1776: Musical. Music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards. Book by Peter Stone. Directed by Frank Galati. Through Oct. 6. American Conservatory Theater, 415 Geary St., San Francisco. Two hours, 40 minutes. $25-$180. (415) 749-2228. www.0act-sf.org.

You say you want a revolution? Nothing less than that - ours - is at stake in the musical "1776." But it takes quite a while for the urgency of that decision to register dramatically in the revival that opened the American Conservatory Theater's season Friday.

When it catches hold, particularly in the second act, Frank Galati's production pulls us into the historical moment with the immediacy of the latest update from a battlefield. Much of it, however, plays like a history lesson - pleasantly, often cleverly animated history, full of surprisingly pertinent details about the making of our Declaration of Independence. But a lesson nonetheless.

The only musical by composer-lyricist Sherman Edwards, who worked on it for years before hooking up with book writer Peter Stone, "1776" opened in 1969 to become a Tony-winning hit, with a well-received Broadway revival in '97. Galati, a Tony winner himself ("The Grapes of Wrath"), staged this "1776" last fall at Florida's Asolo Repertory Theatre, with the same design team and most of the same principal performers.

It's the story of two sweltering months in Philadelphia leading up to July 4, 1776, in a Continental Congress as deadlocked between entrenched factions as any in recent years. John Adams' opening put-down of Congresses in general gets a welcoming laugh. It always does.

The issue is whether this Congress is going to declare independence from England. Adams of Massachusetts, played by a suitably headstrong, frustrated John Hickok - new to this production - is the leader of the independence faction. His primary allies are Virginia's young, newly married Thomas Jefferson (Brandon Dahlquist) and Pennsylvania's Benjamin Franklin ( Andrew Boyer), both from the Asolo cast.

Leading the opposition - to opening the question for debate (sound familiar?) - is Pennsylvania's John Dickinson (a cordial, smug Jeff Parker), standing for reconciliation with the crown. The "deep South," led by South Carolina's Edward Rutledge (fiery, golden-toned Jarrod Zimmerman) is waiting to see where its self-interests lie.

It's no spoiler to say that we know how this conflict will end. The degree of suspense Edwards and Stone built into "1776" stems both from how well they use historic detail to make one of our founding stories seem surprisingly fresh and the tension inherent in watching votes tallied. Neither seems to build organically in Galati's staging.

Instead, he gives us "1776" as more of a historical pageant in Mara Blumenfeld's splendidly varied colonial costumes. It gets off to a reasonably strong start in the boisterous "Sit Down, John" and registers well in Hickok's longing duets with Abby Mueller as Abigail Adams. A vital Andrea Prestinario does well by Mrs. Jefferson's "He Plays the Violin."

But most of Edwards's songs, though nicely handled by music director Michael Rice's band, are fairly generic, matched here by Peter Amster's apt but basic minuet-and-music-hall choreography. The Adams-Franklin-Jefferson would-be comic trios are uninteresting. "The Lees of Old Virginia" is second-rate vaudeville, though well delivered by Ryan Drummond.

Where "1776" takes hold is in the second act, with three songs of potent import. Parker leads the chorus of conservatives in a vivid "Cool, Cool Considerate Men," extolling the 1 percent. Angelic tenor Zach Kenney delivers an aching old-fashioned antiwar ballad, "Momma, Look Sharp." Zimmerman nails Edwards' most conscience-probing number, the fervent expose of Northern complicity in the slave trade, "Molasses to Rum."

With these songs and the final vote on independence, "1776" turns into a heady blend of history, music and drama. And with them, Galati's handsome but rather remote pageant reaches out across the footlights and takes hold.

Source: Sfgate