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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 USD  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    This album of songs from the new musical "The Fourth Messenger" stars Vienna Teng as Mama Sid, a world-renowned spiritual teacher with a hidden past. Loosely inspired by the Buddha legend, this contemporary re-imagining poses the question of whether and how it's possible to be both enlightened and flawed.

    This pre-order package includes a physical CD and a digital download, to be released November 7, 2015.

    Music by Vienna Teng, lyrics by Tanya Shaffer and Vienna Teng, directed by Matt August, orchestrated/music directed by Ryan O'Connell.

    "An absolute delight." - SF Chronicle • "Profound and profane, combative and compassionate… Teng’s complex harmonies and inspired melodies stick with you long after the curtain goes down." - Art Animal • "Hugely ambitious and refreshingly original…Teng is a fresh and exciting new theatrical talent with a distinctive voice of her own…" - Huffington Post • "Masterful and compelling…both timeless and contemporary." - Stage and Cinema

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Fourth Messenger, featuring Vienna Teng via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ... more
    ships out within 7 days

      $15 USD or more 

     

  • What if the Buddha were a woman, living in our times? In this captivating new musical, Mama Sid is a modern-day “awakened one” with a worldwide following. But a determined young woman seeks to unearth Mama Sid’s mysterious past, exposing long-held secrets that could change everything. Epic and intimate, comic and profound, The Fourth Messenger investigates what it means to be both enlightened and human. Book and lyrics by Tanya Shaffer, music and additional lyrics by Vienna Teng. Script includes all lyrics and text, not musical score.

    This is a digital pre-order. The PDF will be released on November 7, in conjunction with The Fourth Messenger album featuring Viena Teng.

    “An exciting and ambitious project, driven by Teng's eclectic score, Shaffer's inspired rewrites of the Buddha story, and their punchy, provocative lyrics… An absolute delight.” - San Francisco Chronicle • “Intelligent and skillfully crafted…hugely ambitious and refreshingly original... Shaffer's musical has the audience emotionally involved and on the edge of their seats.” - The Huffington Post • “A satisfying and remarkably entertaining new musical that takes on spiritual life with wit and emotional resonance…” - KQED/NPR • “Beautiful...A triumph… Shaffer’s book brims with intelligence and wit… ” - Theater Dogs • “Masterful and compelling...both timeless and contemporary…” - Stage and Cinema
    ... more

      $5 USD or more 

     

about

In the musical's final song, spiritual teacher Mama Sid and journalist Raina acknowledge to each other that no matter how far they have come in this life, there is always more to learn.

lyrics

SID
As long as I am living
There are places yet to go
As long as I am human
I still have the chance to grow
the river forks, each time it bends
I am upended in the flow
And I go on...
I go on...

SID AND RAINA
As long as I am living

RAINA
I can always be surprised

SID AND RAINA
As long as I am human

SID
My ideas can be revised

SID AND RAINA
Our hearts can always break again
No matter how we try to hide
And we go on

SID, RAINA, YOGIS
As long as we are living
The path will twist and wind
As long as we are human
We will stumble as we climb
The more we live, the more we see
How deeply we're entwined

SID AND RAINA
And we go on...

YOGIS
Feel the joy
Feel the grief
The act of naming brings relief

SID AND RAINA
And we go on

YOGIS
Heavy, light, shallow, deep

SID AND RAINA
And on
And we go

SID, RAINA, YOGIS
On in the human experience

REPORTERS
This story

SID, RAINA, YOGIS
We go on in the human experience
REPORTERS
This story

SID, RAINA
As long as we are building

YOGIS
We are loving

REPORTERS
The truth...

SID, RAINA
As long as we are changing

YOGIS
We are laughing

REPORTERS
The truth...

SID, RAINA
As long as we are choosing

YOGIS
We are crying

REPORTERS
The truth...

SID, RAINA
As long as we are human

YOGIS
We are dying

SID, RAINA
As long as we are living

YOGIS
We are living

REPORTERS
The truth...

SID, YOGIS
We are

ALL
Living the human experience.

credits

from The Fourth Messenger, featuring Vienna Teng, released November 10, 2015
Music by Vienna Teng
Lyrics by Tanya Shaffer and Vienna Teng
Directed by Matt August
Music Directed and Orchestrated by Ryan O'Connell

SID: Vienna Teng
RAINA: Cailan Rose
ENSEMBLE: Chris Aceves, Robert Brewer, Anna Ishida, Barnaby James, Maria Mikheyenko, Annemaria Rajala, Leandra Ramm, Ashley Simms

Piano and keyboards: Ryan O'Connell
Violin: Anthony Blea
Cello: Freya Seeburger
Drums: Ken Bergmann

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The Fourth Messenger Berkeley, California

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