There can be no question the Broadway musicals of John Kander and Fred Ebb have been charmed when it comes time to make their movie adaptations. Bob Fosse’s 1972 reinvented film version of Cabaret won 8 Oscars. Director Rob Marshall and screenwriter Bill Condon‘s reinvention of Chicago in 2002 is still the last musical to win the Best Picture Oscar. Both made the musical format work, even for those who hate movie musicals, by integrating the songs so they don’t collide with the narrative but seamlessly fit in with it (Ironically for Kander and Ebb it was their 1977 original movie musical directed by Martin Scorsese that was less successful, as was its recent stage incarnation). Its nice to report that the stunning new film adaptation of their 1993 Tony winning musical, Kiss Of The Spider Woman , joins Cabaret and Chicago as a master class in how to find the cinematic soul of a Broadway musical while still doing it justice on screen 30 years later and a very different time culturally since it came into the world.
Actually this journey started with the 1976 novel by Argentinian writer Manuel Puig, and then the 1985 film version that was nominated for Best Picture and won William Hurt the Best Actor Oscar. With this 2025 screen incarnation of the Kander/Ebb show, director and screenwriter Bill Condon has gone back to Puig’s novel to realize its original intent as a love story, now being able to be told without restraint, a key part to its emotional power and truth for contemporary audiences.
The story centers on a gay window dresser named Luis Molina (remarkable newcomer Tonatiuh) , picked up by the military-run 1983 Argentinian government on a morals charge and throw into a prision cell with a Marxist revolutionary name Valentin Arregui Paz (Diego Luna) with a promise of leniency if he can pry some much desired information out of him. To pass the time Molina tells an initially skeptical Valentin the story of a movie musical starring Ingrid Luna, the huge star he is obsessed with. As the time goes by the story of the film, and the love story within, eventually merges with the harsh reality of Molina’s and Valentin’s incarceration, the technicolored fantasy of a Hollywood musical morphs into a torturous political nightmare, and most movingly a true human connnection between these two men.
That would be the bones of what Condon is working with here and in lesser hands could be a dicey proposition if the audience is not compelled to buy both parts of it. To do this Condon made a key change from the book and musical where Molina was basically either telling the story of his love for the star, or ruminating on her many different films. Here he has created a single movie musical, Kiss Of The Spider Woman in which Ingrid as her character Aurora is caught in the feathery plot between two men, Kendall Nesbit and Armando before also becoming the title character. In essence the director has shot a gritty prison drama combined with an all glam and grand technicolored MGM musical of the sort we saw play out regularly in the 40’s and 50’s. It’s an inspired change and gives this take even more of a reason to exist as a piece of cinema, not just one transferred from stage to screen. To work, we have to become invested in both, and thanks in no small part to this extraordinarily talented cast we are.
To pull this off Condon had to jettison some of the show’s songs, mostly those in prison, but it is more than made up for , and in fact enhanced, by the dazzling movie musical on view with some 11 production numbers where it is Lopez, Lopez, Lopez who has the whole package – singing, dancing, acting – she has never gotten the opportunity to show on screen in this way. As she has proven in films like Hustlers, Out Of Sight, and the current Unstoppable she has always been underrated for her chops as a dramatic actress, but fans of the period and the films emulated here will see favorable comparisions with this star and Columbia musical icon Rita Hayworth, MGM diva Cyd Charisse, Ava Gardner, even Marilyn Monroe in the delicious “Gimme Love” number (choreographed by Christopher Scott) where Aurora is surrounded by male dancers ala Marilyn in “Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend” from the 50’s Fox musical, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Although many of these movies were saddled with silly plots and dialogue, Condon gets to make his musical hommage as one dynamite number after another. Slowly it becomes darker with the eventual title song, and it is chillingly delivered with a sense of forboding ala Joel Grey’s M.C. in Cabaret, the fantasy world of a Hollywood soundstage no match for the real world and whims of a dictator.
Luna is not only gut-wrenching as political torture victim Valentin, but also doubling as suave musical star playing Armando opposite Lopez, showing off his multi-faceted talents. Breakout discovery Tonatiuh shows why he got the part after a worldwide search. Equally adept at the musical requirements doubling as Nesbit, he is heartbreakingly good as a movie-mad young gay man living in his fantasy world in a repressed society, but also finding love where he least expected it and against all odds.
Tobias Schliessler, saddled with the challenging camera work required as Cinematographer not just to recreate the candy-colored brightness of MGM confection, but the muted color and bleakness of an Argentinian prison. No easy task, but superbly achieved. I almost thought it might be nice to see the prision scenes in pure black and white, but I think the contrast would come off too obvious. The smart decision was made here. Scott Chambliss’s fine production design, along with the eye-popping costume design – especially for Lopez – by Colleen Atwood and Christine Cantella are tops, as is Brian A. Kate’s sharp editing. Shout out to choreographer Sergio Trujullo and co-choreographer Brandon Bieber for those sparkling dance numbers.
After a year filled with intriguing musicals from Wicked to Emilia Perez, Bill Condon carries on the tradition of a genre he has mastered before on a larger scale with Dreamgirls, Beauty And The Beast, and screenwriter on Chicago, now demonstrating it is still fresh and alive and relevant even on the budget of independent filmmaking. Premiering tonight at the Sundance Film Festival where he last appeared in 1998 with his Oscar winning Gods And Monsters, the Sundance bookending of two very different gay stories bound by their common humanity seems more significant than ever.
Kiss Of The Spider Woman is appropriately dedicated to late lyricist Fred Ebb, late playwright Terrence McNally, and late original Broadway star Chita Rivera.
Producers are Barry Josephson, Tom Kirdahy, and Greg Yolen. Artists Equity and Mohari Media are presenters with the former’s Ben Affleck and Matt Damon among Executive Producers including Lopez, Luna, and Condon among many others. It takes a village to get an inide movie made these days.
Title: Kiss Of The Spider Woman
Festival: Sundance (Premieres)
Sales Agents: CAA and WME
Director/Screenplay: Bill Condon
Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Diego Luna, Tonatiuh, Bruno Bichir, Josefina Scaglione, Aline Mayagoitia
Running Time: 2 hours and 8 minutes
