William Daniels, Brent Spiner To Both Return to 1776 as John Adams For Latest Broadway Revival

The following is OnStage Blog’s Annual April Fool’s Joke. We think it still works as satire even after April 1st. Enjoy!

In a stunning announcement this morning, William Daniels and Brent Spiner announced in a joint press conference that they would both return to the Broadway Musical ‘1776’ as John Adams, where they made names for themselves as the iconic character.

Daniels, 96 years old, and Spiner, 75, said the theatre wanted them both to be John Adams to win back the fans of 1776 who were turned off by the 2022 revival, which featured a cast exclusively of LGBTQ+ actors.

When asked why he’s returning to the stage as John Adams, Daniels said: “I’ll be honest, when they asked me, I said, ‘Are you f*cking nuts?’ I’m lucky to make it to 8:00 pm these days. But, with the pile of cash they threw at me, sure, I’ll cough my way through ‘Sit Down John’ if that’s what the people want.”

Daniels then added, to laughs from the entire press corp: “The only thing is when they tell me to Sit Down, John, I probably will do just that.”

The only request Daniels made was to have every show be performed at matinee times, which the theatre rejected. However, to accommodate Daniel’s schedule and stamina, Daniels will only play John Adams during Sunday Matinees, and Spiner will play Adams for the rest of the shows during the week. Spiner will also be on call on Sunday matinees to fill in during intermission as needed.

Spiner was more than happy to agree to this unusual arrangement.

“I turned down Broadway a dozen or more times in the last ten years because all of it was just to reprise the John Adams's character,” said Spiner. “They had some crazy ideas, one of which was something called ‘Adams and Adams’ where I would sing 1980s jukebox songs with my son John Quincy Adams while still governing in the 1800s.”

Spiner added: “But the reason I said yes, this time, other than my basic sense of humanity not to let Daniels perform 8 times a week at his age, was that J.J. Abrams and Alex Kurtzman were hounding me to start a Data Cinematic Universe, with movies, TV shows, and TikTok shorts all planned around Data. And this was as good an excuse as any not to play that g*ddamn robot anymore.”

Daryl Roth, the producer of this latest 1776 revival, said everything will be done exactly as those who saw the original musical production in 1969 and are still alive to see it today remember it.

“We’re going all out. The seats will look and feel the same; we’re bringing back the curtains we used in 1969 and even some of the same props. The set will be painstakingly recreated as it was in 1969, at a low price of $500 for balcony seats.” said Roth.

Asked if this was a specific rebuke of the 2022 revival and its nontraditional casting, Roth said, “Look, one of the fundamental messages of 1776, as Sherman Edwards would agree, is to play it safe! Why take risks? Fans love Williams Daniels and Brent Spiner as John Adams, so why not give them what they want?”

The rest of the cast has not been announced. Still, Roth wanted to assure 1776 fans that they would reach out to as many living relatives of the original Broadway cast recording as possible to fill out the cast, regardless of singing and acting experience.

When asked whether he felt comfortable with William Daniels on stage performing at his advanced age, Roth said, “First off, we had several of our founding fathers at advanced ages signing the Declaration of Independence, so let’s not be ageist here. Secondly, we celebrate through 1776 that it’s a free country, and we have the freedom to feed our nostalgia at any cost. That was practically in the text of the Declaration itself!”

Salley shot down rumors that this particular revival could have both Spiner and Daniels playing John Adams in the exact same show, claiming that a 1776 multiverse was discussed, but was never seriously considered.

“We did discuss having William Daniels’ Adams write letters to Spiner’s Adams in an alternate dimension instead of Abigail Adams, but it felt a little weird to write out one of the few female characters of the show. Ultimately, we wanted to deliver the musical audiences expected out of 1776 with zero surprises. With that said, if this revival is successful, which I expect it will be, never say never to a 1776 multiverse!”

Happy April Fool’s Day!