After opening in June of 1975, this production continued to run through the entire 1976 calendar year and closed on New Year’s Eve of that year.
The show ran at Burn Brae Dinner Theatre for 430 performances and was seen by 130,000 attendees. It still holds the dinner theatre record in America for “Longest-running Production of a Tony-Award-winning Musical.”
Scott Ellis as the Courier sings “Momma Look Sharp.” He was a high school student during this show.
“To be sure, the company’s original cast changed during the show’s 18-month run; MANY actors came and went. Nonetheless, the show never lost its edge or its popularity, and the audiences continued to support it, some by returning often with a new group of friends each time. Undoubtedly, the most special show was the night of July 4th, 1976. The air was electric, the energy high. The audience was standing-room only, and when the overture started and the cast members took their places onstage, goosebumps proliferated throughout the room. I know. I was there, playing the role of Edward Rutledge that night. I had started months before as a replacement player for the Roger Sherman role, and also played Livingston a few times. But it was the thrill of a lifetime to play Rutledge in THAT show on THAT night with THAT company in THAT theatre! I will never forget it!”
– Wayne Hamilton, MFA
1776 1976
