The Best Recording of The Kiss of The Spider Woman?
The Best Recording of The Kiss of The Spider Woman?
#1The Best Recording of The Kiss of The Spider Woman?
Posted: 3/25/15 at 1:16pmWith The Visit coming out soon, I thought I would make myself familiar with another Kander and Ebb musical. I just want to know which cast recording is better to listen to.
#2The Best Recording of The Kiss of The Spider Woman?
Posted: 3/25/15 at 1:20pm
There are several threads on this.
I believe the consensus is Chita over Vanessa, but by a slim margin.
....but the world goes 'round
#2The Best Recording of The Kiss of The Spider Woman?
Posted: 3/25/15 at 1:49pmChita's lower keys are eerier and more appealing to me.
Fantod
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/3/14
#4The Best Recording of The Kiss of The Spider Woman?
Posted: 3/25/15 at 2:07pmoriginal london cast
#5The Best Recording of The Kiss of The Spider Woman?
Posted: 3/25/15 at 2:27pmOBC w/ Chita's lower vocal edge is electrifying and far more dramatic and superior from the others!
"Anything you do, let it it come from you--then it will be new."
Sunday in the Park with George
whatacharacter
Leading Actor Joined: 8/19/05
#6The Best Recording of The Kiss of The Spider Woman?
Posted: 3/25/15 at 2:27pm
This one...
https://youtu.be/Ze06EtrehJw
#7The Best Recording of The Kiss of The Spider Woman?
Posted: 3/25/15 at 2:30pmHuh!? Lol!
"Anything you do, let it it come from you--then it will be new."
Sunday in the Park with George
#8The Best Recording of The Kiss of The Spider Woman?
Posted: 3/25/15 at 2:33pm
There's only the 'Original London Cast' with (Chita Rivera, Brent Carver, & Anthony Crivello) who won tony's when they went to Broadway and the 'New Broadway Cast' the replacement cast with (Vanessa Williams, Howard McGillin, & Brian Stokes Mitchell)
They never made a 'Original Broadway Cast Recording'.
#9The Best Recording of The Kiss of The Spider Woman?
Posted: 3/25/15 at 2:38pm^Oops that's right ...still Chita!
"Anything you do, let it it come from you--then it will be new."
Sunday in the Park with George
#10The Best Recording of The Kiss of The Spider Woman?
Posted: 3/25/15 at 2:46pmI used to feel very passionate about Chita's version. Over the years, the more I've returned to the Vanessa Williams recording, the more appealing I find it. I prefer everyone else from the original cast, but the tracks I listen to most often are Williams' track save for the title song, in which case I do feel Chita's can't be beat. IMO Williams captures Aurora's diva allure more than Chita in the film numbers.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#11The Best Recording of The Kiss of The Spider Woman?
Posted: 3/25/15 at 2:54pmI agree with the others who say Chita's lower keys are a much better fit for the material.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
Mr Roxy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
#12The Best Recording of The Kiss of The Spider Woman?
Posted: 3/25/15 at 3:05pm
Would someday love to hear the songs from the very first version in Purcase NY
How many from that version actually made it to the Broadway version?
In answer to the question asked in the thread : The original with Chita from London
Poster Emeritus
#13The Best Recording of The Kiss of The Spider Woman?
Posted: 3/25/15 at 3:31pmWhy not both to hear the difference in interpretation? Plus there's some dialogue not on the Chita recording and some not on the Vanessa recordings. Listening to both you get it all! I prefer Chita's lower keys but Howard's higher keys as Molina though I prefer Brent's acting of Molina better.
<-- Tevye, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, March 2018
#14The Best Recording of The Kiss of The Spider Woman?
Posted: 3/25/15 at 3:57pm
The WIlliams one is out of print, isn't it? Of course that is probably just on disc, and you can download it. It has more dialogue and a bit more music, from what I remember, if that interests you... I want to say Thomas Z Shepherd--probably the best cast album producer after his mentor, Godard L, did it and he tends to make very theatrical cast albums.
