Performers: Sher Clain, Andrea Dymond, Chris Ferrill, Pete Gorman, Ira Henderson (Café debut!) , Sharleen Kalayil, Amy Reitsma (Café debut!) & Garry Williams
Blog entry contributed by Chris Ferrill:
The September Café opened with a bang, a squeak, and a number of funny voices. Six academics swooped down on a crowded corner of the Café and ordered the entire room to rise for the national anthem...to which they promptly forgot the words. Headmaster Garry, quite disgusted by this, began to speechify with what seemed to be a most persistent head-cold, about what was on offer for this month and then led everyone in a rousing rendition of the Muppet Theme...I mean DaPoPpet Theme.
After this, the night was as eclectic as ever with Sher Clain in sparkling evening wear singing a wonderfully pretentious piece from Cosi fan tutte... to Andrea Dymond and Ira Henderson leading a rousing interpretation of the Four Directional Song of Doubt which inspired some interesting art from Christopher Ferrill.
This month there were two newcomers to the Café: Ira and Amy Reitsma. Amy, who can't exactly be called a "newbie" considering her extensive past with DaPoPo, sang "The Ballad of Sandy Keith" along with a number of other performers, and apparently it was the best rendition they had ever done. She felt that the Café was a "valuable experience" and admitted to being "scared; but, once you're thrown into it, it's great."
Ira on the other hand "hated every living moment." It's a good thing he's a masochist.
Absent Café alums Kim Parkhill and Eric Benson weren't quite so absent considering that they were there and ordering with as much appetite as anybody. When when the entire group came out to sing "Sunday" from DaPoPo's most recent production, Sunday in the Park with George, Eric (director of the show) began to cry and sing along, while the stage manager, Jody Reeves just beamed happily.
Perhaps the most rewarding moment of the Café was when Garry Williams found out that one of our patrons was an English teacher who had been trying to teach his students Shakespeare and show them how even centuries-old words could be brought to life with the right eye or, more importantly, intonation. Indeed, he seemed to enjoy the DaPoPovians' renditions so much that he asked Garry whether or not DaPoPo visted schools and performed. Garry's answer: "Maybe."
So, who knows what's in store for next month's Café, or what's in store for DaPoPo as an educational tool? All we know is everyone seemed to have a lovely time (except maybe the servers. Sorry, guys, we will try to get out of there earlier next time) and that Andrea must order a Raspberry Passion, next time we all descend on Freeman's.
Well, that's that. Good night all.
C PBH Ferrill
