Independence Day

Much as I love Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, and Bill Pullman up against a foe whose lethality is obvious to everyone, can you find 1776? I never see it out there, except last night at 11-2 a.m. but I was gone, lights out, at 12:30.

Among the divided Continental Congress, the incomparable William Daniels (who had me hooked on “St. Elsewhere” — before your time, my boy) has vitriolic Adams, Ben F. is as charming as he should be, and South Carolina’s Rutledge sneers and snarls his understandable skepticism. It is entertainment that assists us in walking in their querulous shoes — the risk of death and ruin the only foregone conclusion.

You should love the complete intellectual collapse of the first debate, which starts diffidently but spirals quick into a brawl between a PA delegate and Adams. They hiss “Lawyer!” among other insults at one another. I have no idea if this is real history (I have ideas where to look), but these are artists and craftsmen giving us acting that Independence Day does not and cannot. It is not a story that requires the edginess and timing of 1776.

For a musical, the songs keep us interested in the story, instead of getting in its way. I’ll take a stab and say because none of the timing rings as contrived, and the lyrics do not cloy. Or at not least at me, sometimes a cynic. Maybe the story and come to think of it the actors, almost all men, required no less than that quality.

You are from CT, Gid. You should be steeped in this.