KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN

Music by: John Kander
Lyrics by: Fred Ebb
Book by: Terrence McNally
Directed by: Eric Schaeffer
Starring: Will Chase, Natascia Diaz, Hunter Foster
Signature Theatre, Arlington, VA
March 11 – April 20, 2008
Run time: 120 minutes not including one intermission
http://www.sig-online.org/

Hunter Foster, Natascia Diaz. Photo: Scott Suchman.

Torture, poisoned food, and men beating the bars of their tiny cells in some Latin American country make Kiss of the Spider Woman, an unlikely subject for a Broadway musical. However, in 1993 composer John Kander, lyricist Fred Ebb, and book writer Terrence McNally turned Manuel Puig’s El Beso de la Mujer Arana, a novel about the relationship between two wildly different men caged in the same cell into a seven Tony award-winning musical including Best Musical, Best Book, Best Original Score, Best Actor (Brent Carver as Molina), and Best Actress (Chita Rivera as Aurora and the Spider Woman). This is not to mention the four Tony nominations that included Best Direction (Harold Prince). From May 3, 1993, to July 1, 1995, the show enjoyed 904 performances on Broadway.

As part of a spring 2008 John Kander and Fred Ebb celebration that also features the musicals The Happy Time and The Visit, Signature Theatre of Arlington, Virginia, is presenting Kiss of the Spider Woman.Signature Theatre Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer has done well in casting Broadway veterans Will Chase (as Valentin, a Marxist revolutionary), Natascia Diaz (as Aurora/Spider Woman), and Hunter Foster (as Molina, a window dresser accused of making sexual advances to a young boy). Chase and Foster, portraying characters that could easily become two dimensional, do outstanding jobs in making the macho revolutionary Valentin and the effeminate Molina credible. Diaz with her big eyes, smoky alto voice, and her high-energy dancing is fascinating to watch.

What makes the grim story of prisoners suffering under the hand of a ruthless warden (played by Steven Cupo) palpable is the fantasy life of Molina who retreats from the cacophony of the prison through his memories of seeing the B-rated movie star Aurora. However one of Aurora’s movies involved a sinister character named Spider Woman (a stand-in for death) and Molina is afraid of her and cannot control when she will appear to him. The other thing Molina cannot control is with whom he will fall in love. His habit is to fall for men who are not gay and this may be because Molina identifies with women. Of course, he falls in love with the tough Valentin who loves a high society woman named Marta (Erin Driscoll). Despite Valentin drawing a physical line down the middle of their cell, the two men come to love each other in their own ways by the end of the story.

This reviewer saw the March 16 performance and believes the one scene in the Schaeffer’s production that will stick in memory for anyone seeing this production is based on the song “The Morphine Tango.” Molina has knowingly eaten the poisoned food intended for Valentin and has been taken to the infirmary where six nurses wearing what looks like miner’s headgear (they have lights on their foreheads) attend to Molina. It is a surreal scene that anyone who has ever been rushed to a hospital or who has taken a loved one to an emergency room can identify with.

Natascia Diaz’s singing has a quality to it that is curiously engaging. Although she doesn’t have the vibrato of Lotte Lenya, something quirky goes on with her singing style in combination with her movements. Overall the cast’s singing works well without anyone except Diaz standing out. The principal players of the cast deliver a higher level of performance in their acting. Channez McQuay as Molina’s mother is a good example of this. How does a traditional mother come to terms with a gay son who has been thrown in prison for allegedly corrupting a minor? McQuay puts this complicated emotional relationship across beautifully when she delivers the song “You Could Never Shame Me.” Her acting exceeds her singing.

Also outstanding in this production is Adam Koch’s tiered set depicting the interior of the prison. The stage floor has sections that are elevators that bring Molina and Valentin’s cots back on stage or take Aurora off stage. Chris Lee’s lighting is remarkable for the definition of Molina and Valentin’s cell (light beams are the bars).

Perhaps one needs to hear the music of Spider Woman multiple times before judging it, but this reviewer’s gut reaction is that the music is pleasing but does not leave with the audience like the music of Les Miserable or West Side Story. So how does this dark musical inform an audience today who is used to seeing stories about how two unlikely men come together (think about the film Brokeback Mountain for example)? This reviewer thinks the element of torture and how it affects the relationship between Molina and Valentin makes a current day audience think about the United States prisons at Abu Ghraib and Guantanomo Bay. Additionally these questions arise with Kiss of the Spider Woman—what is terrorism and is Valentin, the Marxist revolutionary, a terrorist? Also, how easy would it be for an innocent person to get snagged by a sting? Just because Molina followed a winking boy into a café, should Molina have been thrown into prison, especially one where torture was a constant?

Karren L.  Alenier
karren@alenier.com