Dizzy Dandelion: A restrospective on 1776

1776 closed nearly a month ago, and I miss it! On closing night, I felt neither heartbroken or happy. I loved performing and I loved the cast, and it was time to end. It took about two weeks for it to hit me: It's over! I'm very grateful to the friends and family who came to support me. I'm surprised how many came all the way out to Magna.

During rehearsal, the swamp coolers did not work, and we had a major mosquito problem indoors. It was pretty easy for our men to "act" as though it was 90 degrees outside and plagued with flies. The cast joked that we might as well have done the show outside since the conditions were the same :) Fortunately, the mosquitos died out as soon as we got the coolers working (about a week into the run). Unfortunately, the coolers weren't always on during performances. We were never sure why.
I brought in a couple of ringers when I auditioned. I take full credit for bringing in Stephen Hopkins (Stephen), Richard Henry Lee (Brandon), John Hancock (Marc), and Thomas Jefferson (Matt). Thanks for taking a chance, men. You were terrific!

We had a devil of a time casting Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. They needed to have a certain look, and be talented AND available. Our director found a Franklin, but I asked no fewer than 16 of my tall male friends to be my Jefferson (I obviously had a personal stake in the matter, considering the kissing scene. I wanted him to be a decent person and friend). I even asked an almost-stranger in my ward. 15 nos make for a lot of rejection in a relatively short span. I am grateful that Matt said yes. He is a handsome, talented sweetheart, and I think he was terrific in the role. Several people asked if we were married in real life -- I guess that means our chemistry was good. Hooray!

Maybe I didn't learn all of the men's names. I didn't even learn a lot of their character's names. Most were identified by the state they represented. I feel a little guilty because they were all such nice guys and made Melissa and I feel very welcome, mostly (I did have to say "I may look like this but I'm not actually stupid" once). If either of us left the dressing room, we were immediately surrounded and admired. Not a bad gig!

The audience feedback I received the most was: "It was so much better than I expected!" Thank you? Such a weird compliment. I was proud of the play. I'm glad that it was well-received. I was even mentioned by Front Row Reviewers :)
I showed my nieces some photos from the show. Zonks asked if I was playing a rich lady and I said I was. They asked me about my role and I said I was married to a president. Of course they wanted to see photos of my husband. Then Breezy asked if we lived in a mansion, so I showed her photos of Monticello. She was fascinated by that beautiful, historic house. It was pretty awesome to get to tell them a little about America's history. For awhile after, Breezy referred to Jefferson as "your president" in a sing-song voice like a teenage girl gossiping about her friend's boyfriend. It was seriously adorable.

The photo Breezy and I are looking at in the photo above

Melissa made a comment early on about my playing the "hot" girl. That freaked me out a little, since I've never considered myself in those terms. Then again, I know I looked great in my costumes, and anything anyone says about Martha in the show refers to how gorgeous she is, and I spent most of my first scene kissing my on-stage hubby. So, there's that ;)
I think it amusing that the Adams' relationship as portrayed in the play is a sweet, romantic one where they talk through letters and never touch, and the Jeffersons get to actually be together and end up kissing and more during their time in the show -- good times!

It was either the preview or opening night when I shared the quote about you only being as good as the night the audience sees you. Mr. Thompson looked at me in mock-awe and said, "That was profound, and you're not even high!" What I heard, however, was "You're not even hot!" After we cleared up my misunderstanding, it became our joke that he'd tell me how not hot I was.
Melissa's little brother, Brigham, played the Leather Apron, probably the most thankless role in the show seeing as he had to stand up onstage for almost the entire play and only had 2 lines. He and Melissa schooled me in the ways of neediness, introducing me to the Elvish and Indiana Jones methods for giving high fives. (Ask me and I'll demonstrate sometime.)

Speaking of random skills, South Carolina used to beatbox backstage during "The Egg." A patriotic song set to a modern style? Yes, please!

I was asked once after a performance to take a photo with a star-struck little girl. It was fun to be a "Disney Princess" for a minute or two.
Benjamin Franklin's wig was notably bad. Because he and I have similar skin tone, I was in charge of his makeup for a minute (they then found someone who actually knew what she was doing). The wig was unfortunate, but as I said, I'm just glad they found someone decent to play the role, even if he did stand a little too close to me during our dialogue.

This was before we put makeup on the cap.
The makeup helped, a little.

The producer had a photographer take photos during our final dress rehearsal. I wasn't satisfied with the photos of Jefferson and I together, so I dragged him outside for a couple of shots. We got the dipping-kiss photo after about 4 seconds. Matt pulled me up and said, "Oh, hi Elders." The missionaries were walking by while we were kissing and Melissa never said a word! So embarrassing!

Our Courier, Caleb, received his mission call right after he was cast in the play. His date to go into the MTC was the Wednesday before we closed. He spent much of his time backstage reading the Book of Mormon, and performed his role with sweetness and sincerity. 1776 is his favorite play and he was thrilled to play this role before leaving on his mission. The best part? He was called to serve in the sovereign state of Virginia!

Michelle and Vic did a terrific job with the set. I particularly liked that the red brick on the top half (Jefferson's balcony) was reminiscent of Monticello. I don't know if it was on purpose. I'm guessing it was.

I want to keep this cape for forever and ever. It's the same one I wore in Robin Hood a few years ago; the costumer for that show was kind enough to lend it to me. I let her borrow some jewelry she needed for her current show. Honestly, I wouldn't mind if she kept that jewelry if it means I get to keep the cape. I love it. As a bonus, I pointed out to Melissa that it's the same color as her skirt, making it the "wife" color (maybe I've been reading too much MadStyle).

The last two weeks, Brandon, Matt, and I started tossing "That's what she said" jokes at each other. Full disclosure: I'm terrible at them. We had a lot of fun, though. Brandon won the game when he wrote "Thus saith she" on a piece of parchment and hid it in one of Matt's books for him to find onstage. We Virginians had a great time together. We're warm-blooded people, you know :)

It made me laugh that Brandon's character imitates mine at one point. I did an impression of his, too. I felt it was appropriate, since his wife (who I named "Esmeralda") and I were probably friends. We figured that he saw Martha while she was visiting with his wife and he had to send her away so he could "refresh the Missus." I can see Martha demanding in a fit of pique and jealousy "When's Tom coming home?!"
The cast gift for Michelle was pretty darn cool. We gave her two baseballs: one with our signatures on it, and the other with the signatures of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence. She loved it.

It turns out, we don't know a lot about Martha Jefferson. I read the information on Wikipedia and the official Monticello Web site, but it seems that after she died, Jefferson was so upset that he burned all of their letters. There isn't even a reliable portrait of her. What we do know is that she was married once before and had a baby who died before she married Jefferson. They loved to play music together -- he on the violin and she the harpsichord. They had 6 children, three died in infancy. Only one daughter lived to adulthood. Martha died when she was 33. It's so, so sad! (I also found out that it's about 260 miles from Monticello to Philadelphia -- quite the journey during a hot summer day!)