Green

“Green” – our new video for you on this wonderful day. About colors. And love. True colors. True love. The song is an original, composed and performed by our kids. The video was shot in Ukraine and Moldova, on beautiful green locations – the beautiful green planet earth we have been given.

Green is the color

Christmas 2010

All I wish for Christmas….

The Phone Booth

“Through the eyes of a child…” “From the mouths of babes…” Proverbs such as these hint at the quality of honesty that we so often lack being grown-ups living in a grown-up world. The world we live in has made us cynical, hypocritical, pretentious… We wear masks and we fear to acknowledge our weaknesses. We deny our need for unconditional love and quite like ostriches hiding their heads in the sand, refuse to look the reason for our hopeless state in the eye…  This short film was made tongue-in-the-cheek, with the innocence of a child and a weird sense of humor. We really hope that you will find it refreshing and original:

Just after midnight. A flash of lightning lights up the sky. For just a second the lonely phone booth appears highlighted against the sinister, eerie setting. After the storm with the deceivingly peaceful music of singing birds in the background, it is waiting for its unsuspecting victim…

 

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My name is Luke. I’ve been travelling on the road of life for a long time.

Across these endless landscapes, through countless cities and villages, I was thinking of home each mile along the way. And I would tell myself this road I am travelling on will bring me back home one day. Of course I was only lying to myself.

One day this stranger offered me a ride.

I was bruised and in a terrible state but he did not ask questions and I offered no explanations.

We traveled along the road in silence.

I can’t remember how we started talking but somewhere along the way the old man asked me:

Son, do you know where this road is leading you.

Without thinking, I answered. Home.

I am going to my father’s house.

I told him about my father, the king and how I ran away when I was but a foolish young boy.

We heard about that. Was it pain I could sense in his voice he told me how heartbroken the king had been. Guilt has been my companion for many years. I knew I was guilty. A thief. A liar. Running from the law. Drowning my guilt and sinking even deeper. I was glad the old man couldn’t read my mind. I was sure he’d despise me.

Are you sure he will take you back?

I couldn’t say for sure. I hope, I guess.

Why would he take you back? He asked the question that I feared. I ran countless reasons through my mind. I changed. I studied. I’ve got something to show for all these years. I made my mark in life. And yet I knew I was still going to stand there empty-handed. One rotten egg is all it takes to spoil an omelet. And I had my fair share of rotten deeds. Beginning with closing my heart and running away through all the wild and empty years that followed.

He kept silent for what seemed forever before he continued.

So you know you don’t deserve to be taken back.

Yep.

You cannot earn it.

Nope.

Then you have a problem young man. He was stating the obvious. I was bankrupt in every way. More than anyone else I knew the king was a very fair man. He could never let the guilty go unpunished, even if it was his own son. Even if it broke his heart. I recall the case of a thief that once was put to trial. He stole an old lady’s’ purse. He tried to justify himself. He had nothing to eat. He would give it all back. He wanted to help the poor. But my father, righteous as he was, punished the man justly. I knew I couldn’t expect anything less. I almost wanted to get off the wagon and turn back, but I somehow understood there was no place left to go. Then the old man cleared his throat. I almost thought there was a sob in his voice when he told me the unbelievable set of events that took place. The whole kingdom talked about it.  I am surprised you haven’t heard… he said

Well, I was very far away…

You were offered a gift, son. He told me how my brother took the punishment I deserved, how he was tried and punished. I couldn’t believe my ears. An unexpected warm sense of joy spread all over my breast and I experienced something I have never known before. Mercy. Being offered something you could never earn. Being saved from what you actually deserved. I felt loved. It felt as if my heart could burst from the sensation.

I started weeping, crying. I protested But I cannot allow that. It’s far more than I deserve…

My last sense of pride was stripped away when he simply stated. You seem to have run out of options son. Either you receive that gift or you turn it down. It’s really that simple. You can never pay for a gift. It is free. Forgiveness is free. Unearnable. Undeserved. That’s what makes it a gift.

The rest of the way I was running his words over and over in my mind. I was rehearsing lines that would evaporate immediately. I was thinking about the gift. I was thinking about love. And how undeserving I was.

The old man kept silent the rest of the way, giving me the space to make up my mind. We travelled through the night and just as the sun broke the darkness across the darkened horizon to announce a brand new day, we entered the kingdom that I lost so many winters ago. As the bright sunlight fell on my face and I was bracing myself to receive the gracious gift offered to me so unconditionally, the old man calmed the horse. As the cart came to a standstill, he turned to me,

Welcome home, son.

Motivational, encouraging!

The impossible dream

To dream the impossible dream

To fight the unbeatable foe

To bear with unbearable sorrow

To run where the brave dare not go

To right the unrightable wrong

To love pure and chaste from afar

To try when your arms are too weary

To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest

To follow that star

No matter how hopeless

No matter how far

To fight for the right

Without question or pause

To be willing to march into Hell

For a heavenly cause

And I know if I’ll only be true

To this glorious quest

That my heart will lie peaceful and calm

When I’m laid to my rest

And the world will be better for this

That one man, scorned and covered with scars

Still strove with his last ounce of courage

To reach the unreachable star

Eclipse (Bring him home)

When the darkness comes, we tend to loose our way. Darkness and fear grip the human heart… And when the light is blocked out, we do not know where to turn to. But can the sun somehow break through again? Can there be a ray of hope to guide the way when its gets so very dark? This is the next in the series of videos based on popular songs from hit musicals. We took the powerful, universal cry of the human heart in agony at the prospect of loosing a loved one, “Bring him home” and changed the setting from pre-revolutionary France to the Europe of the Second World War. Somewhere on the front between Germany and Russia a young orphan boy is missing in action.

