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The Cape Playhouse will continue its summer season on July 16 with Anastasia: The Musical, the epic journey of self-discovery, love, and the quest for home, with book by Terrence McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens. Directed by Cape Playhouse Artistic Director Eric Rosen with choreography by Al Blackstone, Anastasia: The Musical will feature Kyla Stone as Anya and Dominic Dorset (Frozen National Tour) as Dmitry. It is presented in association with Bucks County Playhouse. The production will run July 16 to August 2. From Tony winners Terrence McNally, Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, creators of such Broadway classics as Ragtime and Once On This Island, this dazzling...

Lynne Meadow will step aside after a 53-year run as artistic director of the highly influential Manhattan Theatre Club that included guiding shows by such playwrights as Christopher Durang, John Guare, Beth Henley, Terrence McNally, Eureka Day‘s Jonathan Spector and many others.

Meadow will continue her longtime association with Mtc, which stages both Broadway and Off Broadway productions, by serving in a new role of Artistic Advisor. Mtc’s Board of Directors will work with an external search firm to identify a new artistic director. A projected timeline was not disclosed.

“I have loved and cherished creating my theatre,” said Meadow in a statement, “and I have dedicated myself, for over 50 years, to welcoming and working with the greatest talent in every aspect of our institution. It was my dream when I started in 1972 off-off-Broadway that the Manhattan Theatre Club would become a landmark in New York City. I...

Photo Credit: Roadside Attractions Prepare yourself for a movie experience unlike any other! Celebrated director Bill Condon, famous for Dreamgirls and Beauty and the Beast, is making a comeback to the movie musical with an absolutely amazing and emotionally charged version of Kiss of the Spider Woman. Inspired by Manuel Puig’s 1976 novel and the celebrated Broadway version by Terrence McNally, John Kander, and Fred Ebb, this new film brings the story to life with striking visuals and real emotional weight. The film stars Emmy Award nominee Diego Luna as Valentín, a political prisoner who finds an unlikely connection with his cellmate Molina, played by Tonatiuh. Imprisoned for public obscenity, Molina, a window dresser, escapes the brutal truths of their confinement by telling the magical story of a Hollywood musical starring his favorite silver screen star Ingrid Luna, played by the one and only Jennifer Lopez. We can’t wait...

Roadside Attractions has dropped a trailer for Kiss of the Spider Woman, Bill Condon’s adaptation of the Broadway musical that stars Jennifer Lopez, Diego Luna and Tonatiuh. The pic, which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, was picked up soon after by Roadside, Lionsgate and Ld Entertainment and is set for a theatrical release October 10 in the awards-season corridor.

The stage musical, which was based on Manuel Puig’s 1976 novel that was turned into the 1985 movie starring Raul Julia and William Hurt, is set in military-run 1983 Argentina and centers on a pair of prison cellmates. Molina (Tonatiuh), a gay window dresser jailed for indecency, keeps up the spirts of political prisoner Valentin (Luna) by telling tales about his favorite musical actress, Ingrid Luna. The trailer shows off the stark difference between the prison and Luna’s Old Hollywood fantasy world as the two men begin to fall in love.

Jennifer Lopez is taking center stage as a silver screen diva in the first teaser for Kiss of the Spider Woman.

The film, written for the screen and directed by Bill Condon, is based on the acclaimed 1976 novel by Argentinian writer Manuel Puig and the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical of the same name by the multiple-Tony-winning playwright Terrence McNally and the composer and lyricist team of John Kander and Fred Ebb.

The story centers on political prisoner Valentín (Diego Luna) who shares a cell with Molina (Tonatiuh), a window dresser convicted of public indecency. “The two form an unlikely bond as Molina recounts the plot of a Hollywood musical starring his favorite silver screen diva, Ingrid Luna (Lopez).”

“I couldn’t live without movies. One of them I’ll never forget,” Tonatiuh’s Molina says in the teaser as he looks at a movie poster for Kiss of the Spider Woman.

Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate, and Ld Entertainment have revealed the official trailer for Kiss of the Spider Woman, which is set to open in theaters on October 10, 2025.