I still prefer the original. Partly because I saw the tour with Chita (still one of my fave theatre memories--I was 12 or so and went with my grandma which, knowing the subject matter I was a bit nervous about--she loved it, though she really was there just to see Chita.)
Roxy--bootlegs of the Purchase production are easy to find (audio ones.) I haven't listened to mine in a long time but I think it has about half of a different score--especially the pastiche numbers which were much more specific and campy in that production, which seems to be one of th emain elements people felt didn't work. (I remember one song was Man Overboard with a bunch of sailors.)
#15The Best Recording of The Kiss of The Spider Woman?
Posted: 3/25/15 at 4:26pmChita's by far.... Vanessa has a pretty voice. But Chita's voice works better for the songs and gives them a dark edge.
#16The Best Recording of The Kiss of The Spider Woman?
Posted: 3/25/15 at 7:08pm
Since I've never seen this show before, I went with the Vanessa Williams recording since it has dialogue and it makes it easier for me to follow the story. I do prefer Chita and Brent Carver more by far, but I enjoy Brian Stokes Mitchell on the other recording.
Wasn't there some talk about a revival with Audra Mcdonald and Alan Cumming? Whatever happened to that?
#17The Best Recording of The Kiss of The Spider Woman?
Posted: 3/25/15 at 7:57pm
Both of the recordings are good for their own reasons, I prefer Chita as the Woman, but Vanessa is good too. I prefer Howard McGillin and Brian Stokes to the men from the original London recording.
I believe the Audra McDonald thing was they did a reading of the show, I don't know if they planned for her to star in an actual production.
"Contentment, it seems, simply happens. It appears accompanied by no bravos and no tears."
dfrillsnedit
Understudy Joined: 10/14/14
#18The Best Recording of The Kiss of The Spider Woman?
Posted: 3/26/15 at 1:24pm
I will always pick Chita, since her renditions are what I grew up on.
Also, if I saw Alan Cumming/Audra in that show, I think I would feel my life could end happy.
#20The Best Recording of The Kiss of The Spider Woman?
Posted: 3/27/15 at 12:07amVanessa's recording is far superior but whatever...
"People have their opinions and that doesn't mean that their opinions are wrong or right. I just take it with a grain of salt because opinions are like as*holes, everyone has one".
-Felicia Finley-
#21The Best Recording of The Kiss of The Spider Woman?
Posted: 3/27/15 at 12:44amI've decided that Chita's has the best performers, but Vanessa's is the best recording of the show.
#22The Best Recording of The Kiss of The Spider Woman?
Posted: 3/27/15 at 1:24am
One of the times I met John Kander I asked him what he thought of Williams in SPIDERWOMAN. He said he and Fred Ebb actually preferred her in the show - she glowed onstage, and that he thought the recording with her is actually better. But he expressed his adoration of Chita as well of course.
I prefer the Williams recording also. The orchestra is cleaner, the keys are more powerful, and Brian Stokes Mitchell is unbeatable ..
#23The Best Recording of The Kiss of The Spider Woman?
Posted: 3/27/15 at 2:18amI agree - I prefer Chita's Aurora & Brent Carver's Molina but like Brian Stokes Mitchell's Valentin. I think the keys Vanessa Williams sings in - especially the title song - really make the piece lose some of its power. Chita's lower version is more haunting/menacing and, as others have said, gives it that needed dark edge. I was lucky enough to see it on Broadway with Chita and Brent Carver - and Carver's heart-breaking performance as Molina is a theater memory I will always cherish. He was truly spectacular in that role.
AEA AGMA SM
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/13/09
#24The Best Recording of The Kiss of The Spider Woman?
Posted: 3/27/15 at 2:25pmLike others there are aspects of both that I enjoy, and I find either one to be a good choice for somebody getting introduced to the show. For me I find Williams does much better with the non-Spider Woman songs ("Where You Are," "Gimme Love," etc), but the lower keys Chita has for the Spider Woman material, especially the title song, definitely gives her work in those sequences a certain smolder that Williams loses due to the higher keys she has.
