1776 The Musical

It is a long hot summer in Philadelphia, and the Continental Congress is an exhausted, annoyed, quarrelsome collection of men, at each other’s throats over the burning question of independence from Great Britain. John Adams, the passionate crusader for rebellion, races against time: if the congress does not agree to throw off the yoke of tyranny, General Washington’s painfully outnumbered army will have no ideal for which to fight.

But Adams is obnoxious and disliked — no one will listen to his arguments. They might have a chance if Thomas Jefferson, that silver wordsmith, would write a Declaration — but Jefferson, frustrated by his long absence from lovely wife Martha, is in no mood to be creative. When it comes down to a final decision, the course of history hangs on whether sycophantic Judge James Wilson can remain as anonymous as possible with his vote. Under these conditions, how will America ever achieve Independence?