THIS MUSICAL FROM THE CABARET DUO FINALLY GETS ITS MOMENT IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Bizarrely, this is the first major UK revival of Kander and Ebb’s hit musical version of Kiss of the Spider Woman since its West End premiere in 1992. Not only that, but next week, the film adaptation starring Jennifer Lopez finally reaches cinemas here.
The story of two Argentine cell mates – Valentin, a macho political revolutionary, and Molina, a gay man who finds escape in memories of old movie musicals featuring the diva Aurora (the spider woman) – is an interesting one for a musical to wrangle with. Yet Paul Foster’s touring revival struggles to find a coherent approach to the whiplash changes of tone.
Certainly, this brutal tale of art bringing hope in dark places should be ripe for the kind of unsentimental musical reinvention a director like Jamie Lloyd has had such success with recently. Kander and Ebb had form in marrying the gritty and the glamorous: Cabaret and Chicago straddle this line perfectly. But it’s a particularly fine one to tread here.
Based on Manuel Puig’s novel, the book writer Terrence McNally doesn’t stint on the torture and humiliation, while still feeding the audience regular doses of high-camp fantasia, as Molina conjures his beloved Aurora.
In general, it leaves the musical feeling overstuffed; just as you’re beginning to invest in the men’s relationship, a Latin-inflected song-and-dance number interrupts, or a vision of their mother or lover intrudes with a syrupy ballad.
There’s almost zero political context, McNally’s dialogue can tend towards cliché, and while Fabian Soto Pacheco gives a very endearing performance as the fey, fluttering Molina – a man who performs his queerness as a kind of mask – there isn’t enough raw truth beneath anyone’s posturing. That heightened, breathily ardent musical theatre acting style just feels ill-suited to this kind of material today.
But Anna-Jane Casey is great casting as the high-kicking, perma-grinning Aurora, turning out big snazzy numbers with a rich vibrato, as well as slinking sinisterly around the stage as “the spider woman”, the spooky screen role which haunts Molina.
At times, songs can sap momentum, but they are mostly a pleasure to watch, with a smallish cast bringing a confident vibrancy – and looking sensational in Gabriella Slade’s glittering, fabulous costumes. And major praise must go to Andrzej Goulding for the impressive projections – from ominous close-ups of Casey to old-fashioned movie reels and scene-setting backgrounds, they’re always stylish, slick and convincing.
It’s a welcome opportunity to see this rarely revived musical – even if this production can’t quite untangle the spider woman’s knotty web.
At Leicester Curve to April 25, Bristol Old Vic April 29 to May 16, and Mayflower Southampton June 2 to 6
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