Kiss of the Spider Woman by Kander and Ebb

Many Broadway musicals will never be viable for full professional productions in Australia – Tony Award winning Kiss of the Spider Woman by John Kander and Fred Ebb (of Chicago and Cabaret fame) is among them.

A severely pared back version, like the current Darlinghurst Theatre production, a concert-style staging, or a production by an adventurous amateur company, are the probable options for a local airing.

Based on Manuel Puig’s best-selling 1976 novel, which also spawned a successful play and the film starring William Hurt and Raul Julia, Kiss of the Spider Woman tells the story of two cellmates in a Latin American prison; Valentin, a political activist, and Molina, a gay window dresser, convicted of sex with a minor. Molina’s vivid escapist evocations of screen siren Aurora’s movies, which come to life on stage, briefly transcend the brutality of their imprisonment and torture.

Pared back to its very barest bones, on a stage stripped back to its bare walls, and a cast reduced to about a third of the Broadway original, there are elements of this production which please, and others which disappoint.

In the key roles, James Lee (Molina), Frank Hansen (Valentin) and Alexis Fishman (Aurora) all bring strong musical theatre credentials to bear in their performances. The balance between the acoustic singing and a small band is most effective.

However, this musical plays out in two dimensions. On one level, the squalor of a South American prison works in this minimalist production, but the alternate cinematic fantasy world has no chance to soar, lacking theatrical magic and illusion. A stronger directorial vision for this aspect of the show was needed. You only have to google the show on youtube to get a sense of what is missing.

My fellow musical theatre tragics will get this Kiss of the Spider Woman, though they’ll probably long for a fuller production. Others, unfamiliar with the show, novel, or the film, may struggle with gaps in the realisation.

In Melbourne earlier this year in The Drowsy Chaperone, Geoffrey Rush played a musical theatre tragic who guided the audience through one of his favourite musicals, which then sprang to life before their eyes on stage. This production, where the fantasy doesn’t spring to life, could do with just such a guide for the uninitiated.

Neil Litchfield