Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw.
In Manuel Puig’s stage play, Kiss of the Spider Woman, two fundamentally different personalities — a gay man accused of sexual relations with a minor, and a political prisoner-slash-macho straight guy working to overthrow a repressive regime — are housed together in a dingy cell with wretched food, dim lighting, and minimal water or heat. How they cope and the means they use to preserve their humanity in horrific circumstances is the poignant core of what at times seems a too wordy play. Read more…
Terry Morgan – ArtsBeat LA
The reasons that a piece of art works in one format but not so well in another are many and varied. In a time in which seemingly everything is being turned into a musical, and every animated film is getting a live action remake, this topic deserves some consideration. To wit, Manuel Puig’s Kiss of the Spider Woman is a critically acclaimed novel from 1976, which the author adapted into a stage work in 1983. In 1985, Allan Baker premiered his English translation of the play, the same year that the story was made into an Oscar-winning film starring William Hurt and Raul Julia. And, of course, it was made into a Tony-winning musical in 1993. The current production of Baker’s translation of Puig’s play at A Noise Within features strong performances, but oddly the adaptation doesn’t serve the story very well. Read more…
Tracey Paleo – Gia On The Move
This intimate two-hander is absolutely gorgeous. Intense, uncomfortable, amusing and ultimately sorrowful, there is an unmistakable chemistry between the two actors from the beginning. The connection between the men attracts and repels them to and from one another as they move through their daily push/pull relationship to a caring but also destructive end. Read more…