Kiss of the Spiderwoman
Kiss of the Spiderwoman
#1Kiss of the Spiderwoman
Posted: 5/2/12 at 6:05pm
That show was ahead of its time.
We must be ready for a full-scale revival.
Such memories...
MamasDoin'Fine
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/28/08
#2Kiss of the Spiderwoman
Posted: 5/2/12 at 10:22pm
There was just a thread about this, coincidentally, on the Broadway forum with a link to a 15 minute or so press reel of clips from I believe the original Toronto engagement before it went to London. As I post there, I saw the tour with Chita when I was 13 or so with my Grandma and it pretty much blew my mind as to what musicals could do on stage. I can't picture it without the stunning Hal Prince production (one of his last truly great stagings), but...
https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1044555&dt=22&boardid=1
MamasDoin'Fine
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/28/08
#3Kiss of the Spiderwoman
Posted: 5/3/12 at 9:10am
I couldn't believe my luck to find myself in Toronto during the previews of this brilliant piece of musical theatre.
It was already lined up for London but didn't yet have a theatre. It of course then opened in the perfect theatre for it, the Shaftesbury and I saw it 9 times there during its run.
It lost something on its transfer to New York however.
I was on my own at the preview in Toronto and got chatting to the lady next to me just 2 or 3 minutes prior to curtain and we both kind of harbored mixed feelings about what we were about to see. During act 1 we passed knowing glances to each other, each one with growing approval as to what we were seeing. Come the interval I only discover that she was a chorus girl from New York on holiday in Toronto and was in the original Broadway 'Best Little Whorehouse'!
We both felt we were watching something special and predicted it would be a big hit.
It was.
#4Kiss of the Spiderwoman
Posted: 5/3/12 at 9:26amIt sounds like the plot of some fabulous 1950s Rock Hudson/ Doris Day movie...
#5Kiss of the Spiderwoman
Posted: 5/3/12 at 10:06amOne of the best shows I have ever seen. Everything was brilliant about the London production - even the outside of the Shaftesbury looked wonderful
MamasDoin'Fine
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/28/08
#8Kiss of the Spiderwoman
Posted: 5/3/12 at 11:12amThe Golden Age ended long before the 90s. I love the score to Spider Woman, but I didn't care for the staging or choreography. Visually, I thought it was a mess. The Broadway production was less a big hit than a mild success. Oddly, it's biggest competition, Tommy, ran almost the exact same number of performances on Broadway with Spider Woman edging Tommy out by 5 performances (Blood Brothers just behind Tommy by 59 performances). Both shows toured and then were almost forgotten. I would love to see Spider Woman return to Broadway in a cleaner production.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#9Kiss of the Spiderwoman
Posted: 5/3/12 at 11:33amInteresting information. I've always thought that Tommy was considered a hit and Spider Woman was not.
Faced with these Loreleis, what man can moralize!
#10Kiss of the Spiderwoman
Posted: 5/3/12 at 1:13pmI can never remember if Spider-Woman truly recouped or not. I've heard it did and it didn't. I've heard the same of Aida.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#11Kiss of the Spiderwoman
Posted: 5/3/12 at 2:13pm
I think it fell victim to the Livent accounting mess.
And although chronologically the Golden Age was over, the show espoused the best qualities of that time.
And I can't agree about the physical production- at least in London.
It was a masterpiece.
MamasDoin'Fine
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/28/08
#12Kiss of the Spiderwoman
Posted: 5/3/12 at 2:29pm
As I said it lost something in the transfer to New York!
It was a big of a mess compared to the stunning London (and Toronto) production.
#13Kiss of the Spiderwoman
Posted: 5/3/12 at 9:29pm
Spider Woman recouped on its tour I am sure the updated version of that Hal Prince book says. Considering the source material it really did have a decent run. I'm surprised you didn't like the staging, Matt, I thought some of it was breathtaking but I admit I was pretty young and at that point the only big professional musicals I had seen were Phantom and Les Miz (and Joseph I think) so, while I was getting into Sondheim and some more "serious" musicals, it was still a big revelation.
It didn't recoup in London surely--wasn't the run pretty short, though I know it was kinda about running there pre Broadway.
I would LOVE to see photos of the infamous original production which, due to the bad reviews--after they had requested critics wouldn't review what was essentially a workshop, single handedly closed that whole new musical program. Say what you will about Drabinsky and Livent but him deciding the show had life in it yet really saved it--the original just sounds like inapropriate camp (I know some fans of the original work still found the musical campy, but really to have a BIG Broadway musical dealing with that subject matter was pretty revolutionary even for the early 90s when people still have trouble agreeing to produce serious musicals, particularly ones dealing with gay leads and themes like torture).
Mama how did you think it differed in Broadway? as I said I saw the post Broadway tour but a friend of mine who saw it three times in Toronto said he thought it had actually improved. I have a bootleg of the London production which is horrible quality so hard to judge but it does bring back at least some of my memories of the tour.
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#14Kiss of the Spiderwoman
Posted: 5/3/12 at 11:41pm
I can never remember if Spider-Woman truly recouped or not. I've heard it did and it didn't. I've heard the same of Aida.
It didn't. Kiss flopped on Broadway. Aida was a hit.
Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE
#15Kiss of the Spiderwoman
Posted: 5/4/12 at 12:02pm
Well, there you have it.
Eric - I had problems with all the layering in the original staging. With the bars and projections and lasers and lighting, at times, I had trouble locating the actors on stage (which reminds me of a humorous Stuart Ostrow story regarding The Apple Tree in rehearsals, but I digress). I don't know if it was intentional or not, but it wasn't until close to the end of the title song I even knew Chita was on the stage. And while I love the song "Where You Are", I found the number to be rather blandly staged and choreographed. There were moments I enjoyed, but overall, I thought it was overproduced to the point of distraction and much preferred Tommy and Blood Brothers that season.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#16Kiss of the Spiderwoman
Posted: 5/4/12 at 4:28pmFair enough, I do agree sometimes the projections didn't work as well as they should have, or probably would now. And while I like some of the choreography (apparently I prefer the numbers Vincent Patterson did like Gimme love) Where you Are is pretty much Marshall by numbers.
#17Kiss of the Spiderwoman
Posted: 5/4/12 at 5:12pmGimme Love was probably my favorite scene in the show. It was effectively controlled chaos.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
