Chris (my oldest son) has now posted the entire video and songs from his musical, “Tell Me a Beautiful Lie.”
The video may be viewed as a series of YouTube clips. The songs may be listened to as a single mp3 or downloaded one song at a time.
The videos are of a staged reading. That is, there are no sets or choreography. The actors read the parts and sing the songs accompanied by piano. This is a customary step toward a full production. It was performed with minimal rehearsal, and so don’t expect a flawless production.
The story is set in the Russian Civil War, the war between the White and Red Armies after the Russian Revolution overthrew the czar. Most people assume that the communists came to power as soon as Nicholas and Alexandra were dethroned, but in fact there was a long and bloody war in which the communists prevailed. The final battle was at Sevastopol, on the Crimean peninsula in the Black Sea. The story is set shortly before the Red Army enters the Crimea.
Sevastopol is now part of the Ukraine, and you’ll notice the Ukrainian influence throughout the music. This is, of course, the land of the Orange Revolution, where supporters of democracy recently overthrew a corrupt regime. And that bit of modern history makes the musical very timely.
For a comparison, think “Les Miserables” or even “Phantom of the Opera.” This is not “Oklahoma!” or “The Sound of Music.”
Now, speaking utterly without any objectivity, I think the production is remarkable. I’m very impressed with the actors and singers — with the exception of the bass (too operatic). But the major characters were very good, I thought. Oksana is the quite the scene stealer.
I found it helpful to download the script and read the lyrics as the songs were sung. I’m just that way. If you follow that example, be warned that Chris has rewritten some of the dialogue here and there, and so the reading and the script won’t always line up.
Enjoy.
“Tell Me a Beautiful Lie.”
The theme of Christianity. Although the lie turns out to be quite ugly actually. God wants to burn you in hell forever because a distant ancestor ate an apple. Rather than just realizing that's a stupid reason to damn an entire race to an eternity in hell and growing up, this God has to have blood, so he sends his own son into the world and arranges for him to be brutally murdered to save us from his own insane wrath. But then we also have to figure out exactly how we get saved by this death or it won't do us any good, so he has provided us with a contradictory books that makes us fight each other constantly because it is impossible to understand since it is ludicrous and contradictory. Its a real beautiful lie.