Independency!

Saturday night the BRC headed to a performance of 1776 at the Utah Festival Opera. I'm not sure what we should be more excited about: seeing the one and only Michael Ballam portray John Adams (which he did quite well), or the fact that LDS President Thomas Monson was in attendance. We were unable to see him from our seats in row MM, but a friend of ours who splurged on 2nd row seats confirms that he was indeed there.

While it was a three-hour performance (including intermission), it was engaging throughout, except right before intermission when the soldier sings about his fallen comrades in the Continental Army. While I agree that it was good to include a tribute to the troops actually fighting the British while Congress debated in Philadelphia, this part was sleep-inducing. That could be, in part, a function of this part's placement in the show, however.

While John Adams is the star of the show, Ben Franklin inevitably steals the show with his wit and frankness. Richard Henry Lee also puts in a strong showing before he departs from the stage to return to Virginia. Here's a clip from the film version:


A humorous part of the production is the liberal does of sexual innuendo (mainly marital in nature) sprinkled throughout the script, as when Ben Franklin says, "At my age, the pen definitely is mightier than the sword." Sounds innocent, sure, but not if you hear it in context.

This was an overall excellent performance, full of humor, patriotism, and history. For you locals, there are only two performances of 1776 left, on August 7th and 9th. Go see it while you can.