by Terrance Mc Arthur

Break out the red, white, and blue! Ring the Liberty Bell! 1776, the musical about the making of the Declaration of Independence has marched back into Roger Rocka’s Dinner Theater in another Good Company Players production, and audiences can let freedom ring through July 20.

Created by song-tunesmith Sherman Edwards (“Johnny Get Angry,” “See You In September,” and Johnny Mathis’s “Wonderful! Wonderful!”) with screenwriter (Charade, Father Goose, The Taking of Pelham One-Two-Three) and playwright (Two By Two, Sugar, Titanic) Peter Stone rewriting the script, the show opened on Broadway in 1969, ran 1,217 performances, and earned three Tony awards, including Best Musical, and spawned a 1972 film version that featured many of the Broadway cast members, including William Daniels, Ken Howard, and John Cullum. 1776 focuses on John Adams (Jonathan Wheeler) and his efforts to get the Second Continental Congress to vote for independence from Great Britain. With Benjamin Franklin (Steve Souza), he gets Thomas Jefferson (Nick Sterling) to write a document explaining grievances and arguments for rebellion: a Declaration of Independence. Against him are Pennsylvania’s John Dickinson (Gordon Moore), and the southern colonies, led by Edward Rutledge (Daniel Sutherland) of South Carolina. The cast consists of two dozen men, and only two women: Abigail Adams (Emily Pessano) and Martha Jefferson (Maisie Van Vleet). 1776 has graced the Roger Rocka’s stage twice before, in 1993 and 2003.

Wheeler played the adulterous OB/GYN in Waitress and the adulterous husband of Carole King in Beautiful, but he now appears as a faithful husband and political firebrand. Adams is called obnoxious and disliked, but Wheeler’s interpretation comes across as driven and focused on liberty for a new nation. His singing voice punches out the songs with authority. Surrounded by some GCP legends in the cast, he holds his own. Pessano matches his strength and helps soften his character in their politely-romantic duets, many based on John and Abigail’s actual letters during the period.

Souza is jovial, genial, and avuncular as Franklin, who loves to quote himself. He not only has some of the best lines, he also choreographed, and was in charge of a massive number of 18th-century wigs.

Sterling gives Jefferson a quiet calm in the middle of a boisterous and combative storm. His voice is clear, his posture is erect, and his wig is red. Van Vleet sparkles as the wife of Thomas Jefferson, singing and dancing, with energy, the joyous “He Plays the Violin.”

Sutherland blows the roof off the building with the searing indictment of Northern involvement in the Triangle Trade of slavery, “Molasses to Rum.” He is smooth, persuasive, and nearly derails the vote for independence.

Moore is known for his comic timing, but he trades it for the domineering menace of a man who loves America almost as much as he loves Great Britain. Michael Fidalgo brightens the stage as Richard Henry Lee with the jaunty “The Lees of Old Virginia.” Roger Christensen is stolid and magisterial as John Hancock. Brandon Sandoval. as Charles Thomson, the Congressional clerk, has a voice and manner that echoes the tones of Ralston Hall, who played the role on Broadway and in the film. Henry Montelongo gleefully portrays the rum-swilling Stephen Hopkins. Eric Bako skillfully turns the sycophantic James Wilson into a pivotal character. Patrick Allan Tromborg electrifies as the tragic Caesar Rodney. John Sloas provides a human touch as the put-upon McNair, opening windows, fetching rum, and offering comments that take historic figures off their pedestals. Briston Diffey plucks heartstrings with the poignant “Momma Look Sharp.”

Mark Standriff directs with a sure hand. Ginger Kay Lewis-Reed performs miracles with a costume crew of Teresa Castillo, Zoe Zamora, and Stefani Booroojian. David Pierce re-imagines the normally flat setting of Independence Hall into a series of platforms that lift actors into view.

With so many men in the 1776 cast, the Junior Company preshow salutes women, with songs that range from “Hello, Dolly” to “Jolene ” and “There She Is, Miss America.” Lots of fun, and some great singing.

The script takes liberties with history, but, as they say in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” This legendary show deserves to be seen, to lift up the patriotic heart, and to inspire the study of our Founding Fathers.

Roger Rocka’s Dinner Theater is at 1226 N. Wishon Ave. at Olive Ave. For tickets and further information, go to gcplayers.com, or call (559) 266-9494.

Roger Rocka’s Dinner Theater is at 1226 N. Wishon Ave. at Olive Ave. For tickets and further information, go to gcplayers.com, or call (559) 266-9494.

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Terrance V. Mc Arthur worked for the Fresno County Public Library for three decades. He is retired, but not retiring. A storyteller, puppeteer, writer, actor, magician, basketmaker, and all-around interesting person, his goal is to make life more unusual for everyone he meets.