Sacagawea

Book and Lyrics by Mary Bracken Phillips
Music and Orchestrations by Craig Bohmler

(12 m/5w)

"SACAGAWEA" explores the "Voyage Of Discovery" of the Lewis and Clark expedition and the relationship between William Clark and the expedition's young Indian guide, Sacagawea. The Lewis and Clark expedition stands as one of the best known examples of American courage and idealism in this country's history. A voyage who's ideals were to establish a country of "free and equal" men yet whose commanders thought nothing of bringing along a black slave. Or hiring as their interpreter, a woman whose husband won her in a card game. However, when the "Voyage Of Discovery" reached the Pacific and had to decide whether to winter there or begin the journey home, a vote was taken in which an black slave and an Indian woman were given a vote a century before Indians, women or African Americans could vote in the United States itself. And after the expedition ended, Clark, a Southern aristocrat from a military family, spent most of his adult life as the Agent Of Western Indian Affairs vainly trying to defend the rights of people he had previously considered savages. And Meriwether Lewis, a brilliant and unstable man who's friendship with Clark is one of the most famous in American history, never married, became addicted to alcohol and drugs, and committed suicide. So what happened to these people on that "Voyage Of Discovery"? What did they discover? In this epic musical, Clark discovers his heart, Lewis discovers his own frailty, and Sacagawea discovers herself. And twenty two men and one woman discover America...what it could be as opposed to what it is.

“ Mary Bracken Phillips and composer Craig Bohmler have created an epic adventure, dramatizing a fascinating piece of American history in their richly wrought work… The musical weaves the rigors of the physical journey from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean with the love story and such morale dilemmas as the treatment of women and slavery.”
Sally Hogarty, “Curtain Calls”

“… "Sacagawea" is a musical that manages not only to tell the historical story of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, but add considerable fuel to the lore and legend of the extraordinary trek that opened the West to the United States…Phillips has concocted a charming and engaging yarn in both her script and lyrics, and composer Craig Bohmler has collaborated with a score that honors the soaring spectacle of the story, the heroism of the journey and the emotional highs and lows of those involved… "Sacagawea" is a remarkably complete and satisfying musical.”
Pat Craig, Contra Costa Times

““Sacagawea” is a wonderful adventure story taken from the pages of history… This is a great concept and a great story that needs to be told…a superb musical and highly entertaining.”
Charles Jarrett, Rossmoor Press

So Far to Go Home More Than A Lady