A Little More Love Made it Happen — "The Order is Love"
Reviewed by James Welch

OK, so what can I say but that I'm a sucker for musicals (even roadshows!).  My training is in classical organ music, but I have always secretly yearned for a life on Broadway.  I've enjoyed playing the piano for any number of musicals over the years.  My first was in 1972, when I was in a singles ward at Stanford University.  We put on the then brand-new musical "The Order is Love" by Carol Lynn Pearson and Lex de Azevedo.  Although we did it with a rag-tag bunch of students on a minimal stage and a shoestring budget, it remains one of the favorite musical experiences of my career.

So when I heard that this all-too-infrequently-performed show was being given again — even if it was 3,000 miles away from my home in California — I couldn't resist.  I cashed in my Southwest Airlines frequent flyer coupons, made sandwiches for the trek across the country (at 30,000 feet instead of by wagon train), flew to Baltimore, rented a car, and drove to Northern Virginia to catch "The Order is Love," put on by the McLean Stake.  I got in early so I was able to catch opening night as well as the second of four performances.  Each of the shows was introduced by none other than Senator Bob Bennett of Utah, a member of that stake.

I wanted to see if the show was a good as I remembered.  Was it dated?  Was I just sentimental about the show, or was it really worth doing?  Would we want to do it in our stake?

I'm happy to report that "The Order" is a cracker-jack show.  Yes, the McLean folks did a grand job with it (more on that later), but the show itself succeeds on every level.  It gives insight into an important but relatively little known aspect of Church history, when communities tried to live the United Order from about 1875-1885.  It teaches some hard lessons about giving and sharing, about getting along, about loving each other when it's almost impossible to do, because some feel that they are working harder than others, or that their skilled work is more "worthy" than that of the lowly weed-puller.  Oh, and it's about love, too — discovering that things aren't very important, but how we treat each other is what counts.

It always takes someone with the vision, the strength, and the patience to pull off a big show in the Church.  Producer Barbara Cramer apparently had those qualities, and the cast, technical staff, and orchestra in turn really produced for her.  Nelson Burton, who played Ezra Cooper, the leader in the Order, is a heart surgeon by day.  With his comfortable baritone voice and a twinkle in his eye, he bound the show together in song and narration.  Catherine Ann (soprano Kristina Rolph) and Matthew (tenor Tim Goode) were credible as young lovers, one who is committed to The Order (that would be him) and one who finds it very hard to fit in as a newcomer (that would be her).  Francis Isadore (played by saucy Sarah Alvarez) is a good Ado-Annie-type character.  Barry Wood, as the itinerant Peddler, slithered his way into town with the song "Progress."   Beyond these are other engaging parts — some with songs, some just speaking--played by the town drunk Brother Burrows (David Briggs); his nagging wife (Jennifer Clark); the feuding blacksmiths Brothers Hill and Sorensen (Ben Billings and Eli Evans), delivered with Cockney and Danish accents, respectively), Catherine Ann's ailing father Brother Russell (Bill Evans), and the boys who wear out their pants on a grindstone in order to get new pants (this is based on a true story known as the Pants Rebellion).

From the rollicking opening choruses of "Love Thy Neighbor" and "A Little More Love," to the revealing "Evening Prayer" heard late in the show (during which various members voice their individual gripes, hastening the demise of The Order), the crowd scenes are uniformly effective.  There are poignant solos by Matthew ("The Lean Life") and Catherine Ann's "The Things I Don't Really Need."  The show progresses naturally through the rhythms of the agrarian seasons, with spring planting, harvest time, and even Christmas ("Christmas Made to Order in the Order"), providing ample opportunity for colorful sets and costumes.  The backdrop to the stage was a remarkable painting of Long Valley with red cliffs so characteristic of Southern Utah; when all the cast were on stage in front of this set, the stage almost resembled a beautiful patchwork quilt.  Kudos go to director Juli Dempewolf for her artistic vision.

Sister Cramer was also able to convince veteran conductor Gene Morlan to pull together an orchestra, as he has done for previous musicals in that stake since 1981 (including "Fiddler on the Roof," "Hello, Dolly!", "Brigadoon," "42^nd Street," "Kiss Me, Kate," "Music Man," and "Sound of Music").  What you don't know is that Gene is no less than 87 years old, but has the stamina of someone many decades his junior.  Not only did he bring the best out of his orchestra of more than 20 volunteer players, but he had to arrange a good portion of the music himself.  Why should this have been so?  Well, it turns out that Excel Entertainment of Salt Lake City, who handles the rental and royalties for the show, doesn't even have a complete set of parts ("they were lost in a basement flood" is their excuse).  So Gene, armed with a piano-vocal score (no conductor's score!), some scattered orchestral parts, and a cassette tape made from a scratchy old LP of the original 1971 cast performance at BYU, spent untold hours reconstructing the missing parts on his synthesizer, and cobbled together a conductor's score.  No one was the wiser.  (Excel might do well to get a copy of Gene's arrangements.)

Upon returning home, I called Carol Lynn Pearson on the phone to ask her how she came to write "The Order is Love."  She was very happy to hear that it had been performed again (we both agreed it was a good show).  She said that as an assignment in a drama class at BYU, she had to produce a subject for a play.  Her readings in the well-documented stories of the communal societies in the Church appealed to her.  While on a vacation in 1969 with her husband Gerald and their one-year old Emily — on foggy, windswept island of Tiree off the coast of Scotland (she wonders now why they thought it would be warm and sunny) — she wrote much of the script.  Soon thereafter she consulted with Church historian Leonard Arrington regarding some of the details; the introduction to the script, first published in 1971, is by Arrington himself.

So why isn't this fine show performed more often?  Wards and stakes, schools and other groups in Latter-day Saint communities are constantly agonizing over what musicals they might put on.   It's hard to find a show that isn't dated, isn't too expensive in terms of royalties, a show that uses a good cross-section of age groups, and one that doesn't rely on just one or two voices to carry most of the show.  A show that isn't overdone (do we really need another "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat"?), and — most importantly, one that isn't R-rated, or even PG-13, or even PG — something that the whole family can enjoy without wincing here and there, and without having to cut or re-write lines to make it tolerable.

"The Order is Love" succeeds handily.  The music is still fresh and tuneful (perhaps just a touch of Burt Bacharach here and there, but that's fine by me).  It uses a whole town full of people, from kids to older folks.  There are numerous smaller parts, allowing a number of performers to shine, each for a moment.  Some great comic moments, and several times when you'll need your hanky.

I'm glad I was able to see this show again.  Having performed it myself all those years ago, I could still speak every line and sing every note, so it was, of course, a nostalgia trip.  But more importantly, I was taught again about the sacrifices of the early members of the Church, and I was reminded that by working together harmoniously — as this cast did, with such a happy result — we can "practice up for Paradise," as did the folks of Orderville.

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James Welch, a member of Palo Alto 2^nd Ward, is on the music faculty of Santa Clara University.    www.welchorganist.com