Jennifer Lopez to Star in KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN Film- Page 14

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 1/29/25 at 2:47am

ljay889 said: "“ “I thought they had written this specifically for Kiss of the Spider Woman, but what he did was a deep dive into all the Kander and Ebb songs that they wrote that had never been heard and never been used. He found ‘Never You’ and put it in [the film], which was my favorite song. Oh my God — it’s such a beautiful song.” Being the first performer to sing it on screen came with a “huge responsibility,” said Lopez, who revealed that Kander joined her in the studio when she recorded it. “It was amazing because he was sitting there — he is 97 years old — and I didn’t think he would come to the pre-records or any of the filming. He was just in tears listening to me sing, and it was just amazing. I couldn’t believe my life at that moment. It was a dream.” “

Thanks for this!  Funny enough, just last weekend I was listening to the 2 disc Harbinger release John Kander Hidden Treasures, which is brilliant--as long as you're ok with listening to almost entirely demos sung by the composers (there are a handful of tracks sung by different recognizable performers, including most interestingly, five from The Skin of Our Teeth.)  Anyway, Never You is one of two Kiss of the Spider Woman demos on it (the other is the campy Man Overboard which I am pretty sure is on my audio of the Purchase version.)  In the notes it's said that it was written for when Valentin starts to become suspicious of Molina, and in reply Molina sings the song, so I'm 99.9% that it was indeed written for Spider Woman, but I can't really fault JLo for thinking otherwise.

*edit* OH and I double checked and Never You IS in Act II of my audio of the Purchase version (John Rubinstein, who was Molina sings it) so there's at least one of our Purchase songs.

Here's the Harbinger CD of Kander Hidden Treasures disc https://castalbums.org/r30251




 

Updated On: 1/29/25 at 02:47 AM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 1/29/25 at 2:54am

For the Purchase production Never You was actually sung by the character Valentin plays in the movie within the musical to Aurora in Act II, so I guess it was slightly repurposed from the demo, but it absolutely has been performed (by Kevin Gray) and was written for Spider Woman, though at least at the performance that a live audio was taken from, it's cut short.

Updated On: 1/29/25 at 02:54 AM

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 1/29/25 at 9:59am

And sadly. Variety confirmed that no distribution has been secured yet.

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 1/29/25 at 12:24pm

AVClub:

Jennifer Lopez and Tonatiuh shine in a dulled version of Kiss Of The Spider Woman

Bill Condon updates the Tony-winning 1993 musical, but this revamp lacks the opulent luster of Technicolor Hollywood that it strives to emulate.

https://www.avclub.com/kiss-of-the-spider-woman-review

 

Also more collected on Metacritic: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/kiss-of-the-spider-woman-2025/critic-reviews/

[JSquared2]

Posted: 1/29/25 at 12:26pm

Robbie2 said: "Rentaholic2 said: "Why are critics even allowed to review it right now? Do they not have to wait until the movie it released? I thought showing at the festival was just to build buzz and get a distributor, not to open it up to critical review.

Does anyone have a full list of the songs that made the cut? The reviews mention several. I'm really sad we'll get none of the "over the wall" stuff, no The Day After That, etc. I hope we get some version of Anything for Him, even if it's just Aurora's part. But the more I think about it, the more I think this may have been the right choice for adapting this show to film. Thebest stage-to-screen adaptions aren't afraid to make significant cuts and changes in order to serve the new medium - and here, given the fantasy world is so clearly distinct from the prison world, the choice they made makes cinematic sense."

I heard they found a distributor"

 

Apparently you heard wrong.

[binau]

Posted: 1/29/25 at 1:32pm

Regardless of the cuts, the stills of Jennifer Lopez look stunning and a clear homage to Chita/the original production. I can't wait!

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 1/29/25 at 8:08pm

Cody Derricks of Next Best Picture gives it a 8/10.
https://nextbestpicture.com/kiss-of-the-spider-woman/

[morosco]

Posted: 1/30/25 at 12:20pm

User "ashowgoer15" has seen the film and posts a lengthy analysis over on All That Chat.

I Saw Spider Woman Twice at Sundance