Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
— Jesus
John Tierney of Shelburne Falls has made my job much easier by revealing his entire artistic and spiritual raison d’etre in the emblematic credo I see quoted at the bottom of his emails:
“Now is the time for the peaceful mind to come to the aid of the humankind!”
The 70-year old creator of “Peacemaker: The Musical,” set to premiere at the Charter Oak Cultural Center in Hartford, Connecticut on May 6 and 7 at 7:30 p.m., is seeing the first fruits of a life, both professional and personal, with an unswerving flight path in pursuit of just what it means to be born — and thereby risk the daunting gauntlet of dangers awaiting us — on planet earth. The project was developed over a 30-year period from 1970 to 2001, and then revised in 2014.
For mortality is a ceaseless stalker and an equally irresistible teacher, and, the closer we feel ourselves coming to the final horizon of our journey, the more urgent our questioning, and questing, become.
Tierney is unabashed in wearing his spiritual heart on his sleeve, where all can see it, and in his promotional material readily shares that “Peacemaker: The Musical” is “. . . an uplifting musical for Planet Earth and all its children,” based upon the belief that “Each one of us has the power to choose between peace or sorrow.”
The plot is simple but timeless: “In the spirit world, forces argue for and against the mission of Humanity’s Child. Whether she decides to be born, or return to the source, she must choose between two paths.”
Having cited this existential challenge, we are further encouraged by the reassurance that, “This energetic musical focuses on choosing JOY, despite the strife. A positive message of hope and love.”
As Tierney readily admits, it is neither a new or original theme in the history of philosophy or religion, but it nonetheless remains as pressing now as when the first human suddenly realized — against the unimaginable odds — how it is that he or she had come to be born, was alive and was fated one day just as surely to pass from this world.
Indeed, such fathomless questions have sparked the trajectories of such world-movers and shakers as the Buddha, Arjuna of Bhagavad Gita fame and many other luminaries; it is a question, when deeply probed into, that has the capacity to wake us up to the transience and preciousness of the life we so often take for granted, or waste in marginal pursuits.
Oddly enough, while Arjuna wants nothing more than to flee his oppressive fate as a warrior and leader, preferring to enter into the transcendent life of a yogi — a renunciate — his spiritual mentor Krishna, appearing to him in human form at the edge of the Battlefield of Life — repeatedly enjoins him to fearlessly take up his sword and re-enter the fray, albeit with an even mind and a pure heart, knowing that he is fulfilling his earthly “dharma,” — his human mission in time and space — as part of the Divine Plan, a course which one feels Tierney urging us to take as well.
Likewise, the unborn Child of Humanity is presented, in the limbo of some cosmic waiting room, with two unthinkable option — to be or not to be — caught in the center of a spiritual tug-of-war, with major consequences no matter which course she chooses.
As the Katha Upanishad so eloquently reminds us, “The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard.”
To forgo human birth and dwell in timeless oneness with one’s source, call it God or Essence or Nirvana, might seem like a no-brainer, seeming to offer us the sure and safe route to peace, and skirting all the unlovely aspects of earthly existence, from unrequited love to taxes and death; but even this tempting choice harbors potentially tragic losses, from the chance to try out one’s wings, like Pinocchio, with no strings and to be “a real person” to the opportunity for experiencing, hands-on and one-on-one, an endless stream of fascinating, flawed-yet-precious human beings with whom to hold hands and dance the dance of Life in all its joyful and agonizing phases.
In addition to which, the unindividuated soul asleep in primal peace — one who has never known the ups and downs of earthly life — may, much like one born into health or wealth, never realize the beauties and blessings it has been bequeathed, and so often suffering seems to be prelude to awakening to an immense gratitude for being alive; strange as it is to say: without a little pain, people often tend to quickly go back to sleep.
The role of Humanity’s Child is alternately performed by Bianca Day and Talia Raquel, with folk-rock legend Shawn Phillips as the Grandfather, New York-based vocalists Sarah Elizabeth Charles as Spirit Mother, R&B composer A.C. Lincoln as Spirit Father, jazz singer Dianne Mower and blues-singer Marion Cowings as Aunt Spiderwoman and Uncle Coyote, master storyteller Jonathan Kruk from the Hudson Valley as “The Storyteller,” soprano, Nancy Stewart, The Band, conducted by noted educator Dr. Brian Messier, and a children’s chorus directed by the composer.
Comments Tierney of the structure of his musical drama:
“This performance is kind of like a cantata or an oratorio; the narrative is there, the music is there, but not so much the staging. I have a terrific band with seven really good players. The first act has a variety of songs drawn more from the popular genre, whereas the second act is much more fully composed, much more thematically varied, and I consider a more sophisticated composition. People like to say the first act is a musical, the second act is an opera. There’s a vying, in the second act, for the soul of Humanity’s Child — with a Darth Vader-like character, ‘HidesitsFace’ — borne out of my experience with depression — on one side, pulling, and Grandfather on the other side, defending.
In a way, it’s kind of a Joseph Cambell Hero’s Journey scenario, just as in “Star Wars,” where you have the hero and his or her challengers. This is a developmental piece, and this will be the first time we will see the whole piece from beginning to end.”
“Peacemaker: The Musical”
Tickets:(860) 249-1207
Charter Oak Cultural Center
21 Charter Oak Avenue, Hartford,
An author and composer, columnist Joseph Marcello of Northfield focuses on music and theater. He can be reached at: josephmarcello@verizon.net