Was that me? Signing the Declaration of Independence? Really?
It must have been a dream. No, no, it wasn’t!
It was in a play. A musical. “1776.”
Until I started this article, I had forgotten that “1776” was my dad’s favorite musical. A professional opera chorus singer, he hated pop music and most musicals. But for some reason, he loved this one.
We went to see it live together in San Francisco in about 1970 and watched the movie together another time.
Then, over 45 years later, after he was gone, I was in it. My only other theater experiences until then had been in the Prizery Summer Theater, coached by Chris Jones. I heard about this show being put on in 2016 by the McLean Community Players when we lived in Northern Virginia, and I wanted in.
The musical has been called “the unemployed old actors’ dream show.” Well, at age 74, I was just right for the part of Caesar Rodney, the cancer-stricken delegate from Delaware who rode all night on horseback to sign the precious document.
I know something about this great man. He was a big hero in Dover, De., where I had lived in 1963-65.
I didn’t have many lines, but I sang in a few choruses. The highlight, of all things, was the makeup. Each night a lady kept making me look more sick and ghostly than in the show before. The last night, I thought I heard people in the audience gasp as I went on stage. (The photo shows me before makeup was applied.)
It was during our first rehearsal of the signing that the whole idea of the show sunk in. For weeks we had been debating the merits of the revolution. Could we win a war? Could we run the new country ourselves? Were we going to accept slavery to placate the South?
Then, in our first physical run-through of the actual signing, we each carefully signed our names. The chairman called each name, and he announced, “Delaware. Mr. Caesar Rodney.”
In acting, you are supposed to immerse yourself in your character. Here I was, defying the King of England! Revolutions never worked before. Usually the rebels were executed. I might die. But this principle was more important!
So as I got ready to affix my signature, I was deeply moved—I think to tears. Now I knew how they must have felt. I picked up the quilt pen and proudly but solemnly signed it. For myself. And for my dad!
What brave men these founders were! They did this for us!
Could I have done that? Man, I just don’t know!
Wow. I was right there with you, Mike, in contemplating signing the declaration... Actually I couldn't have been, because I'm a woman. But in my earlier years I was taught that sometimes "man" means "man and woman," and I was actually included in "all men are created equal."
ReplyDeleteDoes "all people are created equal" have the same ring? Or "all individuals are created equal"? Or "all men and women are created equal"?