‘1776’ still flies its colors with vigor

SAN DIEGO —  Early in the 1969 Tony Award-winning musical “1776,” John Adams confesses to his wife, Abigail, his frustration at trying to persuade members of the Continental Congress to declare independence from mother England.

“Abby, I have such a desire to knock heads together,” he despairs.

Later, Adams’ coaxing, bullying and speechifying becomes too much even for friend and like-minded soul Benjamin Franklin. “Softly, John,” says the gout-stricken Franklin. “Your voice is hurting my foot.” It’s all there in this story of that sweltering summer in Philadelphia: personalities, politics, rivalries, the clash between the bold and the cautious.

And in the Lamb’s Players Theatre production, now at the downtown Lyceum Theatre, it’s done superbly, the Founding Fathers caught in the act of being themselves, in human scale -- not the dusty figures of the history books.

It’s an oft-told story -- and an oft-produced musical -- but “1776” stays current. Anybody looking for modern parallels needn’t venture far. The political animal, in powdered wig or suit and tie, has not changed much in the intervening centuries.

“Have you ever seen the New York Legislature, everybody talking loud and very fast and nobody listening to anyone and nothing gets done,” moans the New York representative. Sacramento, anyone?

With Lamb’s veteran Robert Smyth as the obsessive Adams and Tom Stephenson as a delightfully leering Franklin, this “1776” is done with a quick wit and a brisk pace.

The evening is chockablock with gems, among them Matt Davis as the dancing, prancing, smugly superior Richard Henry Lee of Virginia and Lee Armbruster as the conflicted Dr. Lyman Hall of Georgia. Even Paul Eggington brings a likability to the mugwumpish John Dickinson of Pennsylvania, who argued until the end for staying loyal to the king and forgetting this nonsense about a new nation.

Smyth and Stephenson hone the repartee between Adams and Franklin to a fine edge. Adams is intense and tunnel-visioned; Franklin is no less fervent but loves his role as the republic’s first maxim-maker.

“I have better things to do than to stand here and listen to you quote yourself,” Adams says.

OK, maybe one or two songs in the first half could be trimmed, and the bit about the love life of Thomas Jefferson (a suitably quiet but noble David S. Humphrey) is a tad overdrawn. But these are quibbles.

The star, of course, is Adams, and Smyth brings him to us in all his pedantic glory, the son of Massachusetts spoiling for a fight with the crown. Franklin, ever the sly manipulator, persuades him to step off center stage long enough to let someone take the lead in pushing for independence.

Adams relents but quickly rises to a boil at the nicey-nice tone of much of the debate -- what later would be called political correctness.

“This is a rebellion,” he cries. “We’re going to have to offend somebody.”

But there is more than just a sendup of a group of historical figures here. With the vote on declaring independence in the balance, the delegates debate Jefferson’s demand for an antislavery clause in his declaration. It is the emotional high point of a fine evening.

*

‘1776’

Where: Lyceum Theatre, Horton Plaza, downtown

San Diego

When: Wednesday and Thursday, 7:30 p.m.; Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 4:30 and 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2:30 p.m.

Ends: July 27

Price: $22-$42

Contact: (619) 437-0600

Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes