SIN Entertainment

Frankenstein,
Teirstein & Spelman

About a year and a half ago, Spelman
approached Teirstein about composing
music for Spelman's one-man show,
Frankenstein, a piece that he has per-
formed all over the world since 1983. An
award-winning solo theater and nar-
rative art performer, Spelman has
represented the United States at
the First International Solo The-
atre Festival in Tel Aviv.
But as the storyteller of
Frankenstein, Spelman wants
his audiences to erase the im-
ages of Boris Karloff and the
1931 film version from their
minds. Spelman's Franken-
stein is a one-man retelling of
Mary Shelley's Gothic novel of
1816. As the actor/storyteller,
Spelman manipulates images,
narrative, movements, voices,
props and specially made dolls
Teirstein is currently at work on a viola
of various sizes, and performs Andy
concerto to be performed by the Silesian
the story of Dr. Frankenstein's Philharmonic Orchestra in Katowice, Poland.
unnamed Creature, using the
words of Shelley's novel and the ogy as a brainchild of humanity and what
live music accompaniment by effect it has on nature. I weave a dark score
Teirstein, which includes a viola and throughout with moments of exaltation
and rhapsody — plus a little humor, too."
Bulgarian flute called the caval.
"I tried to create an emotional envi-
—Julie Smith Yolles
ronment with the music that adds to the
•ni*. 14”;
dramatic impact of the piece," says
13 Jon Spelman and AndiTeili
Teirstein, who performs on stage with
perform Frankentein at 7:30 pm
Spelman and acts as a human conscience
tonight, March 15, at the Lydia
against which Spelman, at first, and then
Metidelssohn . Theatre in Ann. Arbor...i:
man and his wife, choreographer Liz Ler- Frankenstein's Creature, work.
Tickets are $12.50 and $8;00 forstiidents..::
"The
show's
an
intense
examination
of
man. Teirstein wrote and occasionally per
and are available by calling the MiChi
formed the music for Spelman. and- humanity and what it means to be differ-
gan Union Ticket Office. at (313) 763-
ent
in
humanity.
It
gets
involved
very
Lerman's The Good Jew, a dance piece
TKTS o TiCketma.ster at (810) .645-6666
philosophically — the creation of technol-
highlighted with klezmer music.

PHOTO BY LES STONE

W

hen Frankenstein opens
tonight, composer and musi-
cian Andy Teirstein will be
walking to his performance
at Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre in Ann
Arbor.
"I'm a sort of observant Jew,"
says Teirstein, who attends vari-
ous modern Orthodox services
when he's on tour. "I take all the
money out of my pocket before
Shabbat. I do the show, but I
don't get paid until Saturday
night or Sunday. I do what I
need to do to keep Shabbat.
I don't want to give up per-
forming; it's a struggle in
some sense, but it's a con-
tinuing journey."
In addition to musical
composition and perfor-
mance, Teirstein's eclectic
background includes acting,
Mexican clown work and the-
ater instruction.
In November, Teirstein was
sent to Tucson by the National
Foundation for Jewish Culture to
teach musical-theater workshop's. He '
was hired in response to Winter Man,
an opera about a Jewish fur trader who
travels west .and marries a Cheyenne
woman, which Teirstein scored, arranged
and co-wrote with Cheyenne poet Lance
Henson.
"I love writing music for dance," says
Teirstein. "If Bach were alive, he probably
would have loved that, too; it's lovely to
collaborate with choreographers."
That's how Teirstein first met Jon Spel-

FRietiv65Tav

_

A Chocolate
Extravaganza

An Afternoon
of Classics

The Vivace concert series will
present a special program in
memory of Dr. Laurence Levine

Sun., 3 p.m.

featuring soprano Patricia Dell
and pianist Steven Rosenfeld.
Tickets: $6-14. Birmingham
Temple. (810) 647-4632.

S
ranb
special gathering of nationally
poets, writers, crit7 ,
Sicians, including
aula. Meehan. Free
p a

Sun. 2.30 p.m.

,

1221 N. Woodward, Broomfield
Hills. (810) 335-0021.

Indulge your wildest chocolate
fantasies in a tasting frenzy
sponsored by Ann Arbor Hadas-

Sun., 12, 2 or 4 p.m.

sah. Morris Lawrence Hall,
Washtenaw Community College,
Ann Arbor. Tickets: $13.50 ad-
vance/$16 door. (313) 741-9537.

Beauty and the Beast

The Tony-award winning Broad-
way musical makes its third stop

e skinny Brit with
and melodic propositioni'inaket
the Palace his strutting grounds
this week. Tickets: $29.50. (810)
45-6666.

Tues.-Fri., 7:30 p.m.;
Sat., 2 & 7:30 p.m.
Sun., 1 & 6:30 p.m.

on a national tour at the Masonic
Temple Theatre in Detroit.
Opens Tues., March 19, through
April 28. Tickets: $16-$60. (810)
645-6666.