2 shows salute Utah pioneers

Two productions based on early Utah pioneers are opening this week.

"1856, THE MUSICAL," an original musical commemorating the 150th anniversary of the legendary Willie and Martin handcart companies, is scheduled for five performances in the Capitol Theatre, plus a narrated "concert version" of the production on Saturday night in the Assembly Hall at Temple Square.

First staged in 2005 with a smaller cast in Mesa, Ariz., it was repeated this spring with a 140-member cast, all of whom are traveling here for the Salt Lake performances.

The production was conceived in 1998 by Cory Ellsworth, a third-generation Mesa resident with ancestral ties to the Mormon migration movement, who collaborated with lyricist-composers Randy Kartchner and Mildred West Wiseman Packard.

"1856" focuses on the history of five companies of pioneers, mostly European converts to the LDS Church, who made their way to the Salt Lake Valley, first by ship across the Atlantic, then by train to Iowa and finally by trekking in handcart companies across the frontier to Salt Lake City.

Two groups, the Willie and Martin companies, were caught in storms after reaching Martin's Cove, Wyo., and many were later rescued by teams sent by Brigham Young. The cast includes opera singer Joseph Paur, Jamie Kay Alston and Michele Baer.

Performances are 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday and July 25 and 26, with one matinee at 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 22. Tickets prices range from $8 to $18 (355-2787 or www.arttix.org). Saturday night's Assembly Hall concert is free.

"PIONEER LEGACY," a pageant depicting true stories of the early Mormon pioneers, will be staged for one show on Friday at 8 p.m. in the outdoor theater in Spring Acres Arts Park, 700 S. 1300 East, Springville. The free production, which commemorates Pioneer Day, is preceded by a performance by Yarmarka, a Russian folk dance troupe visiting from Moscow as part of a cultural-exchange program with the Springville-based Academy of Ballet.

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