Justice for Abigail Adams in 1776!!!

She is by far one of the most underrated people I’ve ever seen in the musical/movie 🤕🤕

Now watching:

MORE FUN FACTS ABOUT 1776 BECAUSE WHY NOT:

-William Duell stayed with the show the whole time it was on broadway and did not miss a single performance.

-previews were supposed to last longer on broadway, but it was cut short because on March 14th 1969 (55 years ago today) Howard Da Silva had a heart attack. The guys got him out of the theater and they revived him, they wanted to immediately take him to the hospital but he refused, and said he wanted to open the show, and then they could do with him as they pleased. So he opened the show with everybody, and then immediately as the curtain came down, an ambulance was waiting for him outside the theater and he got in, and he had surgery that night and was out of the show for MONTHS. Thank god they still had Rex Everhart from when the show was out of town because otherwise they would have been FUCKED. The cast did not have a party because of this whole incident. But unfortunately, the main three, Bill Daniels, Ken Howard and Howard da Silva, only did 5 shows together on broadway, Ken Howard would leave 3 months into the show, and the next time they’d all work together would be for the film.

-Howard Caine was “fired” by Jack Warner from the film because he kept complaining about the heat. When Peter Hunt found out about this, he went APE SHIT and got Caine back.

-there are many new actors for the 1776 film than original broadway cast themselves. Peter hunt got this all wrong. Yes, some of the original cast was there, but no everybody. The originals include David Ford, William Daniels, Howard Da Silva, Ken Howard, Ralston Hill, Emory Bass, Roy Poole, Ronald Holgate, William Duell, Virginia Vestoff, Jonathan Moore and Charles Rule. (John Cullum was in the Broadway production, but he didn’t originate Rutledge. Same with James Noble but he had been Hancock, not Witherspoon) the new actors include Donald Madden, Ray Middleton, Leo Leyden, William Hansen, Rex Robbins, Patrick Hines, Daniel Keyes, Howard Caine, John Myhers, Blythe Danner and Stephen Nathan. And also all the silent men in congress who don’t have any lines. So yeah, a LOT more new actors then OG cast members.

-when the broadway company went to do the show for Richard Nixon at the White House, the cast were persuaded to do it by the producers telling them they’d all get pay raises. That never ended up happening, and Bill Daniels was LIVID. They were lied to just to do a fucking show for Nixon, because 98% of the cast hated him. After that performance, Howard Da Silva joined an anti-war protest outside of the White House, still in full costume. He HATED Nixon with a PASSION because of his involvement of his blacklisting from Hollywood.

-Bill Daniels missed more performances than he thought he did. In his book, he mentions he only missed 2 shows out of his entire 2 year run. That isn’t true. Paul David-Richards, the OG Josiah Bartlett, understudied John Adams, and in his bio in the playbill, it says he went on at the very last second for Bill, and ended up doing 5 shows that week because Bill got sick. And Jonathan Moore also did one show as Adams.

-The cast referred to the song “Cool, Cool Considerate Men” as “Cool Conservative Men”

That’s it for now :)

Last night I decided to watch the movie version of “1776” musical. Before the film was made, it ran on Broadway between March 1969 and February 1972. Virginia Vestoff played Abigail Adams in the original cast and in the 1972 movie as well.

Vestoff played Samantha Collins in the Dark Shadows 1840 storyline between September 1970 and January 1971. She likely worked on both shows during the overlap.

David Ford, who played Sam Evans and Andre Du Pres on Dark Shadows, also appeared in the Broadway production and the film as John Hancock. He left Dark Shadows in 1968.

virginia vestoff as Abigail Adams? beautiful+amazing, awesome singer, came through at the last second with the saltpeter, 10/10

laura linney as Abigail Adams? literally said in part 2 of the john Adams series that she would pull up to the continental congress and beat the shit out of John dickinson for her husband, true to life probably, love it, you go babe

1776 Matching Icons

I mention a part I wish Virginia Vestoff had played in the 1897 segment. 

