THE WAY WAY WEST 

"MUSIC AND STORYTELLING IN A SINGLE SIT-DOWN"
(Copyright 2/12/23)

CHARACTERS 

ACTOR 1 - THE WAYFARING STRANGER, BILLY MILLER/TATE

ACTOR 2 - PINEY FANCHER, HECTOR MCLEAN, JUDGE OGDEN, JAMES BUCHANAN, GEORGE A. SMITH, MATILDA MILLER 

ACTOR 3 - WILLIAM MILLER, ELEANOR JANE MCCOMB MCLEAN PRATT, PARLEY P. PRATT, BRIGHAM YOUNG, PORTER ROCKWELL,  JOHN D. LEE 

ACTOR 4 - PIANO PLAYER, VOICE OF THE MEADOWS

 SYNOPSIS

THE WAY WAY WEST is a collection of five stories based on true characters that collide at Mountain Meadows in the Utah Territory in 1857,
and is a testament to the ongoing, cascading effects of one man's narcissism and pain among so many people over so many miles.

OPENING
(POOR WAYFARING STRANGER) We meet The Wayfaring Stranger as he sets the stage for several characters with stories of "movin' on".
(TOO STILL, TOO LONG) 

THE WAGON TRAIN
(OVERLAND EXPRESS) That spring, the Baker-Fancher party departed Carroll County Arkansas as possibly the richest train to head west on the well-worn trails carved into the American Frontier (THE WAY WAY WEST). What lay in store for the Baker-Fancher wagon train is one of the lesser known, yet greatest tragedies of the American west. 

ELEANOR JANE MCCOMB MCLEAN PRATT 
Eleanor, a woman of grace and tenacity, found herself in an abusive marriage after her husband, Hector McLean, took to the bottle (ONE MAN’S PAIN). With a once-happy marriage gone bad (THE LETTERS), Eleanor had no reservations about doing whatever necessary to keep her and her children safe from harm. Murder seemed inevitable. 

BUCHANAN’S BLUNDER 
President Millard Fillmore appointed Brigham Young as Governor of the Utah Territory, making him head of church and state. When James Buchanan came into office in 1857, he set out to separate church and state after the Utah Territory petitioned for Statehood (IN THE UTAH TERRITORY). He dispatched an army to install Alfred Cummings as the new Governor. Upon hearing the news, a disgruntled Brigham Young reassembled the Nauvoo Legion and sent George A. Smith to rally the Mormon Militia (HYMN FOR THE SHEEP). John D. Lee would organize the Paiutes to attack. The Mormons would run no more (REQUIEM FOR A TREE IN ZION).

THE MASSACRE AT MOUNTAIN MEADOWS
(FIND MY STRENGTH IN YOU)  (IN BILLY'S BLUE EYES) On one morning in September, a young Billy Miller stood motionless on the high desert plains as he watched his mother and father murdered in cold blood (FAR FROM THIS MEADOW). Billy escaped with his life, but the anger within him would grow to a rage and exact a never-ending need for revenge.   

THE PONY EXPRESS 
Billy Miller (Tate) spent the next four years working on the Tate Farm.  With every day that passed he would plan his revenge. When he came across the recruitment poster for Pony Express riders, he knew it was a means to an end (ANGELS & SAINTS). His father’s spirit then appears to persuade Billy to re-imagine his future. Billy’s last ride for the Pony Express would be one for the history books (POOR WAYFARING STRANGER/ONE MAN'S PAIN). 

As one man’s pain is passed along, these unrelated human beings collide with each other in life and in death, 
finding all they had left was the way way west.