Composer Sherman Edwards had an idea for a musical. It was to revolve around the members of the Continental Congress writing the Declaration of Independence. He called it 1776. It took him five years to write.
Producers thought he was crazy. Edwards persevered. He wrote and discarded four different drafts. At one point, despairing he couldn’t finish, he drove to Philadelphia to visit Benjamin Franklin’s grave.
When the musical was finally complete, the show opened in Connecticut during a blizzard. Attendance was sparse. 1776 went on to acclaim on Broadway and won a Tony Award for Best Musical in 1969.
Listen in to part of the 1776 song “Sit Down, John”:
Explore the Sherman Edwards papers at UW’s American Heritage Center to learn more.
For more information, visit the American Heritage Center site.