Daylight TV - January 1976 - The Doctors

Idea: LMM's: Hamilton meets William Danial's: John Adams. Hamilton just screams at Adams so Adams gets Virginia Vestoff's: Abigail Adams to beat Hamilton up.

Uh okay haha

At the outset, grandmother Lillian Gish lies in her bed too ill to attend the wedding but giving last minute instructions to wedding reception coordinator Geraldine Chaplin. Then we see a bit of the wedding ceremony. Half-senile John Cromwell, who has been coaxed out of retirement by friend Gish, is stumbling through the service as the groom, Desi Arnaz, Jr., is becoming one with bride Amy Stryker, who still wears her retainers.

The groom’s mother, Nina Van Pallandt, Gish’s daughter, is a glamorous woman who is married to an Italian of mysterious origin which will be revealed later on. He is portrayed by the superlative Vittorio Gassman. Her sisters are the very regal Dina Merrill, strangely paired with Pat McCormick, who plays an art collector; and Virginia Vestoff, who is conducting an affair with Miss Gish’s black butler, Cedric Scott.

1776 Actors who should have been nominated for A Tony that year:

David Ford-Best leading actor in a musical. Idgaf if Hancock is really more of a supporting role, if you know the musical like me, you’ll understand why I wish he was nominated for lead actor in a musical. It’s Hancock for Christ sake.

William Daniels- okay, technically he was, but he turned it down cuz they put his name in best supporting actor in a musical, which is stupid, but that’s a long story.

Ralston Hill-best supporting actor in a musical. For obvious reasons.

Virginia Vestoff-best supporting actress in a musical cuz she was a queen.

I’m not going to put Howard Da Silva because he was such a prick behind the scenes that he doesn’t even deserve a nomination.

I’m low key pissed that David Ford wasn’t nominated. He would have won imo.

Review: 1776 (Hunt, 1972)

“The Declaration will be a triumph, a triumph I say. And if it isn’t, we still have four days to think something else.”

I was a little over a month early for my yearly rewatch of this, but that's alright.

Man, I just fucking love this movie. Yeah, it's stagey, and yeah, the Vaseline lens moments haven't aged very well, but those moments don't detract from the facts that the film has a terrific script (Peter Stone!), terrific music, and terrific performances, led by a magnificently shouty William Daniels as John Adams. I had the fortune of showing this to one of my best friends, a high school US history teacher, and watching her see this old story told in a new way (to her) was a beyond delightful.

This cast is top-notch. Most of them came from the Broadway production, which is neat, and it shows with how lived in a lot of the performances feel. I already mentioned Daniels' perfection as Adams, but it really can't be overstated. He did the most and then some with this role, bringing an effortless comedic timing and surprising amount of pathos to what could easily have been an incredibly irritating protagonist (1776 shares that, and a number of obvious similarities, with Hamilton). Howard Da Silva's Benjamin Franklin is delightful, delivering an endless number of quips with a mischievous smile. Ken Howard is lovely as Jefferson, Virginia Vestoff makes for a deeply touching Abigail Adams, Blythe Danner is a luminous and charming Martha Jefferson and sells the hell out of her big song (even if she isn't half the singer Betty Buckley is), and Donald Madden, Tony winner Ron Holgate, John Cullum, Ralston Hill, et al. beautifully bring the ensemble to life. A special shoutout must go to Stephen Nathan as the Courier, an unnamed role with the single most devastating moment in the show, the stunningly filmed and performed "Mamma Look Sharp," recounting the final words of a dying soldier.

The show is kind of a dramatic miracle. It's a book-heavy musical, yet the songs don't feel out of place. It's very funny and very smart, and earns the hell out of its somber and frightening finale. It served as a gutsy Vietnam protest (Nixon insisted on the removal of "Cool, Cool Considerate Men"). This is the king of underrated movie musicals.

self care during quarantine is watching the blu-ray, extended cut of 1776 the musical for the billionth time and singing along to every single part regardless of whether or not your voice goes high or low enough to sing those parts

john: do you still smell of vanilla and spring air?

abigail: