Iain and Beth with John Dickinson in Philadelpha, PAHow much do we really know about John Dickinson? This man from Maryland and Pennsylvania is known for his refusal to sign the Declaration of Independence and for coming out of retirement to participate in the Constitutional Convention. What is less known, however, is his distaste for being made out as the bad guy in the Sherman Edwards/Peter Stone musical 1776.
“I don’t understand why John Adams and Ben Franklin get to be the protagonists, and I’m stuck being the show’s primary adversary,” Dickinson was reported as saying. “Everyone knows that the bad guy never gets the good song. Hell, even Lee from Virginia gets more of a show-stopper than I do, and he’s barely even in the second act.”
“It’s true,” Caesar Rodney from Delaware said, “Dickinson’s song ‘Cool, Cool, Considerate Men’ is easily the lamest song in the entire score. They even have to dance the minuet, which has to be the worst choreography ever to grace a Broadway stage.”
“The next time Dickinson feels bad about being the primary source of conflict in a staged show,” John Adams said in his characteristic abrasiveness, “He should reconsider his stance as a loyalist to the crown.”
Edward Rutledge, a delegate from South Carolina and Dickinson’s fellow conservative, declined to comment.
2 comments:
True, it's no "Molasses to Rum" or "He Plays the Violin," but there is something oh-so Gilbert & Sullivan about "Cool, Cool Considerate Men" that I think gives it geek appeal. Well, you know, beyond the geek appeal of a musical about the Revolutionary War....
It's a double noser!
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