KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN

[fossemoves]

Posted: 10/23/10 at 3:18pm

So I'm about to start working on a regional production of Kiss of the Spider Woman. Listening to both the Broadway and Orginal Cast scores and reading (what little) there is on the show, I can't fathom why this show hasn't seen a revival? Or attained more notoriety in the regional setting.

What do you think works for spider woman?

What doesn't work?

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 10/23/10 at 3:29pm

The show was an expensive failure on Broadway. Even after wining the Tony Award it never really developed into a box office blockbuster (and it was in the medium sized Broadhurst) - but Garth Drabinsky kept it running - losing money week after week.

I was at the premiere in Toronto in June 1992 and saw the show several times that summer, and again after it opened Broadway.

The big complaint that all the reviewers had with the original (in Toronto, London and New Yew York) is an overlong first act, which can only partly be helped with pacing. (One unfortunate community production did it at a snail's pace and many fled at intermission.) The second act is tighter and much faster moving. If the first act had this kind of pace it would be a near-perfect show, instead of being a a very good show that just misses being great.

[fossemoves]

Posted: 10/23/10 at 3:34pm

Having seen it as much as you have... what do you think could stand cutting in Act One?

[Theatreboy49]

Posted: 10/23/10 at 3:37pm

My dream long before she was in night music was for a revival of this with Catherine Zeta Jones. It's my second favorite show of all time.

[fossemoves]

Posted: 10/23/10 at 3:48pm

What do you love about it?

[chewy5000]

Posted: 10/23/10 at 8:32pm

I love how bits of the score sound really 60's. Particularly the trumpets in I Do Miracles.

[Theatreboy49]

Posted: 10/24/10 at 3:44am

I love the depth of the characters. Molina is my dream role. I saw a phenominal production that a BWW poster Distinctive Baritone was in. I find the darkness in the score to be chilling while also having such tender beautiful moments. Its a show that you will leave the theatre thinking unlike you did before you see it and thats what i love about it.

[mallardo]

Posted: 10/24/10 at 4:52am

I have the impression that it IS a show that's done regionally. I saw a terrific production of it in LA a couple of years ago.

For me it actually plays better on stage than it does on the cast recordings. I don't think it's one of Kander's and Ebb's great scores and some of the music - the prisoners' "Over the Wall" stuff, for instance - sounds distinctly second rate yet it can be effectively staged. And of course it's a wonderful dance show.

[morosco]

Posted: 10/24/10 at 1:16pm

what do you think could stand cutting in Act One?

The morphine tango. Especially if it's played for broad laughs. (Oh look at me. I'm on drugs and I feel goofy and it feels like I'm flying around the room.) Even Hal Prince's production played it for laughs which I though removed building tension during the first act.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 10/24/10 at 2:41pm

I saw this show being a 15yo while I was still in the closet, so it made a huge impact in my life, and it is the reason why I love Broadway. It literally changed my life, it blew my mind. And I agree with Mallardo, it's better live than on a CD. But if you have to listen to a CD, I highly recommend the version with Vanessa Williams. There is also a very Spanish version of the score sung by the latin pop superstar Valeria Lynch, very hard to find, and the sound is not that great, but I have it and it's amazing too. She might be the best Spider Woman vocally, because of how dramatic and powerful her voice is.

[AC126748]

Posted: 10/24/10 at 2:46pm

The Signature in Virginia did an excellent, well-received production about two years ago. It starred Natascia Diaz (Aurora), Hunter Foster (Molina) and Will Chase (Valentin). It was staged almost like a chamber piece (this particular theatre is quite small) and worked extremely well.

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 10/24/10 at 4:22pm

Signature's production was just lovely, and while that's the only production of the show I've ever seen, I had no problem whatsoever with the pacing. Maybe the intimate staging helped with that. I felt very drawn in to the characters and their story.

[Brick]

Posted: 10/24/10 at 8:00pm

I've directed before and found the piece extremely rewarding. I personally feel it responds very well to an intimate production, and that can help some of the overwritten Act I. And I agree on "Morphine Tango". It was the one number I wished I was able to cute.

But the score is a dream and the it's one of McNally's best books.

[matty159]

Posted: 10/24/10 at 8:02pm

Signature's productions can certainly be hit or miss, but I really enjoyed their Kiss. Having seen the Broadway production back in 1993, it was nice to revisit the production as a more mature adult. It can definitely be a cast recording that I skip through when I get the itch to listen to it (I LOVE "Russian Movie/Good Times"), but when staged, I think it comes across much more cohesive and listenable (there is also a song in the production that is not captured on the recording that I find exceedingly chilling, but forget the name of it and am too lazy to find and unpack my playbill to find out what it is). Chase, Foster, and Diaz were fantastic and the whole production was most haunting (again, most likely due to the intimacy of the venue).

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 10/25/10 at 4:01am

Speaking of Russian Movie. That song itself is just a dream come true, it's just perfection. Vanessa Williams was terrific in the recording. It really makes one's mind wonder. I have a mental picture of everything happening when I listen to it. Definitely among Kander and Ebb's best work. The same goes for McNally.

[binau]

Posted: 10/25/10 at 6:04am

"It was staged almost like a chamber piece (this particular theatre is quite small"

The only production I have seen of SPIDER WOMAN was in a 111 seat theatre with a cast of 6 (IIRC) and a 3-piece band (double bass, percussion and synth).

The walls of the theatre around the stage were grey so it felt like you were in a prison cell. The Molina was old, pale and thin. It felt like he was there for a long time. Valentin was young, tanned and attractive. It was really interesting seeing them together.

It also seemed like they were the center of the story and not the "Spider Woman", who was almost on the side. I wonder if a 'star' (i.e. Williams and Rivera) changes the balance of the show.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 10/25/10 at 7:30am

Great photos.

Kiss is still in my top 3 and the show at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London was wonderful- I saw it 3 times with Chita and once with Bebe!

The projection was amazing for the time- but the chamber production photos also looks fantastic!

[dramamama611]

Posted: 10/25/10 at 8:02am

It was never about the spiderwoman -- it was always the story of the two men. (She is simply a diversion -- albeit an important one.)

I loved this show. Saw it both on Bway and on tour. (seeing tours is something I seldom do.)

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 10/25/10 at 10:42am

Though the tour was well worth catching, since Chita was on the road with it.

[Brick]

Posted: 10/25/10 at 12:57pm

I agree Russian Movie is sublime. So well constructed and has the capacity to really sweep the audience away and connect them to these two men before the plays tragic end.

[fossemoves]

Posted: 10/26/10 at 6:24pm

Great photos... where was that?

Our theatre is a renovated 1920's movie house that seats 200 people, so realtively a small house. We're trying to create an enviormental feeling to push intimacy including blocking in the audience, etc.

I aggree with everyone else about Morphine Tango. The only way I know of to compat that writing is to play it for sinister which is what the choreographer and I are gonna try to do.

I love this score...I just hope we find the triple threat we need for Aurora.

[TressaMay]

Posted: 10/26/10 at 6:26pm

I'd enjoy seeing a Spiderman and Spider Woman on Broadway at the same time.
Kind of like Xanadu and Zanna, Don't!

[fossemoves]

Posted: 10/29/10 at 6:31pm

BUMP

[binau]

Posted: 10/29/10 at 6:41pm

The photos were of a production in Sydney, Australia.