THE BUZZARD: click to hear mp3
Bachelor Charles T Stanton, aged  32, was more content with being outside with Nature than working in a stuffy office.  When Virinia Reed asks, "what's that big bird up in the sky?  Why does it circle like that?"  Stanton has the answer..."It is the clean up crew of the desert.  It is a buzzard.
Singer: Steve Stiert

PART OF THE LAND: click to hear mp3
Only 25 years old, Luke Halloran is dying from consumption, and knows he
will never see California.   Luke comforts Virginia by saying  when he dies, and is laid  to rest, he will sinkinto a one-ness with the earth, and become a part of the the West.
Singer: Caleb Nelson

LANSFORD W. HASTINGS: click to hear mp3
Part time lawyer.  Part time writer, full time  charlatan whose book convinces The Donner Party they should take a well-known secondary route to California.
Singer: Pat Bottino

BILLY: click to hear mp3
Virginia Reed watches her pony, Billy, get smaller and smaller as her wagon train pulls away leaving Billy left to die. She recalls her love for Billy and how Billy will always stay in her heart.
Singer: Lia Sumerano

WISH FOR: click to hear mp3
Christmas time, a magic time for grown-ups and children alike .  And  more meaningful when Christmas takes place between Mother and Daughter,  on Truckee  Lake in the middle of winter.
Singer: Danielle Woerner


THE TIME OF THEIR LIFE: click to hear mp3
It is November. And back in Springfield,Pete and Abe & Mary Lincoln are discussing the warm California winters. And how  their friends the Reeds must be settled  into building a new life by the sea, with no worries or strife.  Unknown to the trio, however, is that the Donner Party had suffered terrible hardships.
Singers: Katherine Burger,  Brad Siebeking, Gregor Trieste

*A CD of the entire score is available for $15 and free for interested theatres and directors. E-mail Michael Bitterman for more information.

© 2003 Michael Bitterman