Readers of this site know that I'm a big fan of the 1969 musical 1776. I didn't see the original on Broadway but the movie, which employs most of the same cast, is said to be very close to that production and I think the movie's sensational. Also, the Roundabout Theater Company did a revival on Broadway in 1997. That, I did see — twice — and both times, it was one of the best evenings I spent in a theater in Manhattan.
So now we have a new revival from the Roundabout operation. This one is different in that it's cast with an entirely female, nonbinary, multi-racial cast. And to take that one step further, their Thomas Jefferson is visibly pregnant. It is not a whole bunch of older white guys like in past productions and, of course, the original troupe of Founding Fathers in the title year.
Is this a good idea? I dunno and I'm unlikely to find out for myself. It's a limited engagement — there through early January — and I'm unlikely to get back to N.Y.C. while it's being performed. I just read a mess of opening night reviews (they're indexed here) and they're decidedly mixed, not so much on the quality of the staging and the acting, which are mostly praised, but over the whole concept.
And the ones that think (a) they understand the statement being made via the casting and (b) that it's an effective statement mostly describe a pretty simple, obvious statement: That this country was founded by a buncha old white guys. I thought we all knew that and that the original production made that statement efficiently by casting a buncha old white guys.
I'm not going to say I don't get it because you have to see the show you're supposed to get before you do or don't get it. Ye Olde Internet is too full of people who feel qualified to review books they haven't read and movies they haven't seen…and even movies that haven't yet been made. I'm just sitting here wondering aloud if it's possible to take color-blind and gender-blind casting too far.
Elia Kazan used to say you cast actors for a quality. If you're casting The Odd Couple you look for a guy who's convincing as a slob and another guy who's convincing as a neat freak. I suppose you could make a statement by casting Tony Randall as the slob and Jack Klugman as the neat freak but I'm not sure what that statement would be.
But maybe if I get back to New York before this production closes, or if other such 1776s are mounted, I'll see one and understand.