Frankly Ben Franklin

Frankly Ben Franklin, largely based on the founding father’s autobiography, is more than a simple recap of his many accomplishments. It does feature such things as his successful printing business (including Poor Richard’s Almanack and the Pennsylvania Gazette) and his famous kite-flying experiment. But it also looks at his relationships with his wife Debby and his son William. While married for 44 years Ben was in England for 15 of those years, returning to Philadelphia after she died. William became governor of New Jersey and remained loyal to George III and the two never reconciled. In the musical, as Ben is writing his memoirs, he is bombarded by a barrage of memories that refuse to come one at a time. By the end, we see his proudest memory, the signing of the Constitution of the United States, which created “a republic. If you can keep it.”