Kiss of the Spider Woman

This show isn't great but at times it's very good. If you're familiar with the novel the very idea of adapting this into a musical sounds silly. To the show's credit it dances the fine line for most of the run time.

The seduction of the straight cell mate is a touchy subject for many. In the book this is an act of vulnerable affection. ("You are the one who is kind.") In the musical it is a cynical manipulation. ("If we touch before he goes he'll make that call.")  Which is more believable? You decide.

The Spider Woman, Aurora, is Molina's muse. Her tunes provide comical commentary on a dark story in a manner similar to the Emcee in Cabaret though her films are much cheerier than the propaganda film in the novel. Two performances were recorded: Chita Rivera's and Vanessa Williams'. I've heard it said that Chita plays a gay man's fantasy and Vanessa plays a straight man's fantasy. Simplistic but funny. Chita brings out the scary gravitas of the character. She's there to kill. Vanessa brings out the sex appeal and the comedy. She's there to party.

Ragtime

In March of 1540 Hans Kohlhase was executed for leading a gang of raiders through Saxony. They were seeking vengeance against a nobleman who had stolen his horses. The anti-hero would be re-imagined as Coalhouse Walker in E.L. Doctorow’s 1975 novel Ragtime.

Ragtime weaves together the stories of three New York families battered by the tides of history in the early 1900’s. Coalhouse crosses paths with Booker T. Washington. The other families meet influential figures like Henry Ford, Harry Houdini and the activist Emma Goldman. Terrence McNally would juggle each story line in his ambitious libretto for the musical adaptation.

Coalhouse and his companions suffer tragedy in their quest for justice but Ragtime is ultimately an optimistic show. Ragtime believes that each generation can learn from the mistakes of the past and slowly build a kinder world.

Amelie & Anastasia

Several films have been adapted to the stage this season. The following both feature spunky heroines with tragic childhoods who find love and self worth in Paris.

Amelie. Music by Daniel Messé. Lyrics by Daniel Messé and Nathan Tysen. Book by Craig Lucas. 2015 Berkeley. 2017 Broadway. Based on the 2001 film.

Anastasia. Music by Stephen Flaherty. Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens. Book by. Terrence McNally. 2016 Hartford. 2017 Broadway. Based on the 1997 film.

Here's Where I Belong

One wonders whether [East of Eden] could ever have been made into a satisfactory musical. It is too serious- and yet in a musical, lightness is always breaking in. As a result, the climax of the play, the big moment between the unloved son and his unbending father, comes strangely after a jolly family song-and-dance number. The mind cannot adjust so easily. ~ Clive Barnes. New York Times. 1968.

When book changes went in that were not his own, McNally asked to have his name removed from the credits.... Miller relented, and the Broadway Playbill listed “Alex Gordon,” a nom de plume for novelist Gordon Cotler, as author of the book. In spite of the rewrites, much of McNally’s original work remained... A ballet and song in the show about the packing and shipping of lettuce was expectedly awful, as were all the production numbers. ~ Ken Mandelbaum. Not Since Carrie.

The song list includes a number called "Pulverize the Kaiser" and seems to keep the doomed brother Abra alive to sing in the finale: "We're a Home." 

The Visit

The macabre and the misty-eyed vie uneasily for supremacy in “The Visit,” a musical adaptation of Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s 1956 tragicomedy about vengeance and venality... Claire is a kind of female Sweeney Todd. Her heart was singed by betrayal in her youth; now she is bent remorselessly on brutal revenge. But as reconceived here, she wavers between sentimental musical interludes and glinty-eyed commitment to retribution. ~  Charles Isherwood, New York Times.

The Rink

I told you I liked Chita Rivera flops. And look who joined her here. It's Liza!

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