BWW Reviews: KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN Burrows Under the Skin in BoHo's New Staging

I hardly know where to begin with this review of the Bohemian Theatre Ensemble's gutsy, stripped-down and yet somehow epic production of "Kiss of the Spider Woman," the musical by John Kander, Fred Ebb and Terrence McNally that is running at Theatre Wit through June 30, 2013. There, I guess I just began. I'm a jumble of thoughts and feeling right now. Come to think of it, so are the three principal characters.

In Peter Marston Sullivan's intimate, two-story, environmental shotgun of a show (scene design by Patrick Ham), we the audience are seated seemingly inside the large Latin American prison cell shared by Molina, imprisoned on a trumped morals charge stemming from his admitted and all-too-apparent homosexuality, and Valentin, a manly and Marxist revolutionary. And the show does indeed take place mostly there, with trips "over the wall" to Molina's mother and to Valentin's girlfriend, mostly in the imaginations of the prisoners. The contrast between the horrors of their incarceration and torture, and their perceptions and memories of the beauty of life on the outside takes shape most vividly in Molina's retelling of the movies of his favorite film noir actress, Aurora, whom Molina unashamedly adores, save for her dangerous turn as the deadly Spider Woman, her only frightening film role.

The actors playing Molina, Valentin and Aurora in any production have great moments to play, yet big shoes to fill, from the Tony-winning originals Brent Carver, Anthony Crivello and Chita Rivera, as well as from later Broadway cast members like Howard McGillin, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Vanessa Williams. But, for a show that dominated the Tony Awards in 1993, winning seven in a fairly weak, transitional year that also saw, "Tommy, "The Goodbye Girl" and "Blood Brothers," this last-gasp of Broadway's post-Golden Age era doesn't quite have the strong writing that one associates with Kander and Ebb's groundbreaking "Cabaret" and "Chicago," or McNally's future work on one of the glories of Broadway's contemporary period, "Ragtime." It's a little bit too cinematic, a little too metaphorical, and somehow too lovely to be really dangerous, despite the ominous mind games and several scenes of severe brutality. Perhaps that's why this show is quite tricky to pull off. Bravo to BoHo for even trying!

So, too, it's interesting to see how this particular work of art (based on the 1976 novel by Manuel Puig, also the source for a play [1983] and for a successful film starring William Hurt, Raul Julia and Sonia Braga [1985]), has taken on different characteristics through the years. When it was first written, homosexuality was quite a taboo topic, especially in Latin America. By the time of the film's release, and certainly when the show appeared (first in workshop in Purchase, NY, and then in London, prior to Broadway), AIDS made the show that much more dangerous, and even more metaphoric, as scenes of a gay man taking care of an ill companion were nearly impossible to watch for some. The Act Two revolutionary anthem, "The Day After That," was one of the last great show songs to be employed in connection to the demands for better health care for AIDS patients, along with "Rent"'s "No Day But Today." But now? Molina's flamboyance is quaint, even an anachronism, and "The Day After That" could be viewed as reminiscent of the demand for marriage equality. The musical itself may indeed now be about two different men learning to cope with their surroundings and learn to love each other, with tragic consequences for one and probably both of them. These changes may not be bad things, but they are interesting to contemplate. Great works of art do indeed mean different things at different times.

And so, we have the Molina of Nathan Carroll, an alumnus of Columbia College playing his largest local role to date. He is totally committed, if not entirely charismatic, and is totally believable in this challenging and emotionally naked role. His biggest challenge is keeping the audience's attention when his own is naturally going to the impressive physique and exquisite soft vocals of his Valentin, Evan Tyrone Martin, who's worked quite a lot hereabouts in the last two years. What his voice lacks in depth and power, it more than makes up for in beauty and focus. You've never heard a revolutionary, be it "Evita"'s Che or "Les Miserables"'s Enjolras, sing this seductively. And Jennifer T. Grubb, a young veteran of the totality of Chicago's musical theater scene ("Jerry Springer: The Opera" at the old Bailiwick, Porchlight's "Nine," "Sweeney Todd" at the Drury Lane) shows her concentration in acting and in costume changes (design by Bill Morey), and sounds fantastic in her big climaxes, even though the role lies a little low for her at the bottom (can anyone sing as low and powerfully as the mature Chita?). If none of them are ideally cast, I can't imagine anyone else on the non-Equity scene at the moment who could inhabit these roles from a triple-threat perspective quite in the same way. They act! They sing! They dance! They move you! These young professionals deserve to grow old doing what they love, and what they do so well.

As Molina's mother, Caron Buinis is quite touching and sweet in her scenes with her son, whom she doesn't quite understand but unconditionally supports. Jessica Kingsdale's Marta sings well, though doesn't have much in the way of context to ground her in a world supposedly quite different from the other characters. Scott Danielson gives the menacing Warden a dash of normalcy, and John Gurdian and Jonah D. Winston as his henchmen do a lot of threatening and beatings and whatnot, quite convincingly for two guys who are probably pretty nice.

And the all-dancing, all-singing, all-acting men's ensemble of prisoners, movie back-up dancers, bed movers--the all-around hardest working chorus in show business today--consists of two of the best singers I know (Sean Knight--doubling as the confused waiter, Gabriel--and Neil Stratman), two the best dancers I know (Daniel Spagnuolo and Glenn M. Snellgrose II) and two guys who can do it all (Jonathan Butler-Duplessis and Tommy Rivera-Vega). This has got to be the best male ensemble I've ever seen in a production of this type. Bravo to them, and to the exceptional choreography by Linda Fortunato that spins, kicks, jumps and shines in ways I didn't think possible.

Diane D. Fairchild's lighting design is pretty extraordinary, capturing taut faces of pain, fleeting glimpses of past or hoped-for glories, and all the while covering a countless array of entrances and exits from a seemingly endless supply of hidden nooks and crannies in the playing area. Associate Director Peter Robel also contributes a sound design that struck me as bold, if occasionally intrusive last Saturday night. And Elizabeth Doran's musical direction worked wonders with that men's ensemble, and I trust will do the same with her hidden five-piece orchestra after they've gotten a few more goes at the tricky, eclectic score a time or two more.

Sullivan's direction, usually spot-on, failed me at the very last moment of the show. I won't give it away here, but I was disappointed. I think several audience members were similarly caught a little short, and I don't think something went wrong in what the performers and technical staff did, per se.

This is a hard show to carry off, and for the most part Sullivan has succeeded admirably. But I hope that this visionary director, who really hit his stride locally with BoHo's "Floyd Collins," one year ago, takes another look at the last few second of the show and makes a fix that would be easy enough to implement. This is too important a show, to Kander and Ebb's body of work, to the gay community, to the Latin community, to those who treasure imagination and who fear totalitarianism, to miss even one small step. Overall, this production is a great, moving and thought-provoking achievement, showing how hard this show is to do and how well it can succeed. It's musical theater for those who love the theater. I heartily recommend it.

KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN, produced by Bohemian Theatre Ensemble and directed by Peter Marston Sullivan, runs at Theatre Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Avenue, Chicago, May 31-June 30, 2013. Tickets available at www.BoHo.com or at the box office, 773-975-8150. Tickets are $25-37.

PHOTO CREDIT: Bohemian Theatre Ensemble

PHOTOS (from top): Jennifer T. Grubb, Nathan Carroll and Evan Tyrone Martin; Jennifer T. Grubb, Nathan Carroll, and Evan Tyrone Martin; Jennifer T. Grubb, Nathan Carroll and Caron Buinis; Jonah D. Winston, Evan Tyrone Martin and John Gurdian

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