Jennifer Lopez to Star in KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN Film- Page 11

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 1/14/25 at 9:28pm

greensgreens said: "Sometimes I hate Fosse for establishing this “all the musical numbers need to be staged in a theatrical way” for musicals to work on film. It seems like Condon & Marshall lean on this too much. If “She’s A Woman,” “Day After That,” and “I Do Miracles” get cut - add ”Dear One” too, they’re missing a lot of beautiful character development to stick with the overdone concept of relegating numbers to theatrical presentation only. I don’t think any screenwriter could replace those songs with dialogue and telegraph the same message and emotion."

Why would I Do Miracles be cut?  I imagine that could still fit the fantasy conceit since it's sung by Aurora and not in a "realistic" way.  I expect Day After That somehow might still be included too (fully repurposed as a protest song.)  But I do agree with you.

 

[Rentaholic2]

Posted: 1/14/25 at 9:54pm

So there's like five songs?  If they cut "Day After That," I'm not sure I'll even see this movie (I will, but I want the world to think I might not).  

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 1/14/25 at 10:00pm

greensgreens said: "Sometimes I hate Fosse for establishing this “all the musical numbers need to be staged in a theatrical way” for musicals to work on film. It seems like Condon & Marshall lean on this too much."

Appears to be a common thing with film adaptations of Kander & Ebb musicals.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 1/14/25 at 10:09pm

I think the Kander and Ebb style established with Cabaret seems to particularly lend itself to that (and I realize that in point of fact there are probably more K&E shows that don't have some heavy element of pastiche and/or diegectic songs than there are shows that do, but the most famous ones...)

What I want is a Zorba that reverts from the lame current revised version and commits hard to Hal Prince's original Bouzouki Cafe framework, and we can have all of the songs take place in various parts of a Bouzouki Cafe :P

[greensgreens]

Posted: 1/14/25 at 10:40pm

Jeffrey Karasarides said: "Appears to be a common thing with film adaptations of Kander & Ebb musicals."

This is incredibly true, but also incredibly sad. The choice to do “reality=no singing” is just lazy and easy at this point. I wasn’t a huge fan of Emilia Perez, but I was hoping Spider Woman would integrate non-Aurora songs more in that style. Even Fosse wouldn’t have repeated the Cabaret approach again, he would’ve found new ways to integrate music, dance, and story. 

[Robbie2]

Posted: 1/14/25 at 10:42pm

Ensemble1736545253 said: "So Tonatiuh and Luna were incredibly good, but Lopez was just "fine"? I've heard from some people who've attended early screenings she is GREAT and the film is also wonderful?? They didn't reveal much but they did throw superlatives her way..."

CAA signed Tonatiuh after the first screening so that tells you something!

[joevitus]

Posted: 1/15/25 at 11:22am

greensgreens said: "Jeffrey Karasarides said: "Appears to be a common thing with film adaptations of Kander & Ebb musicals."

This is incredibly true, but also incredibly sad. The choice to do “reality=no singing” is just lazy and easy at this point. I wasn’t a huge fan of Emilia Perez, but I was hoping Spider Woman would integrate non-Aurora songs more in that style. Even Fosse wouldn’t have repeated the Cabaret approach again, he would’ve found new ways to integrate music, dance, and story."

All That Jazz would seem to argue against that hypothesis. 

I think it kinda depends. To me, Marshall trying to force "Class" into a dream sequence style, and not finding an effective way of doing it so having to cut the song from the movie, was a mistake. We were into the movie enough, and the world of the movie, at that point that the characters could have simply sung it in the "real" setting of Mama's office, and it would have worked just fine.

If the prison in Spider Woman is stylized in the same way the prison in Chicgo was stylized, I think singing there once we're invested in the characters might work. But if it's a grittier and more realistic set, cutting those songs makes sense.

Updated On: 1/16/25 at 11:22 AM