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 "The Kiss of the Spider Woman" sounds like the title of a grade-B horror flick. So I wasn't sure what to expect from The Metropolitan Theatre Ensemble, MET for short. After seeing the show, I'm still a little confused.

Oh, I understood the power of the story. A revolutionary is thrown in prison and shares his cell with an effeminate, non-political, movie-lover. When the radical refuses to spill information, his captors turn to his cellmate to discover his secrets. There is torture. Poisoning. Cruel prison guards. Everything you'd expect from this sort of drama written by veteran playwright Terrence McNally.

Juxtapose this drama with happy upbeat music and dance numbers, then my brain suddenly scrambles. The music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb really threw me off. In some, we were transported to magical Hollywoodland, where Aurora (or the Spider Woman) sang and danced on the silver screen. That's okay. However, the songs in the prison seemed redundant. Instead of supporting the story, they reiterated the same points that were made clear through dialog. They also seemed strangely upbeat for tortured prisoners.

Looking past the strange pairing of torture and show music, there were some merits to the play. It was fascinating to watch Luis Molina's journey from indifference to loyalty, even when he was in peril. Charles Fugate brought such life to the character, that I could not help but care. In the first few minutes, I was concerned that Molina would be played as a stereotype. This fear quickly subsided when I realized Fugate had given his character a mask to conceal his vulnerability until the perfect moments, like his second act song, "Mama, It's Me".

The talented Sam Wright played Valentin, a Marxist revolutionary who is thrown in prison for aiding political refugees. Initially rude to his cellmate, I heard the comment that Valentin could very easily become the story's villain. The thought never crossed my mind. Wright has a quality one instantly likes, and I spent much of the play rooting for this rude, passionate, imperfect, and utterly human person.

Jan Chapman was the beautiful and mysterious star, Aurora. Also known as the Spider Woman. Existing only in Molina's imagination and often a metaphor for death, Chapman was larger than life and always smiling. The effect was a bit eerie.

Choreography, by Christopher Barksdale-Burns was okay, but limited by space and numbers. Rarely, if ever, was the full ensemble dancing and singing. In the end, letting the non-dancers cut a rug on their own proved to be distracting to the actual choreography happening center stage.

The set itself was huge, creatively designed by Tim Rothwell, and used in interesting ways. The program lists over 20 people who were involved in the construction, including several cast members and director Karen Paisley, who also did the lighting. It truly was a community effort, and that's really nice to see.

Atif Rome's costumes were okay. Aurora's costumes were beautiful except for the Halloween-esque spider costume worn at the middle of act two and a few undergarments out of place. The band, conducted by Daniel Doss, was good but loud. Every so often, I couldn't hear the singers over the percussion. The ensemble needed a bit more direction to ensure that they were all on the same page concerning energy levels and attitude.

Apart from the merits of the performers, there were just too many little things that detracted from the overall show. Or maybe the music itself detracted from the show. And that musical kiss will be the death of it.

REVIEW:
Metropolitan Theatre Ensemble
Kiss of the Spider Woman
Runs until May 24, 2009
Reviewed Sunday, May, 17, 2009
For tickets call 816-569-3226 or online at www.metkc.org