Benet's 'Bach' offers unexpected laughs
A summer spent in Germany, visiting the same haunts and landmarks that composer Johann Sebastian Bach once frequented, left a lasting impression on John Leffler.
The trip, a learning experience extended to Leffler by the National Endowment for the Humanities, inspired the Benet Academy history teacher to pass his fascination with the musical genius' life on to his students.
On Thursday, Nov. 20, Benet students will begin a four-night run of Itamar Moses' play "Bach at Leipzig," under Leffler's direction.
A work of fiction loosely based on actual events, the comedy is about the battle between several composers for the job of organist at a church in Leipzig.
"The play takes place at the church," said Leffler.
St. Thomas Church, or St. Thomaskirche, is the church where Bach was appointed cantor and music director in 1723, a position he held for the rest of his life.
Leffler visited the church while he was in Germany.
Bach, he said, was not the first-choice candidate for the job. Nor was he the second; he was choice number three.
The play, Leffler said, takes the audience on a fanciful, fictitious romp through the playwright's imagined audition and selection process.
"It's a comedy, a farce. It's really funny in a not-what-you-expect kind of way. It's the story of a bunch of composers who are battling it out to get the post," said Katherine McConachie, a Benet senior and the show's assistant director. "They're scheming and back-stabbing and trying to outsmart each other. It's set in baroque times."
That doesn't mean the language is flowery or hard to decipher.
"The dialogue is just normal, everyday conversational English," McConachie said.
And no one affects an accent, though the play is set in Germany.
"It's really understandable," she said.
The show employs a device known in music as a fugue. Leffler explains it as a recurring theme that's achieved by melody lines or lines of dialogue. While the first voice trails off, the second voice chimes in and then the third, and so on.
"It could be as many as six voices," he said, adding that the dialogue patterns are often subtle, but pronounced enough for the sensitive ear to pick up.
The two-act show takes place in the church and in the antechamber of the church. There's no music, save for the sound of organ music drifting in from offstage when doors are opened, McConachie said.
McConachie, who has acted and directed shows throughout her years at Benet, said she was pleased with Leffler's choice for the winter play.
"It's really cool because I play the piano," she said. "It kind of provided a new perspective on (Bach's) life."
<p class="factboxheadblack">"Bach at Leipzig"</p> <p class="News"><b>Who:</b> Benet Drama Troupe</p> <p class="News"><b>When:</b> 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 21-23</p> <p class="News"><b>Where: </b>Benet Academy's St. Daniel Hall, 2200 Maple Ave., Lisle</p> <p class="News"><b>Tickets:</b> $5</p> <p class="News"><b>Info:</b> (630) 969-6550 or <a href="http://www.benet.org" target="new">www.benet.org</a></p> <div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=251674">Director's cut </a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>