WISH-LIST WEDNESDAY: Kiss of the Spider Woman

This week we delve into a comparatively lesser known John Kander & Fred Ebb musical from over 30 years ago, and one that actually had its west end premiere before it opened on broadway. "Kiss of the Spider Woman" is often left in the shadow of both Chicago and Cabaret in the back catalogue, however it is a much respected piece in its own right, not to mention it won a staggering seven Tony awards from eleven nominations back in 1993, including for best musical, book and original score, as well as acting prizes for leads Chita Rivera and Brent Carver.

The musical tells the story of Luis Alberto Molina, a gay window dresser from Argentina who is serving an eight year sentence for "corrupting a minor", but lives in his own fantasy world where he can escape the horrors of prison life and live in the movies centred around vampy diva Aurora, however there is one of her roles he fears the most, that is the titular spider woman, whose kiss brings death.

(L-R) Anthony Crivello, Chita Rivera, Brent Carver

After an initial tryout in Toronto, the show then transferred to the Shaftesbury Theatre, where it ran for just around a year, before moving to the Broadhurst Theatre on broadway; both productions featured the lead trio of Rivera, Carver and Anthony Crivello, all three of whom won Tony awards for their respective performances in New York. Though the show was enormously successful on broadway in particular, running for over two years and almost 1,000 performances, it hasn't been revived on either side of the Atlantic yet. It has recently been made into a movie musical though, so who knows, perhaps another major production could hinge on the film's success...