KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN

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.

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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.

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

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.

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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.

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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.

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).

"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.

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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.)

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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.

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

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The photos were of a production in Sydney, Australia.

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