Coffee Cantata at a Cafe
The Inter Arts Matrix and Stratford Summer Music hosted Bach’s Coffee Cantata, a humerous mini opera, at the Balzac Cafe in Stratford. $10 each. English translation by Daniel Lichti, who took quite a few liberties as he aimed to capture the meaning through modern expressions. Wildly hilarious though! This Baritone also played the role of the father.
The narrator, who was trying to catch Lizzie’s eye, was played by the Tenor, Brandon Leis. He actually took money right out of Balzac’s till as his dowry in multiple donations and chucked a coin into their tip jar, was chatting with the waitresses during the play and turned Lizzie to alcohol near the end, in lieu of coffee.
The father was hilarious, taking off his wig to mop his brow and having never tasted the stuff, also goes for an liqueur laden mug of coffee towards the end. In his pursuit for a husband, he pulls up one man from the audience for Lizzie to inspect and then went after a poor guy from the street. What a good sport he was! Came up on stage, waving to everyone as they cheered him on for good measure.
Lizzie was played by Pam Patel. How can one so small be so loud? This soprano actually achieved a reverbaration so strong that she got feedback from herself in the shop. Her facial expressions and inclusion of the crowd behind her was much appreciated.
Christopher Dawes was the host: cravat, wig, tied shoes with stockings and an excellent period suit. He chatted with the crowd ahead of time, playing the role of Bach with accent and all. His “stringless harpsichord” played all accompanying roles.
All in all, well worth attending. Would do again!
