By Russ Tarby
Contributing Writer
The best basketball and baseball teams are often built around a solid veteran player whose very presence lifts his teammates’ performances to their peak.
So it is with CNY Playhouse’s “1776,” starring Syracuse acting icon Bob Brown as John Adams, the Massachusetts man who led the Continental Congress to declare the colonies’ independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776.
Brown’s talkative “agitator” is almost always on stage and almost always embroiled in debate. While his characterization of Adams is of a vitriolic yet visionary revolutionary hero, Brown’s supporting cast of more than two dozen rally around his passionate performance.
Best of all are Greg Hipius as a jolly Benjamin Franklin and Liam Fitzpatrick as a stoic but sexually starved Thomas Jefferson. Handsome actor Steve Gamba excels as Adams’ primary opponent, John Dickinson, the Pennsylvania representative who remained devoted to the British Empire.
Using an authentic New England accent, Justin Polly colorfully characterizes “old grape’n’guts,” the rum-swigging Rhode Island rep, Steven Hopkins.
Jim Magnarelli, a real-life Salina town councilor, ably portrays the congress’ president, John Hancock, and the ever-reliable Simon Moody plays the Rev. Jonathan Witherspoon of New Jersey.
While Peter Stone’s book remains historically accurate, Sherman Edwards’ music is functional and occasionally unforgettable as when Cathleen O’Brien Brown as Abigail Adams applies her impressive operatic alto to duets with her real-life husband, Bob Brown.
Kasey McHale as Martha Jefferson sings like an angel on “He Plays the Violin,” and Eric Feldstein goes over the top as South Carolina’s Edward Rutledge vocalizing a pro-slavery rabble-rouser, “Molasses to Rum.” Likewise, Dan Bostick employs an effective drawl as Richard Henry Lee belts out “The Lees of Old Virginia.”
The musical’s most moving moment comes from an unexpected source, Jesse Navagh’s military courier who harmonizes a heart-rending battle ballad, “Mama Look Sharp,” along with Christopher James and Collin Dean.
A seven-piece pit band directed by the estimable keyboardist Abel Searor often featured the synthesized sound of a harpsichord while drummer Erica Moser contributed timely taps to every missive delivered from General Washington.
Directed by Dustin Czarny with choreography by Kasey McHale, “1776” aptly captures the colonial ambiance thanks largely to the 18th-century costumes created by Harlow Kisselstein complemented by the powdered wigs designed by Karen Procopio.
Czarny marvelously managed this massive cast, but his single most important contribution as “1776” director was casting Bob Brown as the discontented dreamer, John Adams.
“1776” runs at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, June 23, 24 and 25 and June 30. It will also run July 1 and 2, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, June 26, at CNY Playhouse located near the Macy’s entrance at DeWitt’s ShoppingTown Mall; Tickets cost $22 on Thursday and $25 on Friday and Saturday. Call 885-8960 or visit cnyplayhouse.com.
