WILMINGTON-The Deerfield Valley Players, a local community theater group, will be presenting 1776, the 1969 Tony award-winning Broadway musical, at Memorial Hall, 14 W. Main St.
The choice for this year’s show is credited to Therese Lounsbury, Wilmington town clerk, who contacted Barbara Lipstadt, founder and musical director, to ask if the performance could be something with a patriotic theme. It would be a part of the Vermont 250 committee’s celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
1776 is a recreation of the days in hot, sweltering Philadelphia from May 8 to July 4 when John Adams relentlessly badgered the delegates of the Continental Congress to vote for independence from Britain. “It is a drama of tension and triumph, interspersed with humorous dialogue,” write organizers in a news release.
The music ranges from lyrical and melodious — when Adams, Ben Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson argue about what should be the national bird — to heart-wrenching, when the young Congressional courier trudges back and forth from General Washington’s army camp with dispatches to the Congress relating how mothers search the battlefield for their fallen sons.
“As the struggle toward a unanimous decision intensifies,” said organizers, “the characters take on a human dimension unattainable in history books alone.”
There are 22 local actors and 11 members of the production team for the show. Director is Diana Stugger, musical director is Barbara Lipstadt, and technical director/set designer is John Iverson with Katherine Chandler as stage manager.
The show is presented by Friends of Historic Memorial Hall. Financial support is from the Wilmington Vermont 250 committee and the Vermont Council for the Arts.
1776 performance dates are Fridays and Saturdays, July 24, 25, 31, and Aug. 1, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, July 26, at 2 p.m. Tickets to the show are $20 and can be purchased at Bartleby’s Books in Wilmington and online at friendsofthehallvt.org/shows/1776-the-musical.
This Arts item was submitted to The Commons.