Kiss of the Spider Woman (musical)

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Kiss of the Spider Woman
Original Logo
Music John Kander
Lyrics Fred Ebb
Book Terrence McNally
Based upon Manuel Puig novel
Kiss of the Spider Woman
Productions 1992 West End
1993 Broadway
Awards Tony Award for Best Musical
Tony Award for Best Book
Tony Award for Best Score

Kiss of the Spider Woman is a musical with music by John Kander and Fred Ebb, book by Terrence McNally. It is based on the Manuel Puig novel El Beso de la Mujer Araña. The musical enjoyed both West End (1992) and Broadway (1993) productions, directed by Harold Prince, with choreography by Vincent Paterson and Rob Marshall, and won the 1993 Tony Award for Best Musical.

A 1985 film of the same name had been based on the same story.

Contents

Luis Alberto Molina, a gay window dresser, is in a prison in a Latin American country, serving his third year of an eight-year-sentence for corrupting a minor. He lives in a fantasy world to flee the prison life, the torture, fear and humiliation. His fantasies turn mostly around movies, especially around a diva, Aurora. He loves her in all roles, but one scares him: This role is the spider woman, who kills with her kiss.

One day, a new man is brought in his cell: Valentin Arregui Paz, a Marxist revolutionary, already in a bad state of health after torture. Molina cares for him and tells him of Aurora. But Valentin can't stand Molina and his theatratical fantasies and draws a line on the floor to stop Molina from coming nearer to him. Molina, however, continues talking, mostly to block out the cries of the tortured prisoners, about Aurora and his mother. Valentin at last tells Molina that he is in love with a girl named Marta.

Again, Valentin is tortured, again Molina has to care for him afterwards. In his fantasies, Aurora is next to him, helping him do so.

The prison director announces to Molina that his mother is very ill and that Molina will be allowed to see her. Condition: He must tell the name of Valentin's girlfriend.

Molina tells Valentin about his love: A waiter named Gabriel. Only a short while afterwards, Molina gets hallucinations and cramps after knowingly eating poisoned food intended for Valentin. He is brought to the hospital ward, talking to Aurora and his mother. As Molina is brought back, Valentin starts suffering from the same symptoms, also from poisoned food. Afraid of being given substances that might make him talk, he refuses to go to the hospital and asks Molina to tell him about his movies.

Molina is happy to do so; Valentin also shares his fantasies and hopes with Molina. Molina is allowed a short while at the telephone with his mother, back he announces to Valentin that he's going to be freed for his good behaviour the next day. Valentin begs him to do a few telephone calls for him, Molina at first refuses, but Valentin knows how to persuade his cell mate...

Molina is brought back the next day, heavily injured. He has been caught in the telephone cell, but refuses to tell whom he has phoned. The warden draws his pistol, threatening to shoot him, if he doesn't tell. Molina confesses his love to Valentin and is shot. Aurora bends over him and gives her deadly kiss.

Act I
  • Prologue - Spider Woman and Prisoners
  • Her Name Is Aurora - Molina, Aurora, Aurora's Men and Prisoners
  • Over the Wall - Prisoners
  • Bluebloods - Molina
  • Dressing Them Up / I Draw the Line - Molina and Valentin
  • Dear One - Molina's Mother, Marta, Valentin and Molina
  • Over the Wall II - Prisoners, Molina and Valentin
  • Where You Are - Aurora, Aurora's Man and Prisoners
  • Over the Wall III -- Marta - Valentin and Prisoners
  • Come - Spider Woman
  • I Do Miracles - Aurora and Marta
  • Gabriel's Letter / My First Woman - Gabriel and Valentin
  • Morphine Tango - Orderlies
  • You Could Never Shame Me - Molina's Mother
  • A Visit - Spider Woman and Molina
  • She's a Woman - Molina
  • Gimme Love - Aurora, Molina and Aurora's Men
Act II
  • Russian Movie / Good Times - Aurora, Molina and Valentin
  • The Day After That - Valentin and Families of the Disappeared
  • Mama, It's Me - Molina
  • Anything for Him - Spider Woman, Molina and Valentin
  • Kiss of the Spiderwoman - Spider Woman
  • Over the Wall IV -- Lucky Molina - Warden and Prisoners
  • Only in the Movies - Molina and the People in His Life

Kiss of the Spider Woman was given a work-shop production at the State University of New York at Syracuse. The producer Garth Drabinsky became involved, and his company, Livent, produced the show in Toronto in summer of 1992. When the show transferred to London, it won the Evening Standard Award for Best Musical. [1]

Kiss of the Spider Woman first opened on the West End at the Shaftesbury Theatre on October 20, 1992, where it ran for 390 performances. It opened on Broadway on May 3, 1993 and played 904 performances. The opening night cast included Brent Carver, Anthony Crivello and Chita Rivera, all of whom won Tony Awards for their performances, as well as Merle Louise and Kristy Carnahan. Replacements included: Brian Stokes Mitchell (Valentin), Howard McGillin (Molina); and, as Aurora: Maria Conchita Alonso, Vanessa L. Williams, and Carol Lawrence.

  1. ^ Broadway North: The Dream of a Canadian Musical Theatre, Mel Atkey, page 220, 2006, Natural Heritage/Natural History, Inc., ISBN 1-897045-08-5

Awards
Preceded by
Crazy for You		 Tony Award for Best Musical
1993		 Succeeded by
Passion
Preceded by
Falsettos
by William Finn		 Tony Award for Best Original Score
1993
by John Kander and Fred Ebb		 Succeeded by
Passion
by Stephen Sondheim
Shared with
The Who's Tommy
by Pete Townshend
Preceded by
Falsettos
by William Finn and James Lapine		 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical
1993
by Terrence McNally		 Succeeded by
Passion
by James Lapine
v • d • e
Kander and Ebb musicals
v • d • e
Tony Award for Best Musical: Winners (1990-2009)

1990: City of Angels  •  1991: The Will Rogers Follies  •  1992: Crazy for You  •  1993: Kiss of the Spider Woman  •  1994: Passion  •  1995: Sunset Boulevard  •  1996: Rent  •  1997: Titanic  •  1998: The Lion King  •  1999: Fosse  •  2000: Contact  •  2001: The Producers  •  2002: Thoroughly Modern Millie  •  2003: Hairspray  •  2004: Avenue Q  •  2005: Monty Python's Spamalot  •  2006: Jersey Boys  •  2007: Spring Awakening

Complete List · Winners (1949–1969) · Winners (1970–1989) · Winners (1990–2009)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiss_of_the_Spider_Woman_%28musical%29"
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