Friends and Neighbors

The main reason most people give for seeking out entertainment is “escapism”, that is, finding a story or experience that you can lose yourself in as a way from getting away from the troubles of the real world, at least for a few hours. Teatro Del Pueblo’s production of Kander & Ebb’s Kiss of the Spider Woman is a show that challenges the very notion of escapism, asking what role escape has in an increasingly perilous world, and whether the sort of person who would prefer to escape rather than engage would make other moral compromises to preserve their own safety as well.

The musical, written by Terrence McNally from the novel by Manuel Puig (previously adapted into the Oscar-winning 1985 film) follows two men as they share a cell in a brutal South American prison. Valentin is a revolutionary, imprisoned for passing along passports. Molina was convicted of “public indecency”, essentially for the crime of being openly queer.

Both Valentin and Molina are trying desperately to survive, in very different ways. Valentin wishes to keep his head down, avoid giving in, and do his best to live through the tortures forced on him by the prison warden. Molina, by contrast, survives through movies. Not real movies – memories of them. Molina’s beloved mother was an usherette at a theater, which gave him the opportunity to see all of the movies that were playing, and he became particularly enamored by the movie star Aurora, who led the sort of technicolor epics that used to play on regular rotation on TCM. He loves to tell and retell the stories, even when Valentin has no interest in listening.

This is because Molina is mostly escaping into his mind. But even his memories and imagination are not a fully safe space… among the musicals, romances, and historical adventures there is one more movie Aurora starred in: a Gothic tale about a fearsome Spider woman who kills all men she encounters, and she represents the ever-present threat of death that Molina can never truly escape.

Molina is played by Zakary Thomas Morton, and they give a magnificent performance. Appearing a bit mannered at first, once they start to bond with Valentin (Silvestrey P’orantes) you see all of the dimensions of the character start to emerge. Molina’s flamboyance and tendency to respond to everything with a joke isn’t an act, but it is a defense mechanism. Valentin by contrast is very self-serious and devoted to his cause, but eventually Molina’s charms start to chip away at his defenses and he starts to open up. But lest you think this is yet another story of a straight man learning more about himself through bonding with a queer person, the show makes it clear their relationship is a lot more complicated than that. Molina’s feelings for Valentin are genuine – and romantic. But we also see that Molina is being used by the warden (an intimidating Justin Cervantes) to try and get information out of Valentin. Molina doesn’t want to put himself at risk but he doesn’t want to put Valentin at risk either, but in order to survive sometimes he has no choice but to do both. In Molina’s own words, they’re “a coward”, and you get the sense that they envy Valentin’s strength and devotion. Maybe that’s another reason Molina likes to escape into their memories of Aurora.

Aurora is played by Maria Isabel, and she’s clearly relishing the opportunity to create a character that is literally iconic. She knows exactly which version of Aurora to play at any given time, from vamping it up in the more comedic numbers to playing up the romantic melodrama as a Russian noblewoman trying to save her love, to becoming truly intimidating and frightening when she plays the Spider Woman. Her scenes by design feel separate from the rest of the show, but you also feel the impact they have on Molina and, eventually, Valentin. But there are also moments when the reality begins to fray – a prisoner caught while escaping is shown getting stuck in the Spider Woman’s web (very effective set and lighting design by Jacelyn Stewart and Bill Larsen, respectively) and later when Molina is sent to the infirmary after ingesting poison meant for Valentin, the Spider Woman begins to stalk him, reminding Molina that death could get to him at any moment.

The infirmary sequence in particular (“Morphine Tango”) is one of the high points of both Morton’s performance and the show as a whole, with great work by the ensemble as doctors literally spinning Molina around the stage on a gurney as they administer the morphine and cocaine that lead to Molina’s hallucinations. Zakary Thomas Morton’s physicality is impeccably well done here, showing both the character’s pain and their fear. Molina’s character dominates the show so much in these scenes that Valentin almost begins to fade into the background (I recall the 1985 film having more balance between William Hurt and Raul Julia), at least until Silvestrey P’orantes gets a showcase number with “The Day After That”, showing the revolutionary fervor and desire for freedom that drives him. Molina (and the audience) gets caught up in the moment just like he would in his memories of Aurora, and he begins to understand why someone like Valentin would risk everything, and see that with a big enough dream, risk can be its own reward.

Alberto Justiniano’s direction pumps up the tension relentlessly and uses the set pieces and lighting to create the different parts of the prison very well, but the sound design is less effective. The orchestra being entirely placed on the right side of the set creates an imbalance, and at times the actor’s mics crackled or faded in and out, especially during the group scenes.
Kiss of the Spider Woman is a powerful piece of entertainment that shows the need for humanity in a world full of oppression. It shows the importance of relationships and how bonding with others creates new, even unexpected sources of strength. This is an incredibly well-acted and directed musical that should absolutely be seen, and I hope it isn’t swallowed up by the bigger shows currently playing this season.

KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN plays at The Southern Theatre through November 23