Kiss of The Spider Woman

Hi. I have two questions about this show. 1. When Vanessa Williams took over for Chita Rivera did they higher the keys and cut the choreography. 2. Is there a nude scene in it for one of the male leads, I was just cast as the Spider Women and was wondering. Thank You

Vanessa has a lot of training as a dancer....i doubt they would cut any choreography for her. In the movie "Dance with Me" with latin singer/dancer Chayanne....even though he is a dancer, he simply couldn't keep up with Vanessa in the dancing scenes...and she had to do the ballroom dancing scenes with a profesional dancer.

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Personally, I prefer Vanessa's recording of the role much more than Chita's. Williams' rendition of the title song is AMAZING. "But you cannot ESAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaape..."

me too!

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Are you people crazy? Williams could never belt a song the way Chita Rivera does, maybe she has a prettier voice, but Rivera has just a certain strength and beauty in her vocals that proves why she is one of the most renowned leading ladies on Broadway. It's like saying that Williams' rendition of the Witch of Into the Woods is better than Bernadette Peters.

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It's a very different interpretation, that's is what is so interesting about it. True Chita can belt the hell out of a song, but Vanessa has a very different way to manipulate the audience into feeling a different way.
The role of the Witch in ITW is a very different role, and she tried a different, softer Witch than Bernadette. If they hadn't changed the show so much it could have worked but at least she didn't try to be an exact replica of Bernadette or Chita.

Vanessa has very nice vocals. I'm SURE she lacked Chita's stage presence live.
However, I do feel Howard and Brian are much more powerful singers than Brent and Anthony. Acting wise.. I don't know.
All 3 won Tony's, no?

I do prefer the new recording's vocals though.
Expect I like a couple of Chita's renditions better.

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Well...i think it depends...some people liked Chita better...some others Vanessa...i personally prefer Vanessa, who in 1994 was one of the biggest names in the pop music biz and brought a lot of attention to the show, and to Broadway in general....director Harold Prince said that the ticket sales went up a 20% when Vanessa took over the role and he said she was a delight to direct. Anyways...i must say that Vanessa is gorgeous and made movies in Hollywood, had # 1 singles in the US and she is a household name...she is famous worldwide...i know everyone is going to argue with me.. Chita is big on Broadway...but i went to see the movie "Chicago" with 10 friends of mine...and not a single one of them knew who Chita was...and i told them she was the original Velma on the stage version. So anyhow...i am saying i liked Vanessa better....but thats just my point of view...i dont think one was better than the other one, they are just different. i do think Vanessa is way more famous and attracted a lot of people who wouldnt have seen this amazing show if she wouldnt have been in it. Still KOTSW is my favorite musical and it would be great with any of them, because the star of the show is the outstanding novel by Manuel Puig.

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Updated On: 8/12/05 at 02:27 AM

Well (unfortunately!!) I've never seen this show so I can't say anything about stage presence or dancing the role. But as much as I think Chita is an amazing actor&dancer&singer I have to say that I have both cd's and I prefer the Vanessa Williams recording to Chita's. I think Vanessa's voice is much more colorful and versatile.

But Chita is CHITA, I would have loved to see her do this role on stage.

Enjolras -- agreed. McGillin's voice is to legit sounding for the score comes off with less true emotion than Brent. Also, I think the higher keys used for McGillin don't do the songs justice.

BTW -- the keys were HIGHER for Vanessa, not lower.

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Chita was a star presence and was both glamorous and scary. Vanessa looked good, sang well, but I otherwise found her a complete blank. I felt none of the chills as I did with Chita. I also found Brent Carver preferable to Howard McGillin. McGillin is still so leading man handsome, with that spectacular voice, that through no fault of his own, he seemed too strong a presence to be believable as Molina. I kept thinking, trim the hair, throw him in a suit and McGillin could have been playing the warden. Carver was a more tragic presence, and you believed he did the thing he does out of love for Valentin. Brian Stokes Mitchell, on the other hand, was far more dynamic than Anthony Crivello, and turned his songs into showstoppers.

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I didn't care for Stokes Mitchell as Valentin. His singing was great, as usual, but that faker than fake accent drove my up a wall.

Did anybody here see Carol Lawrence as The Spider Woman?