In ECLIPSE, the young boy finds himself surrounded by danger as Europe is ravaged by the gruesome and brutal killing of millions by the malicious beast of war. In the midst of it all, an old man is entangled in a struggle, forced to choose between his love for his missing grandson and his own life. His unwavering dedication and intercession turn out to be the most important decision of his life.

The musical Les Miserables has much to say about relationships. Here we see the strong bond between an old man and his adopted son. We learn about grace, survival and sacrifice. We come to understand that people are of countless more value than money or possessions.

This video is dedicated to the millions who have lost their way in the savage war that is raging in our world. May each one of them find their way home. There is a Father who has made the ultimate sacrifice to make a way for them to come home.

Any dream will do – Only Joseph dreaming?

How much of our favorite bedtime stories and childhood fantasy tales are actually true? Can it be that these beloved childhood companions are actually a very accurate reflection of the deep and strong desires we carry inside of us. How many of us (if we are honest with ourselves) do struggle with a deep sense of shame and guilt, and yet we are dreaming of, hoping for a happy ending? This is the next in the series of videos we made based on popular songs from hit musicals. We all have seen Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. We all have been touched by the Bible story of a dreamer who have been hurt and betrayed, yet restored because he was able to forgive and rise above his tragic fate. We all – deep inside – have a desire to know love, peace and light. As children we loved fairy tales and I truly believe all these fantasy tales come from what is inside each of us. Everybody, whilst feeling himself/herself an ugly duckling, dreams of become a beautiful swan. We can all associate with the girl who is really a princess, yet dressed in rags and being mistreated… Cinderella waiting for her prince. Or what about Snow White who fell under the curse of the wicked witch and only the kiss of a prince can save her! We have became cursed with the world we live in, broken by sin, ugly and lost… and yet we dare to dream about the One who loves us unconditionally, who came for us to make us his own bride! People are celebrating in many parts of the world. Some call it Easter, others Passover, Pesach, Пасха, Paşti, Pascua, Ostern, wielkanoc, pascha… We celebrate a love so wide, so high, so all embracing and so unconditional. It is a celebration of life, of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ… of our dream that did come true! The free gift of eternal life!

Improvised lyrics:

Prologue (Eden)

I closed my eyes, drew back the curtain

To see for certain what I thought I knew

Far, far away, someone was weeping

But the world was sleeping

Any dream will do

I wore my coat (I wore my coat) with golden lining

Bright colors shining, wonderful and new

And in the east (And in the east) the dawn was breaking

And the world was waking

Any dream will do

A crash of drums, a flash of light

My golden coat flew out of sight

The colors faded into darkness

I was left alone

Requiem

May I return (May I return) to the beginning

The light is dimming, and the dream is too

The world and I (The world and I) we are still waiting

Still hesitating

Any dream will do

A crash of drums, a flash of light

When someone came and took my shame

His love drove out the fear and darkness

I was not alone

It is the dawn of a new beginning

The light is shining, and the dream comes true

The King’s bride now dressed in white

All things made new

All my dreams came true

Lonely (in the musicals)

Throughout history man has been expressing his deepest feelings, greatest fears and highest hopes through art – from the drawings on the wall of a cave to a symphony performed in a concert hall. Art gives flight to what we all experience deep inside. Musicals are no exception.
Loneliness and the fear of abandonment are themes which we all carry in our hearts. All have been rejected. Everyone is familiar with being alone. Pain and heartache are common to all of us.
Everyone of us feels the pain when Fantine sings: “Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.” Did you cry as well during the scene where Eponine (also from ”Les Miserables”) dies: “ I don’t feel any pain. A little fall of rain can hardly hurt me now…” So lonely. So utterly desperate for affection. The songe “Memory” from the musical “Cats” sung by Grizabella, the former glamour cat, turned dishevelled outcast, became an anthem: “It’s so easy to leave me all alone with the memory of my days in the sun…” She is daring to hope for a new day, a new dawn and maybe even… happiness?
We do see that in most musicals a “happy ending” seems to be elusive. In “Phantom of the Opera” we are struck by the absolute hopelessness of the leading character in the song “Learning to be lonely”: “Child of the wilderness
Born into emptiness
Learn to be lonely
Learn to find your way in darkness

Who will be there for you
Comfort and care for you
Learn to be lonely
Learn to be your one companion”

Joseph sings another anthem “Any dream will do” in the spectacular “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” after being betrayed, abandoned, disillusioned… The very well known song “I know him so well” states: “Perfect situations must go wrong…”
Who cannot but sympathize with the 16 year-old Mistress of Peron after she is turned out in the hall: “Time and time again I’ve said that I don’t care
That I’m immune to gloom, that I’m hard through and through
But every time it matters all my words desert me
So anyone can hurt me — and they do”
(“Another Suitcase In Another Hall” from “Evita”).
Evita sings “They are illusions. They’re not the solutions they promised to be…” when recalling all the things we think will quiet the pain inside: fortune, fame, money… Even the most ruthless person has a desire to love and be loved: “I love you and hope you love me…”
So we put on masks, pretending and playing our silly game as so beautifully expressed in “Send In The Clowns”.
Dare we hope for the happy ending which seems ever so elusive as Annie sings (from the musical “Annie”): “You’re always a day away…”
I made these videos which I call “Improvisations” to show that there is an answer to the pain, the fear, the abandonment as expressed in all these musicals. There can be a happy ending:
And they lived happily forever and ever.
The End.

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