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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 a flashback to spiritual teacher Mama Sid's (Vienna Teng) childhood, Sid's father Sunny (David Rodwin) introduces the gated community he created to keep his daughter safe. Mama Sid's students Harmony (Anna Ishida) and Derekh (Robert Brewer) help tell the story.

lyrics

SUNNY
It’s another lovely day in
Bois Riche, Bois Riche!
Bois Riche, Bois Riche!

HARMONY
Sun is shining, flowers blooming

DEREKH
Brooks are burbling, children singing,

COMMUNITY MEMBERS
The ice cream truck jingles down the street

SUNNY
(Confidentially) It’s actually nonfat yoghurt with Sucralean - the kids don’t know the difference! Childhood obesity is a problem you won’t find here.

COMMUNITY MEMBERS
Everything is ideally proportioned in
Bois Riche, Bois Riche!
Bois Riche, Bois Riche!
Nothing unlovely troubles the eye
From the soft green grass to the clear blue sky
Bois Riche, Bois Riche!

RAINA
What does Bois Riche mean, anyway?

DEREKH
“Rich wood,” I think.

RAINA
And this town is where?

DEREKH
Search me.

HARMONY
You had to have money to live there

MEN
We say that without any shame

DEREKH
Dozens applied and got turned aside

COMMUNITY MEMBERS
Though we sympathize, we're not to blame

WOMEN
We're wealthy because we are worthy

MEN
We've all worked so very hard

OLDER COMMUNITY MEMBERS
Or our parents did for us

YOUNGER COMMUNITY MEMBERS
Or their parents did for them

COMMUNITY MEMBERS
Well let's not pursue the matter too far…

HARMONY AND DEREKH
Everyone is beautiful in
Bois Riche, Bois Riche!
Bois Riche, Bois Riche!

MEN
Our bodies toned, we’re Olympically fit

WOMEN
All that nature has denied us
plastic surgeons can fix

ALL
Oh ugliness is something that we will not abide
It starts skin deep but then it rots you inside
If you’re looking for substance let style be your guide
In Bois Riche!

SUNNY
Thinking of buying in? Come on out here, Sidney! This is my little girl. Shall we tell these good people about a few of the amenities we have to offer?

SID
You bet!

SUNNY
Botanical gardens

SID
Our own private zoo

SUNNY
Movies and concerts

SID
And theatre too!

SUNNY
Every type of cuisine you could possibly wish

SUNNY AND SID
Stables
An ice rink

SUNNY
a pond stocked with fish
Saunas and steam rooms, infinity pools
State-of-the-art gyms and outstanding schools
Synagogues, Churches, boutiques and a mall
Professional golf course, oh we’ve got it all

Would you like an application?

(Pulls out a tome the size of a phone book.)

It’s a little thick, for security reasons. For the sake of the children, you understand.

Our children these precious creatures
Full of innocence, purity, joy
I can’t bear the mere thought of their
Fragile little psyches destroyed by

ALL
Violence, hatred poverty crime

SUNNY
We’ll keep these far away from their minds.

WOMAN 1
Children grow up someday

ALL
But ours won’t if we fulfill our design.

SUNNY
Here, children can be children, into adulthood and beyond!

ALL
So lock that gate and let the riffraff choke
Inside paradise we’re full of hope
And nothing unlovely troubles the eye
From the soft green grass to the clear blue sky
Bois Riche, Bois Riche
Bois Riche, Bois Riche
Bois Riche, Bois Riche
Bois Riche!

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

SUNNY: David Rodwin
SID: Vienna Teng
HARMONY: Anna Ishida
DEREKH: Robert Brewer
ENSEMBLE: Chris Aceves, 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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