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    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.
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    ships out within 7 days

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  • 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

Journalist Raina, posing as a student at spiritual teacher Mama Sid's meditation center, attempts to meditate for the first time, alongside the other students on the retreat.

lyrics

YOGIS
In, out, in, out
In, out, in, out
At last Relax
No more clutter, no more clatter
Time For mind
Tangle and chatter fade
Jungle is far away
Only breath, body, snow, silence
On this remote island
Remembering how to rest
Remembering how to breathe
Remembering how to be
Just be…
At peace…
Just me…

RAINA
It's quiet
It is way too quiet
It's insanely quiet
I hear every little sound:
Bellies grumbling
Old pipes rumbling
Snowflakes tumbling all around!

Look at these nut cases. Sam would have a field day. Sam. He wouldn’t last ten sec-

ALL
Concentrate

RAINA
What will I say to her?
My first question?
Should I play the skeptic
Or the worshipper?
This is stupid.
Sitting freezing on the ground.
This is stupid.
Why does she make us wait around?
It’s Just a power trip.
I’m getting out of here.
But I just got here!
What the hell is wrong with me?

It’s like there’s
Monkeys in my mind
Monkey mind
Monkeys in my mind
Monkey mind
Scolding and carping, my head’s in a vice
Won’t you shut up monkeys, won’t you play nice?
Monkeys in my mind
Monkey mind
Monkey mind

Who is Mama Sid,
Guru beloved by all?
Will she look like her picture?
Will she be larger than life or small
Like the rest of us?

MYRA
I think I left the stove on.

ALL
Concentrate...

MYRA
Concentrate...
I just know I left the stove on!
Scrambled eggs, medium high
My house will burn down
My plants will all die
My photos, my clothes,
Everything I own
Everything I’ve saved
Damn it!

ALL
Concentrate...
Concentrate...

MIKE
“Small man in a big man’s shoes”
How could my own brother say that to me?
“Small man in a big man’s shoes”
In front of the entire family?

DEREKH
I’m not going to think about my major
‘Cause if I don’t think about my major
the answer to what should be my major
Will just...come to me

HARMONY
Twelve months, six days, seven hours
Twelve months sober and clean
Twelve months, six days, seven hours
And five minutes

MIKE
Did he pass the bar on the first try?
He’s just jealous, of course that’s why
I should feel compassion, I know
But I don’t feel compassion, oh no,
I hate him!

ALL
Let go

MIKE
I hate him!

ALL
Let go
And love...

MIKE
But I can’t!

ALL
But I can’t
But I can’t
It’s like there’s
Monkeys in my mind
Monkey mind
Monkeys in my mind
Monkey mind
Running and swinging and screaming and singing and
Laughing and talking and squeaking and squawking
Like monkeys in my mind
Monkey mind, monkey mind, monkey mind.

(While RAINA sings the following section, YOGIS rhythmically chant “In, out, in, out, in, out, concentrate”)

RAINA
Help!

I know cutthroat competition
I know the merciless routine
I know the headlong rush to deadline
Fueled by sugar and caffeine
But sitting so still
Makes me want to kill

I’m a city girl
Take me back to the city
Where the snow is black
And the air is gritty
Give me some familiar aggravation
Like shoving my way through a crowded train station
Give me noise and filth and degradation
Anything but this total deprivation
Of any stimulation at all!

Dad would have kept me from doing this
Oh Dad, I miss-

Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut UP!!

DEREKH
Economics, my dad says that’s where the jobs are
Or engineering, safe bet there

HARMONY
Can I trust myself?
Can I love myself?

MYRA
If my house burns down, my homeowner’s policy
Might be enough to cover my surgery

DEREKH
But all I want here is to be outside
Like a park ranger or a river raft guide

HARMONY
Can I face myself?
Embrace myself?

DEREKH
Don’t think about that!
Don’t think about that!

MYRA
But I shouldn’t have to set my house on fire
To pay for surgery to keep me alive

MIKE
“Small man in a big man’s shoes”
Is that what everybody else thinks too?

ALL
That’s what everybody else thinks too!

MYRA
I’m gonna die!

ALL
I’m gonna die!

MYRA
I’m gonna die!

ALL
I’n gonna die!
I’m gonna die!
I’m gonna die!
I’m gonna die!

(All freeze. SID enters.)

SID
Kinda noisy in here, isn’t it?

ALL
Monkeys in my mind
Monkey mind, monkey mind!

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

RAINA: Cailan Rose
MYRA: Annemaria Rajala
HARMONY: Anna Ishida
DEREKH: Robert Brewer
MIKE: Daniel Olson
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

Produced by Brad Dollar

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