1776!

We were thrilled to go see 1776!  It is a musical based on the actual letters and memoirs of America's founders.  As the program states, "some of the show's musical numbers illustrate why American independence was such a thorny problem." Included is a narrative that illustrates the economic ties that all of the colonies had to slavery in the forms of a song that "is a powerful indictment of our nation's greatest weakness."

It takes something pretty boring - a bunch of men debating whether to declare independence - and makes the bickering funny, the process poignant, and the personalities both irritating and heart rending. It addresses slavery and shows just how difficult it was to leave that question for an inevitable future conflict.  Knowing the future bloodshed, we were left with a strong sense of just how agonizing this must have been and the historic "what if they had prevailed" question emerged in our post-show conversations.

I was impressed and the girls loved it too.  PLUS, a lot of the male characters were played by women, which was awesome.