by Kristina Hutchinson

Created on: June 08, 2009   Last Updated: June 09, 2009

A Fantastic Web: Review of the Community Arts Center Production of Kiss of the Spider Woman

A fantastic web was spun this evening from the threads of brutality, passion, and betrayal as a captivated audience witnessed a musical adaptation of Manuel Puig's best-selling novel about 'life in a prison in Latin America, sometime in the recent past'. This most recent and perhaps most faithful, interpretation of Puig's modern classic gave me a deeper understanding of the story's symbolic web.

This web makes its first appearance early in the production in the sparkling black gown of the Spider Woman as she moves seductively across the stage: a frightening figure, reminiscent of the Grim Reaper. The sudden disappearances and reappearances of this Spider Woman throughout the play heighten the suspense rather than distract the audiences' attention from important scenes - a testimony to the talents of both costume designer Florence Klotz and director Harold Prince. It is also the contrast of the prisoners' ragged, faded garb and the bright, romantic dress of the beautiful Aurora that help to separate the fantasies of the central character Molina from the grotesque reality of his prison cell.

While it is in this cell that the majority of the dialogue takes place, much of the action is carried on outside the steel bars. In fact, as the play progresses, there is much to look at: the catwalk hovering above the prison cell, the appearances of prisoners at the left and right of the stage, the colorful backdrops depicting both memories and fantasies of the main characters. I expected this method of storytelling to create quite a problem for a set designer, but veteran Jerome Sirlin, with the aid of lighting designers Howell Binkley and Peter A. West who use the effect of white and colored lights to attract and distract the audiences' eye, seems to have mastered this technique. It is through this technique of staging simultaneous scenes all at once, that best mimics Manuel Puig's novel. The audience, like the reader is given the police reports and the narratives of the characters, while being able to 'watch' Molina's movies.

Through these 'movie' sequences Molina's own planned betrayal of cell-mate (and later friend) Valentin are mirrored and the darker meaning behind Molina's kindness to him becomes apparent. It is also in these sequences that the audience is introduced to Molina's idol: the glamorous and fictitious film star Aurora, portrayed brilliantly by the Argentine beauty

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