Radically re-imagined, impressively sung '1776' makes for a provocative, timely revival

“1776”- ★ ★ ★

“1776,” the 1969 musical about the drafting of the Declaration of Independence, is not a top-tier work. But the 2022 Broadway revival, a drastically re-imagined, thought-provoking production running at the CIBC Theatre, is a very good show.

But it's by no means a traditional production of the Tony Award-winning show by composer/lyricist Sherman Edwards and writer Peter Stone, in which the characters are mostly white men.

Co-directors Jeffrey L. Page and Diane Paulus have reframed it to acknowledge those people excluded at the creation of the founding document (people of color, women, Native Americans) and to reflect America as it is today. To that end, their racially and ethnically diverse cast consists entirely of female-identifying, trans, nonbinary and gender nonconforming performers who, as the musical commences, literally step into the shoes of the Founding Fathers.

Arriving on stage dressed in contemporary apparel (white shirts, black leggings, Doc Martens), the performers replace their boots with buckle shoes and slip into 17th-century-style tailcoats to transform themselves into delegates of the fractious Second Continental Congress. Their mood (which mirrors the nation's current, contentious temper) is reflected in set designer Scott Pask's modernist representation of the American flag: angular and fractured as if it's being viewed through various prisms. It's upon that canvas that David Bengali projects, at lightening speed, the triumphs and tragedies the nation has experienced in its imperfect, ongoing attempts to ensure for its citizens their equal and unalienable rights.

The vocally formidable cast is led by the dynamic, impassioned Gisela Adisa (one of a half dozen holdovers from the Broadway cast) as John Adams, the pro-independence champion who, together with Benjamin Franklin (Liz Mikel) and Thomas Jefferson (Nancy Anderson), try to convince fellow delegates at the Second Continental Congress to break with England and declare themselves free.

As Franklin says, “we've spawned a new race here - rougher, simpler, more violent, more enterprising and less refined.” That new nationality requires a new nation, he says, a flawed one rooted in America's original sin. That sin is depicted in the harrowing “Molasses to Rum,” an indictment of Northern complicity in the slave trade. Sung by South Carolina's Edward Rutledge (Kassandra Haddock), the number unfolds against the backdrop of an auction of enslaved people.

But the most emotionally compelling moment comes courtesy of Brooke Simpson's courier who sings “Momma, Look Sharp,” a dying soldier's plea to his mother. The showstopping number serves as a stark reminder of the price some pay for the decisions of politicians sworn to protect citizens' lives, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

Location: CIBC Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St., Chicago, (800) 775-2000, broadwayinchicago.com

Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday and Wednesday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday through March 12. No 7:30 p.m. show March 12

Tickets: $26.50-$94

Running time: About 2 hours, 35 minutes, including intermission

Parking: Paid lots nearby

Rating: For most audiences

COVID-19 precautions: Masks recommended