411F Spring 2026 Let's Read a Play Together: 1776 The Musical

411F  Let's Read a Play Together: 1776 The Musical
Five sessions
Instructor: Doris Bloch
Mondays, 2:15—3:40, Mar. 30—May 4
No class Apr. 13
Class limit: 25
1776 The Musical is set in Philadelphia and follows the action (or inaction, initially) of the Continental Congress prior to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. As this is the 250th anniversary of that momentous event, we can sit back and enjoy the interplay between John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock, and many other founding fathers. You will enjoy hearing the spirited musical numbers sung by the cast and refresh your understanding of how perilously close the Congress came to not agreeing to establish our country. Class participants will read the lines of the script aloud in class and discuss the characters and plot; there is no memorization expected. The instructor will provide production background, play video clips of the stage play, and show the movie in its entirety.
Doris Bloch has presented various versions of Let's Read a Play Together for OLLI 14 times, with genres as varied as Commedia del'Arte, Bernstein's musical Candide, Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster, two Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, three plays by Oscar Wilde, and Shaw's Pygmalion. She is NOT an historian.