“1972,” a rock opera by Sherborn native and Dispatch and State Radio musician Chadwick Stokes, has made its world premiere at the American Repertory Theater’s Farkas Hall in Cambridge, Boston.com reported. The entire month-long run is already sold out, according to Boston.com.
Related: More arts and entertainment coverage.
The story
The show is set in 1972, just before Roe v. Wade legalized abortion, Boston.com reported. A pregnant 19-year-old named Hannah flees an abusive relationship to end an unwanted pregnancy and rides the rails with three outcasts. She eventually finds the Jane Collective, a real underground network in Chicago that helped women get abortions, according to the show’s synopsis cited by Boston.com.
Who made it
Stokes wrote the music and lyrics and co-wrote the book with director Jessie Nelson, who wrote the book for the Broadway musical “Waitress,” Boston.com reported. Stokes told Boston.com he hopped trains from high school until about 2011 and that the overturning of Roe in 2022 brought the story into focus.
A 2024 preview in Somerville used Stokes, his band and four performers, Stokes told Boston.com. The A.R.T. version has 12 performers and no narration between songs, he said.
What the review said
A Boston.com review published Nov. 5 said the production runs about 80 minutes with no intermission and “never lost its momentum.” The review praised Gracie McGraw’s vocals as Hannah and said Stokes, who plays a character named Depot, anchors the male ensemble. It said costumes could do more to distinguish the show’s many characters.
What’s next for Stokes
Stokes is heading back on the road with State Radio after more than a decade, Boston.com reported. Stokes and his wife, Sybil Gallagher, co-founded the nonprofit Calling All Crows 18 years ago, according to the report. More local arts news is in Entertainment and Boston news.
Sources
- Boston.com: Chadwick Stokes’s rock opera has been a lifetime in the making
- Boston.com: Theater review: Rock opera ‘1972’ offers a different kind of live performance — and a needed one
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