Some know Dallas actress Liz Mikel as mom to “Smash” Williams on Friday Night Lights. Others know her for her steady stream of roles at the Dallas Theater Center, or her open mic night at The Balcony Club. But a whole new audience is now appreciating her talents as she portrays founding father John Hancock in the revival of the Broadway musical 1776.
It’s not the first time she’s appeared on Broadway, though. In 2011, she started in Lysistrata Jones; the original title was Give It Up!, and it debuted at the Dallas Theater Center.
Mikel joins a cast that is completely female, transgender, or non-binary, and racially diverse, and has been part of the ensemble since rehearsals began for the production when it was staged at the Loeb Drama Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts in May. It made its Broadway debut at the Roundabout Theater Company’s American Airlines Theatre on October 6, and will have a limited run through January 8, 2023, before embarking on a national tour that kicks off Valentine’s Day in Philadelphia.
The musical portrays the moment in American history when the Second Continental Congress spent the summer in Philadelphia drafting the Declaration of Independence. In February, Mikel explained her thought process as she began to form her portrayal of Hancock, aware that, as a Black woman, she was inhabiting the story of a White founding father in a time when enslaved labor was commonplace.
“In this country, they are our forefathers, and I’m grappling with how they would have seen me in my skin,” she told BroadwayWorld.com. “And I’m wondering, would I have been a factor in this new world that they wanted to create, more so than serving them? All of that is a part of me going into this role. I am trying to honor the text, but I also have to bring part of myself into that as well.”
Originally staged in 1969, 1776 earned three Tony Awards, including Best Musical. See highlights for the revival below, or click here to see the cast perform “Sit Down, John” on Good Morning America.
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