It was a combination of old and new as A.J. Teshin and Mitch Kaplan shared the Spotlight in unrelated performances.

Teshin is a contemporary interpreter of Kurt Weill, whose music, often reflecting tortured emotional themes, was written in the first half of the 20th century; Kaplan is a composer whose songs, written over the last twenty years or so, offer more contemporary takes on love and relationships.

Teshin used the informal setting at M Bar to test some concepts he’d like to use in a future, larger mounting of his Kurt Weill Project, ultimately featuring elaborate graphics, screen projections and orchestrations. For this production, however, he simply utilized a screen; some background music from his previously recorded CD of Weill’s music, and a live pianist, Trissina Laube.

Of the five songs Teshin sang, the one that seemed to please the audience most was the hauntingly beautiful “It Never Was You,” (lyrics by Maxwell Anderson from Knickerbocker Holiday), which drew audible sighs from audience members for the sweet, gentle way Teshin crafted his performance. He also sang “Speak Low,” (lyrics: Ogden Nash, One Touch of Venus), in a beautiful high baritone. In contrast was the much darker “Pirate Jenny” from The Threepenny Opera with Teshin spitting out the angry lyrics for a very powerful effect.

His other two songs required translations on the screen behind him — “Nanna’s Lied” (Weill/Brecht) in German — sung by someone making a living as a prostitute — and ”Je ne t’aime pas” (with Maurice Magre’s French words) — about the lack of love available back home.

Kaplan sang five of his own songs, all about love, including “Come Into My Life,” a bouncy up-tempo number about sharing memories and “Take Me Through Your Lifetime,” about a person trying to establish a relationship. “This Time It’s for Love” featured a Latin beat and a rougher vocal, with Kaplan pounding the piano keys harder, while “Stay the Night” is a strong ballad outlining a desperate plea for one more night in a relationship that’s clearly over. He ended his segment with “Show to Show”— from a revue he wrote several years ago called New Show in Town — describing what it feels like to keep auditioning and performing, in which he displayed an excellent voice and piano style.  It’s a song cabaret performers might do well to seek out.

Connecting the two performances was the comedy of Beth Lapides. The show was directed by Clifford Bell as part of his Cabarabia Spotlight series, in which he features up-and-coming performers alongside more established names.

Elliot Zwiebach
Cabaret Scenes
March 20, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org