REPOST: "1776", The Musical



Wishing all of you in the U.S. a very happy Fourth of July!

As I do every year, I'm taking this opportunity to put in a plug for my favorite Revolutionary War movie: "1776", which is a musical about the drafting of the Declaration of Independence.

If you've never seen "1776", I highly recommend it. It came out in 1972 (based on the Broadway musical of the same name) and I think I've seen it almost every year since I was nine or so. That tradition continues to this day; my family always watches it on DVD every July 4th, and we will do so again this year.

Diana Gabaldon likes it, too; I've heard her describe it as "hilarious, moving, and very singable". I asked her specifically about the costumes, because I'm fascinated by the details of the 18th century clothing in this movie, and she said they're pretty accurate.

Here are a couple of my favorite songs from the movie:

1) "The Egg" - Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson choose America's national bird.



2) "Sit Down, John" - This is the movie's opening number.



You can get "1776" via Amazon. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

2 comments

nightsmusic said...

TCM is showing this today at 1:30 eastern time. I imagine it will be commercial free.

Unknown said...

Excellent movie! And Claire's complaint about pins being harder to find than cinnamon in ABOSAA always brings to mind Abigail's lament and bargain (pins for saltpeter). It seems there was one of two other scenes in the book that reminded me of the movie, but I can't pull them to mind.

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