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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$15USDor 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
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about
As Sid meditates, a vision of her own mother, May, comes to tempt her away from her resolve.
lyrics
MAY AND ANGELS
Sleep, sleep
Sleep, sleep
MAY
Poor sweetheart. You’re exhausted.
SID
Mama?
MAY
Who else?
SID
Oh, Mama. I've missed you so. All my life.
MAY
Then join me.
SID
Right now?
MAY
Of course.
SID
(Rousing slightly) But...you're dead.
MAY
Exactly. It's so peaceful! Isn’t that what you want: to be at peace?
SID
But my work here’s not done.
MAY
You’ll finish it some other time.
There are many lifetimes to be lived
May and angels
Maybe next time you’ll have more to give
Now sleep, sleep
What's one little lifetime, anyway?
(As SID sings the following, the ensemble enters and stands behind May, a sea of faces stretching back.)
SID
Then suddenly I see
Stretched out behind me
The bodies I have occupied
The people I have loved
The tears I have cried
The deaths I have died
A hundred thousand lifetimes
Searching, searching
A hundred thousand lifetimes Is enough
This time I'll see it through
It's what I have to do
MAY AND ENSEMBLE
You break my heart.
SID
I know it.
I break my own heart too.
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
MAY: Noe Venable
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
supported by 37 fans who also own “Sid's Temptations, Part 2: Sleep/Hundred Thousand Lifetimes”
Ich werde nie den Moment vergessen, wie ich in Schwerin in einem Media-Markt das Album Warm Strangers bei den Reinhör-Stationen gesehen habe. Scheinbar hatte jamnd anders sich die CD zuvor reingezogen und dort liegen lassen. Das Cover hat mich angesprochen und ich hab die CD sofort in einen der CD-Spieler getan. Ich war hin und weg und knapp bei Kasse, und hab trotzdem die CD sofort gekauft. Vielen Dank, Vienna, für diese wunderschöne Erinnerung. mpfau
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