About 3,000 Mormon pioneers in 10 handcart companies moved West in the years 1856-1860. In 1856, five handcart companies, comprised mostly of European converts to the Church, made their way from Iowa City to the Salt Lake Valley. The first three completed the 1,300 miles of pulling from Iowa City to the Salt Lake Valley in about four months and were relatively from serious danger. The latter two companies (Willie and Martin), which started late, were caught in the fall storms and suffered much loss (around 250 of the 1000 people in these two companies perished). If not for the heroic, rapid response of rescue teams sent by Brigham Young from the Church’s hub in Salt Lake City, there would have been much greater loss.

Cory Ellsworth was living with his family near London in 1998, when he accepted a calling to teach early morning Seminary for the LDS branch in Addlestone, Surrey. He taught ten great teens early each morning in the porta-cabin behind the meetinghouse. Cory loved the students and found the course content – Church History and the Doctrine & Covenants – particularly interesting. As he found time to ponder the significance of the sacrifice of the early pioneers, Cory was deeply moved and struck by their faith and testimony, and particularly by the handcart pioneers. This deep respect and reverence soon resulted in his penning a few poems. The few poems eventually turned into several, and then into a story line for a musical play.

When the family moved to the Washington, D.C. in the summer of 1999, Cory had completed much of the basic work for the musical including most of the lyrics and melodies, the characters, and the flow of the play. But there was still much work to do and Cory was unable to push the project forward at that time (Cory and Amy were blessed with twin baby boys in January, 2000. This blessing, added to the normal workload of raising a family and earning a living, dominated their lives for the next few years.)

In 2003 now living back in his ancestral home of Mesa, Arizona and sensing a deeply-rooted obligation to complete the musical, Cory pulled out his working papers and re-launched the project. He quickly realized that he needed help crafting complete songs – not just melodies – with piano accompaniment, and later he would need someone who could produce music and provide rich orchestrations. Cory was then blessed to find Mildred West Wiseman Packard (Milli), a talented, experienced composer. While Cory had hoped to find someone to help him finish crafting harmonious, complete songs, he found much more in Milli. She provided invaluable help with music theory, shaping of melodies, crafting and editing of the lyrics, and editing of the script. She became a trusted friend and provided Cory with beautifully crafted songs.

Then, with completed songs and a desire to complete the soundtrack for the musical and ultimately see it portrayed on stage, the next step required someone who could provide orchestral arrangements and also produce the creation of the soundtrack. Milli knew the right person and recommended Randy Kartchner, an accomplished producer, composer and arranger. Randy was able to take beautifully constructed piano sheet music and turn it into powerful, moving orchestral pieces. “1856” is a large, complex musical project which tested Randy’s limits. Randy rose to the occasion and exceeded even the wildest hopes that Cory had for the music. The final step in completing the soundtrack was choosing and recording voices and live instruments, which Randy adeptly produced.

Cory turned to his niece, Tawnya Gray, for assistance with script improvement, character development and descriptions, review historical accuracy, a director’s notebook, research on period costumes, language and activities. Tawnya’s excellent work put the musical in position to be portrayed on a stage.