Kiss of the Spider Woman at NYU

There is an amazing moment in New York University Steinhardt Music and Performing Arts production of Kander, Ebb and McNally's Kiss of the Spider Woman that is simply breathtaking. In the dance number "Where You Are," rather than covering the reality of a Latin American prison cell, the singers and dancers remembered from an old movie musical blend into it, bringing Heaven into Hell rather than pretending for a few minutes that Hell never existed at all. Lauren Calhoun, as the movie star who exists only in the memories of prisoner Molina (Jordan Stanley), leads a bevy of handsome male dancers into the cell, eventually forming a kickline of both real and imagined characters that leads right out the cell door.

It's a brilliant moment, and the good news is that there are quite a few like it throughout the production. The bad news is that not every moment is as exhilarating and powerful as that one.

To be fair, of course, Kiss of the Spider Woman is an incredibly difficult show to do, and the fact that these young actors pull it off with such skill speaks volumes about their talent and potential. The musical, about the tentative friendship that develops between two cellmates in an Argentine jail, needs to balance old-fashioned Broadway glitz and showmanship with not just drama, but downright horror. Torture is graphically discussed and stylistically depicted, and Death personified in the titular role regularly stalks the stage, waiting for her next victim. Much of the drama revolves around the lies the characters tell each other and themselves, so the actors have to be able to convey multiple layers of truth in any given scene as we watch metaphorical masks get stripped away.

So, yes, the show is a challenge even for professionals with decades of experience under their belts, and the entire young cast, crew and creative team at Steinhardt deserve much praise for taking on the task. The production is, by and large, very effective, though some performance and directorial choices might raise some eyebrows. For example, the title song of the show is a dream moment for the leading actress to own the stage by herself. Director John Simpkins has Calhoun perform the number surrounded by chorus boys carrying spider webs made of rope. The staging, reminiscent of the opening moments of last year's production of Floyd Collins, distracts from the song, and weakens the intensity of the moment. Likewise, the final tableau of the show raises some of the religious subtext to, well, text, rather than letting the audience feel it out for themselves.