The Cantor's Last Cantata

About to retire, the cantor of a small reform Jewish synagogue in Brooklyn, NY, mounts a production of the "Brooklyn Baseball Cantata," a largely forgotten musical oddity from 1940. Composed by George Kleinsinger with lyrics by Michael Stratton, the operetta imagines a moment when Brooklynites awake from a borough-wide slumber to share a dream that their beloved Brooklyn Dodgers finally beat The New York Yankees, their arch-rivals from the Bronx, in a World Series. "The Cantor's Last Cantata," follows the amateur choir members as they rehearse, kibbutz, nosh Entenmanns and perform for the congregation.

  • Harvey Wang
    Director
    "The Last New Yorker", "From Darkroom to Daylight", "Milton Rogovin: The Forgotten Ones"
  • Suzanne Bernstein
    Key Cast
  • David Kausch
    Editor
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Runtime:
    12 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    October 31, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    5,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • New York Jewish Film Festival at Lincoln Center
    New York
    United States
    January 20, 2021
    Official Selection
  • Create Flash Film Festival
    Catskill
    United States
    September 30, 2021
    Official Selection
  • NYC Independent Film Festival
    New York
    United States
    June 15, 2022
Director Biography - Harvey Wang

Harvey Wang is an award-winning filmmaker whose work has been screened in film festivals all over the world. He won the prize for Best Documentary Short at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2003 for "Milton Rogovin: The Forgotten Ones", and his first feature "The Last New Yorker" (2007 with Dominic Chianese, Dick Latessa, and Kathleen Chalfant) was an audience favorite. His 2016 documentary, "From Darkroom to Daylight" is about the transition in photography from analog to digital. Wang has published six books of photography including "Harvey Wang’s New York", "Flophouse: Life on the Bowery" and "Holding On: Dreamers, Visionaries, Eccentrics and Other American Heroes".

Add Director Biography