As of Dec. 1, 2021, Orphan Train, The Musical is available for your stage … email silverspearpublications@gmail.com for full details!
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Saving America’s Surplus Children … Then and Now
New York City, 1872. Thousands of orphans throng the streets of a city wracked by crime, disease and economic chaos.
Visionary minister Charles Loring Brace has a solution both moral and practical: send these “surplus children” to new homes in the West — rescuing lives and souls while providing cheap labor for the nation’s expanding frontier.
New York City, The Present. The true story behind “saving America’s Surplus Children” is told in the epic musical Orphan Train … a tale of young frontier heroes and heroines with the Truest Grit you’ve ever seen on a musical stage — the saga of 6 Iowa-bound orphans embarking upon the greatest adventure of their young lives.
Will they find comfort and caring families?
Or will they vanish in the vast prairie never to be heard from again?
Created by L.E. McCullough (book), Michael Barry Greer (lyrics), Doug Katsaros (music) and directed by Patricia Birch, Orphan Train is an amazing — and timely — American story captured onstage. Come on board and see how a nation was built, one family at a time.
Orphan Train productions include:
2018 University of Nebraska-Kearney (Kearney, NE). 6 performances for schools, public and a 2-day history colloquium on The Orphan Train Movement.
2013 Vanderbilt Hall, Grand Central Terminal (New York, NY). 5 performances for the historic Grand Central Terminal Centennial Celebration.
2012 Stephen Sondheim Performing Arts Center (Fairfield, IA). A 3-week run and Special Proclamation from the Iowa Governor’s office.
2010 Saratoga Performing Arts Festival (Saratoga, NY). A featured presentation at this prestigious gathering.
2009, 2010 Russell Sage College Theatre (Troy, NY). Two 3- week runs with New York State Theatre Institute.
WATCH THE video below to see the dramatic essence of Orphan Train —
“Travelin’ Far” sung by Katie Tomlinson-Diamond
* All photos by Richard Finkelstein.
ORPHAN TRAIN, THE MUSICAL 