STAGE REVIEW : Some Good Performances in a Weak ‘1776’

It seems odd that Long Beach Civic Light Opera would open its production of “1776” on Bastille Day rather than Independence Day, but that may be just a friendly nod to our fellow revolutionaries of two centuries past.

It also seems odd that this musical about the signing of the Declaration of Independence has achieved the success it has, but that may be due to the patriotism it presumes to inspire in audiences.

Sherman Edwards’ score is a pedestrian melange--only one song remains in memory halfway back to Los Angeles--and the score is dwarfed by Peter Stone’s lengthy, talky book. Stone is one of the savviest book writers in the business, but his plot came ready-made, and the only suspense is derived from watching the calendar change in the Chamber of the Continental Congress. As one audience member deadpanned at the final curtain, “I’m glad they finally signed it; I was getting worried there for a minute.”

So, OK, we know the story. What else do we want? We’d like a Congress of revolutionaries with a little stature, to begin with, particularly in the case of the show’s randy Thomas Jefferson (a sturdy, convincing Franz Luc), who has writer’s block until John Adams imports his luscious wife. We’d like an Adams with a little more complexity than the one-note pout of this one, although Dean Jones tries to color him in interesting shades, and sings just fine in the bargain.

Gordon Connell has an easier job with the character of Ben Franklin and gets more out of it than is written, a top-notch comic performance that could only be bettered by Stone’s also allowing him to show us the richness and dignity of Franklin’s mind. Carl Whidden’s Rev. John Witherspoon of New Jersey is also a nicely textured performance in a simplistically formed role.

Most of the company gives stock performances of the stock characters, but there are three rockets that light up the sky like the holiday celebration this event should be. Ray Benson as feisty young Edward Rutledge dims everyone else on stage with his athletic, powerful pro-slavery anthem “Molasses to Rum,” and the show’s one memorable song is the intense, tortured ballad about the tragedy of war, “Momma Look Sharp,” made even more memorable by Brian L. Green as Washington’s Courier, with a simplicity that is magical. The third is Lara Teeter’s joyful abandon as Richard Henry Lee, in a riotous vaudeville turn that extols “The Lees of Old Virginia.” Is it coincidence these three take their curtain call together to a burst of applause?

As colorless as most of the score is, it’s given a jaunty period feel by musical director Ron Abel, to match the good period costumes by Guy Geoly. Michael Mikulka’s sound design doesn’t do much to improve the LBCLO’s norm. Popping and crackling interrupt the system’s heavy-footed loudness without betraying much effort to achieve a natural effect.

In spite of a welcome briskness, director Gordon Hunt rises above the ordinariness of the book only at that long-awaited moment when the congressmen are called one by one to sign the Declaration.

It could be dull, but Hunt gives the scene a tension that makes it actually seem like that moment from history, even though the rest of the musical doesn’t.

At Long Beach’s Entertainment & Convention Center, Wednesdays through Saturdays, 8 p.m., with matinees Saturdays and Sundays at 2., until July 29. $9-$28; (213) 432-7926 or (714) 826-9371.