Originally published October 2020. Republished here as part of bringing The VL Studios archive onto this site.
Never Forget Who You Are, from Singing Revolution: The Musical, was recorded at Mirrortone Studios in New York before the March 2020 lockdown. The video was meant to be shot in the United States. It was not.
What happened instead was that the production moved to Estonia and filmed at the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds — which, for a song about a revolution sung rather than fought, turned out to be the right place all along. It was released on 13 October 2020.
Kristi Roosmaa performed it. Tony Spinosa wrote the concept, book, music and lyrics with James Bearhart on book and lyrics. Vivian Säde directed and produced the video. Harrison Beck did the arrangement and orchestrations. I handled branding and marketing, and The VL Studios did post-production on the behind-the-scenes film.
Coordinating a shoot across two countries in 2020 was not elegant. It is still one of the pieces of work I am most glad to have been part of.
