' Do you mean to tell me it's not yet finished?!
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'''Hancock''': I'm concerned over the continual absence of one-thirteenth of this Congress. ''Where is New Jersey''??
'''Dickinson''': Somewhere between New York and Pennsylvania. }}
▲* [[Dead Presidents]]
▲** [[George Washington]] doesn't actually appear, just writes [[The Eeyore|despondent dispatches]].
▲** [[John Adams]]
▲** [[Thomas Jefferson]]
▲** [[John Quincy Adams]] is referenced in one of Abigail's letters: like his siblings, he's come down with measles.
* [[Decided by One Vote]]: Even within the context of unanimity.
* [[Dirty Old Man]]: Franklin and Hopkins
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{{quote|'''Col. Thomas McKeon:''' That man would depress a hyena.}}
* [[Evil Lawyer Joke]]: Seeing [[Volleying Insults]] below; ironic in that the participants in the volley, Adams and Dickinson, were both lawyers.
* [[Foregone Conclusion]]: Thomas Jefferson is going to write the declaration, and it's going to be signed. It speaks to the musical's worth that even though the audience obviously knows how it's going to end, there is still actual conflict and suspense found in ''how'' it's going to be done.▼
* [[Fridge Logic]]: In-universe, when Martha Jefferson explains that she and Tom dance to his violin playing (and uses Franklin to demonstrate) Adams is perplexed and wants to know who is playing the violin. ▼
* [[Flynning]]: The brief stickfight between Adams and Dickinson in the Congressional chamber is rather unconvincing flynning when it's not just the two men grappling.
▲* [[Foregone Conclusion]]: Thomas Jefferson is going to write the declaration, and it's going to be signed. It speaks to the musical's worth that even though the audience obviously knows how it's going to end, there is still actual conflict and suspense found in ''how'' it's going to be done.
▲* [[Fridge Logic]]: In-universe, when Martha Jefferson explains that she and Tom dance to his violin playing (and uses Franklin to demonstrate) Adams is perplexed and wants to know who is playing the violin.
* [[Gallows Humor]]: Before signing the Declaration, and thereby committing treason, for which they very well could end up on a gallows.
* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: ''Barely''.
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* [[Hollywood Night]]: Both averted and not. The "Piddle, Twiddle and Resolve" number is clearly shot at night in front of the Independence Hall facade, but the later duet where John and Abigail walk across their farm at "night" is obviously a blue-filtered daytime shot. Then again, it ''is'' an [[Distant Duet|imaginary/dream sequence]], and the filter use may have been an intentional stylistic decision to emphasize that.
* [[Hypocritical Humor]]: "Two [useless men] are called a law firm." John Adams was a lawyer -- in particular, he was famous for defending the British soldiers after the Boston Massacre.
** Adams could have been aiming a bit of self deprecating humor at himself and/or a [[Take That]] at his lazy contemporaries, much like when he decries the congress he's a part of.
* [[I Want My Mommy]]: done heartbreakingly with "Mama Look Sharp".
* [[Incoming Ham]]: Richard Henry Lee.
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{{quote|'''Franklin''': What are you staring at? Haven't you ever seen a great man before?}}
* [[Lower Deck Episode]]: Well, scene: MacNair, his assistant and the courier sitting in the chamber by themselves, including the song "Look Sharp".
* [[Minor Character, Major Song]]: Ron Holgate as Richard Henry Lee, who has just one major scene and a minor one, but carries some great big wonderful slabs of roast pork while he's singing "The Lees of Old Virginia."
* [[Not So Different]]: "Molasses to Rum" has Rutledge spotlighting the North's complicity in the slave trade.
* [[Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here]]: The members of the Congress are so bored that everybody rushes to the window when MacNair announces that the fire wagon has arrived nearby.
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{{quote|'''Edward Rutledge''': "I was wondering if you could repeat a small passage: The one beginning [[Slavery|'He has waged Cruel War']]" *Jefferson stands up abruptly*}}
** Moments earlier, when Rutledge takes the floor, Franklin murmurs to Adams, "Look out."
* [[The Oner]]/[[Epic Tracking Shot]]: In the movie, the opening scene of Adams descending the staircase from the bell tower, entering the Continental Congress, and delivering his opening monologue before the first song is all one take. The filmmakers note in the DVD commentary how difficult it was building a camera rig that would give a smooth transition from descending from the ceiling into the Congress chamber. There's a noticeable bump as the camera is wheeled off the extending platform used to film the stairs part of the shot.
* [[Overused Running Gag]]: Usually lampshaded at the end of the "Lees of Old Virginia" reprise. Lee ''would'' keep going, if only Franklin and Adams were not forcibly removing him from the stage. ▼
* [[Overly Long Gag]]: The cards Hopkins had printed up, of which Franklin wants a dozen -- "Dear sir: You are, without any doubt, a rogue, a rascal, a villain, a thief, a scoundrel and a mean, dirty, stinking, sniveling, sneaking, pimping, pocket-picking, thrice double-damned no-good son-of-a-bitch."
