Beautiful performance by the unforgettable Scott Jarvis, the courier in the original cast of "1776". Also in the scene are William Duell as McNair and B.J. Slater as leather apron. A treasurable rare glimpse of the 1969 Broadway cast of this great show.
I keep coming back to this video. It is very special. Scott Jarvis is the best of all the actors, I think, who played the part that I have seen. Saw the movie in 1972 when I lived in Boston. The whole city was humming with excitement of the upcoming bicentennial. I also lived in Boston as a girl and my affection for it is strong, although the city is more gentrified and I am old fashioned. The bottom line is that Scott will be missed, as he seems like such a good, genuine person. God bless you, Scott 🌸
Saw this on Broadway as a 10 yr old kid... Even as a kid, I knew this was a fantastic production... Got a bunch of autographs after the show... I remember much of the show these many years later... As great as the whole play was, this song really took me, it touched something in me... We got the record, which we listened to often, but it is this song that I would play over and over... Today when I hear it, it still strikes a chord in me and gives me chills...brings it's me back to the theater!! I love this song so much, I have figured it out on bass guitar, to play it out at gigs in honor of all those fallen since the Lexington Green...
Only one word - magnificent. My favorite musical. I saw a great revival of this in Los Angeles years ago and it moved everyone to tears. What a fantastic play, what a terrific show.
I love this show so much. I had only seen the movie with William Daniels, besides 'lesser productions'. In 1999 I was going to NYC, and heard there was a revival production.I thought "Nobody can be John Adams like Bill Daniels. NOBODY!!" Bret Spiner played the part and was amazing!! If you read any books about the Congress and the Declaration, you see most everything in the play is fact. It's unbelieveable that document was ever passed.
This was only the second musical I ever saw, after "Fiddler on the Roof". It was showing in the Villa Italia Cinema in Denver, Colorado, in which I was working. I watched it over and over again, and of so many wonderful moments, this always reduced me to tears. Still does. Thank you for posting this video of the original cast members in 1969.
If you ever get a chance to see a production of 1776, run to the theatre. It's beautifully written, the score is astounding. Even though you know going in how it turns out, you'll be almost on the edge of your seat by the end. Brilliant show.
You are So Right. Years ago a terrific revival was mounted in Los Angeles with a marvelous cast and superb direction - it was so memorable and became my favorite night at the theater ever. This play is incredible when well done and hits the audience broadside. Totally deserving of its Tony Award for Best Musical.
Saw this 1970 Thanksgiving weekend when all the High Schools went to NY. Very Powerful Song. I put it there with two others. Bibles, to Rum, to Slaves and the when Daniel Craig and Virginia vestal sang about their loneliness after Martha Jefferson's arrival. It was a fantastic play (Did NOT go see the Reimagined one) That actually was a pretty good movie that is now a 4th of July Classic.
I saw 1776 in London in 1970, and man, did the jokes play different. I was always upset that the movie excluded "Cool, Cool, Considerate Men, but then I learned that Nixon found the song too close to the truth of the Republicans and Jack Warner cut it. A terrible loss that has been corrected on the recent DVD release. Still a great play, and effective, if somewhat stilted film that I love anyway.
Such a difficult song to get through. Performers are not supposed to get too involved emotionally, because when you cry, your throat closes up, but it's almost impossible with this one. It obviously didn't get to the audience, since clapped immediately....unless that was edited.
If I remember correctly, this song was such a departure from the rest of the play, which had ample humor throughout. There was a moment of silence from the audience before the applause started... I always thought that this song revealed the sobering sacrifice that has been made to secure Liberty...
Don't think it was coincidence that this was the song chosen for the Tony Awards. Guarantee you the war in Vietnam was on everyone's mind when they heard the song. BTW I served during the evacuation and the Mayaguez operation in 1975.
Not the play but that particular song. Remember this was April 20, 1969. Nixon had just expanded the war into Cambodia, the US had just fought off a major offensive, US combat deaths had just surpassed those of the Korean conflict and anti-war protests were just starting to pick up steam.
There is some context though that I think explains why they had to pick this number. William Daniels had angrily declined the Tony nomination for Best Supporting Actor due to the silliness of the rules at the time which said you could only get a Best Actor nomination if your name was above the title on the marquee. Consequently, I doubt he was going to feel like performing a number on the Tony show and since Adams is featured in *all* of the numbers except for this one and "Cool Considerate Men" (which would have been too difficult to stage and too long) they pretty much had to go with a number that didn't include him. (the Daniels flap is why the Tonys changed the rule and got rid of the name above the marquee requirement)
Thanks for THAT context. That may well be why they chose that song. Regardless of WHY the song was picked, however, the audience could not have failed to have been moved by that particular song given the larger context. After all, young men were, possibly at that very moment, being killed and sent home to their mothers. If memory serves, Edwards made mention of Vietnam when discussing this particular song.
we're the same age. I saw this production with my parents when I was 11, in April 1969. I was totally blown away as well. BTW, this song, implicitly antiwar, was an excellent selection for the Tony Awards telecast-touching and profound.
Excellent performance! Although I will say as much as I love this song it’s an odd choice for the Tony awards. I would have expected Sit Down John or even Cool Cool… or a medley hitting most of the numbers. Nonetheless this was excellent!
this is NOT an 'anit-war' song. for god's sake, the entire play is about getting 'us' to the war for independence! it's a beautiful song to render an APPRECIATION for what was sacrificed in the war for our freedom; feel grateful
The Left I think overreads a good deal of their own thinking about this show when to put it bluntly, the American Revolution is more about America standing up for things like (1) the right to tax ourselves without a tyrannical central authority imposing them without our consent and (2) the right of local self-government to look after our needs without some distant central authority shoving their notions of "what was good for us" on us. In contrast to the radicalism of the French Revolution, the American Revolution was very "conservative" by today's definition of the term.
At the height of Vietnam War this song was covered by Cher. Since that was their war for Independence, we were more like the British during the Vietnam War.
it is an anti-war song that was deliberately placed in the show (as a finale to the first act when an intermission is used) as a juxtaposition to the rest. it stands in relief even as none of the principal roles are present to hear the anguish of those sent to war - or that of their bereaved families.
I agree with your take on the Left's revisionist take on this song... It was sobering know doubt, and as I stated about, struck be chord in me as a kid, seeing it on Broadway. What the Left is blind to see, is that this song brings to light the sacrifice of the soldiers and their families that has contributed to the Liberty that we have enjoyed since... Since modern liberalism is based in Marxism, there is no surprise that the Left try to rewrite the historical aspect of this play/song!
I remember this song, how do you know that this song was anti-war... It was more about the sacrifice involved in securing Liberty... So much for your revisionist attempt!
Sherwin Mackintosh - Thanx to Scot's friendship/guidance in my early days of sobreity, I'm in my 36th year of living "One Day @ A Time"...I still miss him.
Hi Sherwin - I was just going through some files my friend Jim Curtan wrote and he writes that Scott was his first gay friend. He remembers what a fine man he was. Sadly, Jim passed last year. His writing is what brought me to this page and this beautiful song by Scott. RIP.
