Kiss of the Spider Woman with Audra?

I don't see her in this at all. I can't picture her in this role.

I dont know the show well but isn't this suppposed to be a big dancing role? I love Audra and all, but can she dance?

i'd rather see lesli margareta

Alan Cumming is the perfect choice for the role. Pasquale is iffy, and I dont know about Audra, but the first thing this show needs is a major book overhaul.

The Tony-winning book of a Tony-winning musical needs a 'major' overhaul?

I think Audra can do anything...I'm just not sure why she would want to do this. It's a great song and dance role, but it doesn't give her a chance to do what she does best, which is act a character's arc through song better than anyone else around.

How about Catherine Zeta-Jones or Lesli Margarita as Aurora?
And I envision Paolo Szot and Robin DeJesus or some other young Latino gentleman in the other role.

I actually went out with someone who works for John Kander last year when they did a private reading of this. It is HIS wish for Audra to play the role and they are revising it so she fits the role (aka less dancing) better.

Well there you go. I knew there was some sort of "catch" to this.

Well, at least they got the dance part out of the way...

Every now and then the theater world goes a little wrong.

And this is one of those times. John Kander is a very talented man, but he should keep his hands off casting decisions. I mean why not have Lilla Crawford play Mama Morton?

Audra is not right for the role. I realize they are redoing it, but the dance was such a major component of Aurora. She was a Hollywood screen goddess and that's not Audra. I think Kander must be thinking the Lena Horne aspect, but Audra doesn't have Lena's sex appeal.

Alan Cumming as Molina? Why not get Betty White to play the role as she would be more interesting. Cumming is just going to camp his way through the role. Molina should have a bit of innocence about him as well as some optimism, not the creepy, sleezy Cumming. Weren't Jonathan Groff, Billy Magnussen or Patrick Wilson available for the role?

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Szot would be stunning as Valentin. I can see Cumming in the role, it's not like Brent Carver was Latino when he played it, but I do wish one of the few gay Latino characters in a musical went to an actual Latino actor. Robin DeJesus would be interesting, same with Wlson Cruz or Raul Esparza (a bit out of the box casting but I think he could bring something). Obviously none of them would sell as many tickets as Cumming, who really does seem perfect for the role as it's written.
I don't see the Spider Woman character being much of an acting challenge. The role seems to be a vehicle for a show woman more than for an actress like Audra. I think the character is too aloof and sort of uninteresting IMO, someone like Karen Olivo or even Donna Murphy (who won a Fred Astaire award for WONDERFUL TOWN) would intrigue me more. Still, it's such a strange idea, Audra in this role, that it might just work.

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Updated On: 1/13/15 at 03:46 PM

I feel the casting for this reading is fabulous and terribly inspiring especially the part of Aurora that we all know can't be matched by Chita Rivera's amazing Tony award winning performance. Yes, I feel Audra can basically take on any role and succeed at it but yes the question is how is her dancing as it plays an important part while it highlighted Chita's skills.

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@Robbie2: They are allegedly re-defining the role, so the dancing component will be paired down to accommodate Audra's talents.