▲* [[Overused Running Gag]]: Usually lampshaded at the end of the "Lees of Old Virginia" reprise. Lee ''would'' keep going, if only Franklin and Adams were not forcibly removing him from the stage.
* [[Phrase Catcher]]: Adams, "obnoxious and disliked"
* [[Place Worse Than Death]]: John Adams: "At a time in life when other men prosper, I am reduced to living in Philadelphia!"
* [[Politically-Correct History]]: See [[Executive Meddling]]; even so, the film is a remarkable paragon of historical accuracy and thus counts as an aversion.
▲* [[Power Trio]]: Adams as id, Franklin as ego, Jefferson as superego.
* [[Pungeon Master]]: Lee uses his name in place of "-ly" extensive-Lee.
* [[Reality Is Unrealistic]]: In the [[DVD Commentary]] recorded many, many years later, the play's writer revealed that he originally intended Adams to note that if they leave in the slavery clause war would break out in about a century, in yet another example of lifting dialogue directly from the founders' writings. He used only the second half of the quote, "posterity will never forgive us," because he was afraid people would think it was him speaking in hindsight, rather than an ''actual historic observation'' by Adams.
** In something of a meta-example (and another use of Adams' own writings), Adams' comment to Franklin about history forgetting him and focusing exclusively on Franklin and Washington (and Washington's horse) is dead-on -- until well into the twentieth century, Adams' pivotal role in getting the Declaration passed and signed was almost systematically overlooked by historians besotted with the more traditionally heroic Washington and the polycompetent Franklin. The horse was an embellishment of the writers', however.
** [[Roger Ebert]] (and probably others) blasted the film version in [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19721226/REVIEWS/212260301/1023 his review] calling it "an insult to the real men who were Adams Jefferson, Franklin and the rest" for being an unrealistic portrayal, unaware just how much of the conflict was true.
* [[Redheaded Hero]]/[[Heroes Want Redheads]]: Abigail Adams. Her insight and willingness to support her husband when he's at a loss even for words, spur him into action in the Continental Congress.
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** Thomson's attempts to read the resolution.
*** Lampshaded with "Oh, for heaven's sake, let me get through it ''once''!"
** The [[Heat Wave]], and whether or not they should open the windows.
** "Saltpeter!"/"Pins!"
** New York abstains -- courteously!
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** The absence of the New Jersey delegation (it's "somewhere between New York and Pennsylvania").
** Stephen Hopkins and rum
*** With John Hancock joining in once.
** "...Except for Ben Franklin."
** "Your obedient --" ''[[Drum Roll, Please|drumroll]]'' "-- G. Washington."
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* [[Southern Gentleman]]: Edward Rutledge is this very much.
* [[Tableau]]: The final moments of the film -- and the play -- reproduce a famous painting of the signing of the Declaration. Arguably inverted, as it's portrayed from the ''back'', since the painting is from the point of view of Hancock's chair.
* [[Take That]]: To the New York Legislature. New York only ever [[Stiff Upper Lip|abstains ("Courteously!")]] when called upon to vote, because the New York Legislature had never bothered to ''give'' the New York delegation any instructions, as "they all talk very loud, and very fast, and nobody listens to anybody else, with the result that nothing ever gets done." This was just as true in 1972 as it was in 1776, and as any New Yorker will tell you, it's ''still'' true today.
** In the show's Broadway debut, this line got the biggest laugh out of all of them.
* [[Toilet Humor]]: "Rhode Island passes"; also the "calling an ox a bull" exchange.
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** And even though the passage of the Declaration did not in actuality work out to a nail-biting final vote the way the movie portrays, Judge Wilson did in fact switch sides at the very last minute, changing Pennsylvania's vote from "nay" to "yea"; his reason for this has been debated by historians for decades.
* [[Victorian Novel Disease]]: Played very straight with Delaware delegate Caesar Rodney, who had skin cancer that was killing him at the time of the Continental Congress, although it's dramatically ''underplayed'' with the small patch covering his cheek -- in truth, Rodney was missing literally ''half of his face'' due to primitive surgery/cauterization treatments and kept the afflicted area hidden under a green kerchief wrapped around his head. [[Truth in Television]] here as well, including how he rode eighty miles to break a deadlock in the final vote on independence for his home state -- a feat celebrated on the commemorative Delaware quarter.
** Not so much [[Truth in Television]]... at least not in regards to his reason for being away from Congress. While Caesar Rodney did die of skin cancer, he was in no ways the "dying man" Colonel McKean describes him as in 1776, and had not returned to Delaware to take to his deathbed; in fact, he lived another eight years after the signing of the Declaration before the cancer killed him. In actuality, he had gone home to make a speaking tour to try to stiffen the spines of his fellow Delawarians, who were wavering on Independence and the Revolution. To be fair, though, he ''did'' still make what then amounted to a two-day-plus trip overnight -- ''through a thunderstorm'' -- while suffering from the effects of both his cancer ''and'' asthma.
* [[Villain Song]]: "Cool, Considerate Men" fits, "Molasses to Rum" defines.
* [[Volleying Insults]]: "Coward!" "Madman!" [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|"Landlord!"]] [[Berserk Button|"Lawyer!"]]
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