Lancaster, NY — The Lancaster Opera House proudly presents 1776, the Tony Award-winning musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone, running September 25–October 11, 2026. Bringing the debates, personalities, humor, and extraordinary stakes surrounding the birth of a nation to the Opera House stage, 1776 opens Lancaster Opera House’s 2026–2027 season.
Set in Philadelphia during the summer of 1776, the musical follows John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and the delegates of the Second Continental Congress as they wrestle with one seemingly impossible task: convincing thirteen very different colonies to declare their independence… as one. At turns funny, fiery, and deeply human, 1776 transforms a familiar chapter of American history into a compelling portrait of the personalities and compromises behind the Declaration of Independence.
The production (direction by John Landis; musical direction by Fran Landis) features Jon May as John Adams, Bernie Sheredy as Benjamin Franklin, John Kaczorowski as John Dickinson, Merrick Allen as Thomas Jefferson, Charles McGregor as Edward Rutledge, and Ray Boucher as John Hancock. Michelle Holden appears as Abigail Adams, with Allinee NeGron as Martha Jefferson.
Joining them in the Continental Congress are Zach Gammel as Charles Thomson, Mary Bellanti as Andrew McNair, David Mitchell as Stephen Hopkins, Chris Wagner as Richard Henry Lee/John Witherspoon, Isaiah Franko as the Courier, David Butler as James Wilson, Nate Miller as Lewis Morris/Robert Livingston, Zach Bills-Warman as Joseph Hewes, Jason Francey as Roger Sherman, Devin Klumpp as Lyman Hall, Nate Higgins as George Read, Dan Todd as Thomas McKean, Madge Bellanti as Leather Apron/Josiah Bartlett, Chris Riso as Samuel Chase, and Mark Saglian as Caesar Rodney.
With its spirited score, sharp humor, and passionate clashes of personality and principle, 1776 offers audiences a chance to encounter the founding of the United States not as a foregone conclusion, but as a contentious and uncertain human story shaped by debate, disagreement, and compromise.
Performances begin Friday, September 25 at 7:30 pm and continue through Sunday, October 11. Performances are Fridays at 7:30 pm, Saturdays at 7:30 pm, and Sundays at 2:30 pm.
Bernie Sheredy appears through an agreement between the Lancaster Opera House and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States
Tickets are on sale now at www.lancasteropera.org or by calling (716) 683-1776.