13 - Is Anybody There - 1776 (1997 Revival)
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- 1776 - The New Broadway Cast Recording
Music and Lyrics by Sherman Edwards.
Book by Peter Stone.
Based on a Concept by Sherman Edwards.
Musical staging by Kathleen Marshall.
Directed by Scott Ellis.
© 1997 TVT Soundtrax.
© 1997 Roundabout Theatre Company.
Much as Brent Spiner brings out the spectacle and pageantry of Adams’ imagination, it really hits the hardest when Thomson sings Washington’s words the first time: “Is anybody there? Does anybody care? Is anybody there?”
For Adams, it’s about whether people can see the big picture the way he does and do what needs to be done. For Washington (as conveyed through Thomson) it’s about asking the people under his command to risk their lives, writing to Congress over and over in the hopes that they will not abandon them to the battlefield - that their preparations, their fights will not be in vain - only to wonder whether the dispatches are read and if they are, why nothing comes of it. It’s the poignancy of the vulnerability and feeling powerless.
Much like “Yours, Yours, Yours” it is one of the simplest and most evocative moments in the musical.
Much as I like Daniels' timber voice, he couldn't hit those high notes like Spiner can. This is how I always wanted this song sung.
What a performance!
Interesting note about Charles Thomson and John Dickinson that was probably too plot-changing to fit into this show (which may give some context to Thomson's non-answer): they were basically the oddest friendship of the entire revolution. Thomson was very much not the slightly mealy-mouthed guy that we see here but was one of the most passionate revolutionaries of the period and one of the sons of liberty. Dickinson, in contrast, never actually stopped hoping for a permanent reconciliation until after the Revolutionary War was won -- and while Dickinson had quite a quick temper he was supposedly nowhere near as fiery as Thomson by the time of the Second Continental Congress.
They met when Thomson and a few others came to Pennsylvania to try to convince Dickinson around to their side (unsuccessfully), and they were friends for basically the rest of Dickinson's life thereafter (and in 1774 they became cousins by marriage when Thomson married a cousin and close friend of Dickinson's wife -- she was also a friend of Dickinson's so presumably he, or they jointly, introduced them). Thomson wrote a good many letters to Dickinson between July and September of 1776, most of which seemed to be Thomson reassuring Dickinson that he hadn't been shown the door societally and that he was still very much esteemed and loved (a major concern of Dickinson's), and Dickinson's letters to Thomson in reply have some sentiments that he basically only ever expressed to his wife otherwise. (Some of the letters suggest that Dickinson was in quite a dark place mentally during those three months -- but others are him making slightly risqué jokes about his situation.)
I love this song, and Mr. Spiner does it beautifully--I agree, a bit more lyrical than Daniels, though both are great
Nothing wrong with lyrical. True, they're both fantastic.
Wow men Mr Caesar Rodney the best 😢😢❤❤