Kent Sweitzer
The Madison Bach Musicians sought to balance tragedy with comedy in two simply staged productions designed by David Ronis.
The performances at First Unitarian Society on April 7 and 8 opened with Bach’s Cantata 211, known as the Coffee Cantata, one of the composer’s rare ventures into musical humor. It portrays, in the format of Baroque opera, how a coffee-addicted daughter foils her father’s objections to the beverage. The two characters were sung nicely by Nola Richardson and Elijah Blaisdell, with Gene Stenger as the narrator.
Bach’s music was essentially static, with little action depicted; it is not really a theatrical work. Ronis’ efforts to make it funny were inventive, but depended on present-day sight gags that quickly became too cute for comfort.
The tragedy was another story. Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas was an early specimen of English opera, and there is a great deal of myth and mystery about its origins. But Nahum Tate’s extraordinarily concise libretto and Purcell’s supremely pointed and beautiful setting of it made it a masterpiece.
I have seen productions of it in major opera houses, but Ronis’ simple, utterly apt staging of it was perhaps the best I have ever seen. It conveyed the action economically but with cumulative eloquence. Dido’s death scene was overwhelmingly moving.
Complementing Ronis’ staging was choreography by Karen McShane-Hellenbrand. Three female dancers participated in the story but also danced elegantly in orchestral segments, including one interpolated into Act I.
The powerhouse singing of Chelsea Shephard as Dido dominated the cast, but there was fine singing from Richardson as Belinda, Margaret Fox as the Sorceress, Blaisdell as Aeneas, and Stenger as the Sailor. A small mixed chorus of eight singers (some also singing small parts) also participated in the action.
Trevor Stephenson was at the harpsichord, and Marc Vallon conducted a modest period-style orchestra of 13 players. Their work was excellent, though I did find the occasional use of guitar in the continuo overdone and distracting. Boldly projected surtitles throughout nicely aided audience involvement.
One of the season’s major events, this is the farthest that the Bach Musician have gone into staging their Baroque performances. Despite my small misgivings about the Bach, this collaboration of Stephenson-Vallon-Ronis-Hellenbrand was a triumphant achievement. We must hope for more to come.