WESTERN STAR a musical play by Dale Wasserman. Music and lyrics by Bill Francoeur and Scott deTurk SYNOPSIS A tale of con men, bankrupts and runners-away - flawed men and women lured West by the promise of new beginnings. The setting is the Colorado Territory circa 1875. When the citizens of Esperanza offer the pulpit of the proposed town church to a scheming flimflam man, events are set in motion which lead to the return of a recluse, the reclamation of a lost soul and the conversion of a confirmed con man. This is a moving tale of redemption and romance, rich in haunting melodies, lilting waltzes, plaintive country and western ballads and foot-stompin' show stoppers. STORY After a pre-show series of scrim projections dissolves taking us through the seasons in the Rockies, Adam No-Name sings to the audience of his love of the land and of being alone. Soon he is dismayed to find himself surrounded by other settlers who have discovered this land of opportunity as well. We meet Leeroy and Julie Donivan who have escaped trouble with the law in Tennessee and come to Esperanza with Julie’s 15-year-old brother Ben to start a new life. Sam Goode & Red Willie Magaw arrive, discovering it’s the perfect place for their next scam. Adam No-Name, seeing the town build up around him, heads for the hills. By the end of the number, the town is built and we are in the interior of the Bank of Esperanza where the settlers are seated, as if at a church meeting. Sam & Red Willie discover the settlers of Esperanza have gathered in the bank for a church service because they don’t have a church. They do have $5,000 poised and ready for the building of a church, but have yet to built it because they have no minister. Taking this ripe opportunity to start a scam, Sam tells the settlers he’s a minister. Sceptical of his credentials, the settlers ask him to perform a minister-like miracle before they’ll hire him: There lives up the mountain a man who claims to be a doctor. Esperanza is in desperate need of a town doctor. If Sam can “bring that man down to the fold,” he can name his terms. A gleeful Sam accepts the challenge. As it turns out the mysterious man on the mountain is none other than Adam No-Name, who opened the show. He’s found a life of seclusion and is busy hearing the voices from the ghosts of his past as the scene opens. Sam and Red Willie petition him, but Adam tells them in no uncertain terms to get lost, that he’s not interested in rejoining God’s faithful fold. The scene shifts to Julie Donivan, rustling up a meager supper, and her brother Ben who’s doing a jig around their campfire. Leeroy comes home from work, discouraged that Esperanza hasn’t turned out to be his land of riches. He convinces Ben and Julie that the way to turn their fortunes is to rob the bank and in the subsequent unscripted scene they rid the town of its $5,000 church building fund. Flush from their successful heist, the trio returns to their camp. It’s only then that Ben reveals he’s been shot. Leeroy abandons the brother and sister with the riches, not wanting to get caught should Ben need to return to town for medical help. Julie stays with her brother, however, and together they make their way up the hill toward Adam’s cabin; but there’s nothing Adam can do. Ben dies in Julie’s arms. Meanwhile, Red Willie’s beside himself that they’ve lost the $5,000 to a group of children. Sam, however, is more philosophical. Much to Red Willie’s chagrin, Sam is fast becoming the preacher he was pretending to be. He’s heard the calling of the Lord. But Red Willie convinces him to come back to their life of crime and
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