![\"\"](\"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Messenger3.jpg\")
<\/a>Sid (Annemaria Rajala, front) must deal with her dead mother (Alexis Wong) in \u201cThe Fourth Messenger.\u201d Photo by Mike Padua.<\/p><\/div>\n
Hmmm, what if the Buddha were alive today \u2014 as a female?<\/p>\n
Hmmm, now let me see, what if she were dubbed Mama Sid, after Siddhartha Gautama, and her sacrifices in the name of enlightenment were densely detailed on a Berkeley stage?<\/p>\n
Hmmm.<\/p>\n
Well, the epic musical loosely based on legend just might be exciting, profound and humorous, that\u2019s what.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Fourth Messenger,\u201d at the Ashby Stage through March 10, questions whether a woman can survive 100,000 lifetimes to evolve into a purely spiritual yet totally human being.<\/p>\n
As a mainly two-person journey toward peace unfolds, the show personifies temptation, prophecy and reconciliation.<\/p>\n
Three harbingers appear in human form and embody negatives: sickness, aging and death. The final messenger, pure soul, arrives in an unexpected manner.<\/p>\n
All that, and so much more, is viewed through the prism-eyes of two principals \u2014 Sid (Annemaria Rajala), a world-famous guru hiding her past, and Raina (Anna Ishida), a muckraking journalist who runs smack into herself while seeking to unveil what she\u2019s predetermined to be spiritual hypocrisy.<\/p>\n
But director Matt August keeps the two-hour-plus, two-act world premiere tight, paced seamlessly.<\/p>\n
He tempers the tutorial-in-music with verbal comedy and physical slapstick, and drives the silliness through Bridgette Loriaux\u2019s choreography.<\/p>\n
Make no mistake, playwright Tanya Shaffer\u2019s ultimate purpose \u2014 and message \u2014 is ultra-serious: Love gives life meaning. And she appears to offer a corollary obviating the Buddhist maxim that\u00a0suffering goes hand-in-hand with attachment.<\/p>\n
Shaffer, an El Cerrito resident whose \u201cBaby Taj\u201d was a Bay Area hit in 2005, has bitten off a lot. As a result, her script and lyrics are intermittently too dense or preachy.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, the text does lend itself to poetic utterances (when Sid reflects on a multi-year meditation, she tells of hearing \u201ccats, wolves\u2026engines\u2026 human voices\u2026laughter and pain\u2026and behind the sound, silence, like a bottomless pool\u201d).<\/p>\n
Insightful one-liners turn up as well: \u201cYou know more than you know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vienna Teng\u2019s compositions from time to time rouses the crowd and runs a musical gauntlet, from pop to jazz, rock to tango, new age to operatic.<\/p>\n
Like an opera, not incidentally, \u201cThe Fourth Messenger\u201d is nearly a sing-through and succeeds with that format. But Teng\u2019s score is unlikely to compel anyone to hum while leaving the theater.<\/p>\n
It must be said, tangentially, that Christopher Winslow, who skillfully and enthusiastically directs four excellent musicians, sporadically lets that verve drown out the singers.<\/p>\n
That only becomes a fleeting irritation since the gist of what\u2019s happening remains constantly accessible even when several words are missed.<\/p>\n
In comparison, the imaginatively fluid set designed by Joe Ragey \u2014 consisting almost entirely of poles and flowing white fabric \u2014 is never less than enthralling.<\/p>\n
Its simplicity empowers silhouette scenes, and lets the action shift rapidly and smoothly from a magazine office in New York City to a meditation retreat in Newfoundland to a faceless suburban site to a lavish gated community and to bustling urban streets.<\/p>\n
Also praiseworthy are the props, which range from a gigantic loaf of bread to a sheet that doubles as snow powder and worldly goods stuffed into a duffle bag.<\/p>\n
Shaffer tenaciously attempts to keep things current, to the point where some words \u2014 such as staycation \u2014 and concepts \u2014 like child-abandonment \u2014 may rankle.<\/p>\n
All 11 performers, many of whom appear in multiple roles, excel within the parameters of complex text and lyrics. Their singing tends to sprint from good to superior, except for a handful of opening night off-notes.<\/p>\n
One of Sid\u2019s summation queries in \u201cThe Fourth Messenger\u201d is, \u201cWhat\u2019s one little lifetime anyway?\u201d<\/p>\n
My skeptical answer might be: \u201cIt\u2019s all that I have \u2014 but happily it includes the chance to see a flawed but extremely valuable theatrical experiment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Fourth Messenger\u201d runs at the Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby St., Berkeley, through March 10. Evening shows, 7 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Matinees, Sundays, 2 p.m. Tickets: $23 to $40, available through thefourthmessenger.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hmmm, what if the Buddha were alive today \u2014 as a female? Hmmm, now let me see, what if she were dubbed Mama Sid, after Siddhartha Gautama, and her…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5194","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-woody-weingarten"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"