CAPSULE REVIEW : ‘Spider’ Needs Work but Has Lots of Bite

“Kiss of the Spider Woman” is nothing if not ambitious, an attempt to stretch the American musical theater beyond such landmark concept musicals as “Cabaret,” “Company” and “Follies.”

If its ambition sometimes overwhelms its execution, well, that is why there is New Musicals, a for-profit laboratory for the development of new shows at the State University of New York in Purchase. The show, playing at the school’s Performing Arts Center, runs through June 24.

But “laboratory” is not the word to describe this production directed with remarkable fluidity by Harold Prince. “Kiss of the Spider Woman” is of Broadway size, scope and quality. And that’s why it may be so difficult to really change the show without a major overhauling of its production values.

The musical is based on the Manuel Puig novel that later became a movie starring William Hurt and Raul Julia. It tells the story of two men jailed in an unnamed Latin American country. Valentin (here played by Kevin Gray) is a political prisoner. Molina (John Rubenstein) is a sexual offender, a flamboyant homosexual charged with molesting a minor.

“Spider Woman” chronicles their time together in a cell--from hostility to acceptance to understanding to love. What cements their relationship is Molina’s retelling of old movie plots, particularly a hoary, 1940s movie musical called “Man Overboard.”

Numbers from this Technicolor song and dance alternate with grim prison scenes. If the idea sounds familiar, it’s similar to what Prince and the songwriting team of John Kander and Fred Ebb did in “Cabaret,” their first collaboration nearly 25 years ago.

The Kander and Ebb score contains some of the team’s most complex and challenging work. Kander’s melodies are among his best; Ebb’s lyrics don’t settle for the obvious or glib.

Their numbers range from sweet love songs--there’s a stunning quartet called “Dear One”--to stirring political anthems to exotic tropical dance numbers.

The musical actually contains a score within a score, one set of songs being part of the movie musical Molina is spinning for Valentin. It’s here where the musical falters, not so much in the songs but in the conventional staging by choreographer Susan Stroman.

Molina is enraptured by these movie musical scenes, and theatergoers should be, too. But more often than not, the numbers just mark time, making one question Molina’s taste and obsession with the silver screen.

Not until nearly the end of the evening when the movie and real life merge in the driving, rhythmic title song does Stroman’s work come together.

Prince and his creative team have work to do, despite their strong, uncompromising story and wonderful score, if the show eventually is to make its way to Broadway. “Kiss of the Spider Woman” knows what it wants to say. Now it just has to find a more effective way to say it.