Dreamgirls and Beauty and the Beast director Bill Condon returns to the movie musical in this dazzling Technicolor-hued fantasy. In the film, Valentín (Diego Luna), a political prisoner, shares a cell with Molina (Tonatiuh), a window dresser convicted of public indecency.

The two form an unlikely bond as Molina recounts the plot of a Hollywood musical starring his favorite silver screen diva, Ingrid Luna (Jennifer Lopez). Kiss of the Spider Woman is based on the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical hit.

Bill Condon’s visionary new adaptation is based on the acclaimed 1976 novel Kiss of the Spider Woman by Argentinian writer Manuel Puig and the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical of the same name by the multiple Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally and composer/lyricist team John Kander and Fred Ebb.

The trailer for Kiss of the Spider Woman is here, and Jennifer Lopez is bringing the Broadway musical to the big screen!

Bill Condon’s visionary new adaptation is based on the acclaimed 1976 novel “Kiss of the Spider Woman” by Argentinian writer Manuel Puig. It later became a Tony Award-winning musical by composer/lyricist team John Kander and Fred Ebb and playwright Terrence McNally.

Head inside to watch the teaser trailer…

Here’s the film’s synopsis: Valentín (Diego Luna), a political prisoner, shares a cell with Molina (Tonatiuh), a window dresser convicted of public indecency. The two form an unlikely bond as Molina recounts the plot of a Hollywood musical starring his favorite silver screen diva, Ingrid Luna (Lopez).

The film will hit theaters on October 10. Be sure to find out who produced the film (they have a connection to JLo).

Watch the teaser trailer for the movie above!

Jennifer Lopez shines as an iconic actress in the first footage of Bill Condon’s latest movie musical “Kiss of the Spider Woman.”

In the film — which is based on the stage musical by Terrence McNally, John Kander and Fred Ebb — Lopez plays Ingrid Luna, a fabulous on-screen diva whose most famous role is that of a spider woman, capable of killing her lovers with a kiss. In 1981 during Argentina’s Dirty War, a gay hairdresser named Luis (Tonatiuh) who is serving a prison sentence imagines her films to escape the horrors of his present day. When a Marxist, Valentin (Diego Luna) is brought into his cell, the two form an unlikely bond over the magic of music and cinema.

In the trailer, Lopez can be heard singing one of the musical’s most famous tracks, “Where You Are.” All in all, the movie musical has 13 numbers, sang by Lopez,...

It’s time to step back into the spotlight. The first teaser trailer for Kiss of the Spider Woman — the dazzling, Technicolor-hued musical from director Bill Condon — is here, and it’s as bold and breathtaking as fans could’ve hoped. Starring Diego Luna, Tonatiuh, and Jennifer Lopez, the adaptation of the Tony-winning Broadway hit is set to hit theatres on October 10, 2025 — and yes, Lopez sings.

Luna (Andor) stars as Valentín, a political prisoner wasting away behind bars in a crumbling Latin American jail. But life behind bars shifts when he’s forced to share a cell with Molina (Tonatiuh), a flamboyant window dresser arrested for public indecency. As the days drag on, Molina finds escape in the only way he knows how: by recounting the glamorous plots of old Hollywood musicals starring his favourite silver screen icon, Ingrid Luna — played with intoxicating charm and vintage grandeur by none other than Lopez,...

Lincoln Center Theater’s 2025-2026 season both on Broadway and Off Off Broadway has some surprises in store: Among the productions joining the previously announced Broadway revival of the Stephen Flaherty-Lynn Ahrens-Terrence McNally Ragtime will be the acclaimed Royal Shakespeare Company and Good Chance production of Kyoto, Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin (both of Stranger Things: The First Shadow).

One of the productions set for Lincoln Center’s Off Broadway stage will be The Whoopi Monologues, a reimagining of Goldberg’s iconic Broadway play to be directed by Tony Award nominee Whitney White and adapted for an ensemble of women, including Kerry Washington and Kara Young. The play will arrive in summer 2026.

The upcoming season is the first under the leadership of a new executive team, consisting of Artistic Director Lear deBessonet, Managing Director Mike Schleifer, Executive Producer Bartlett Sher, Producer Nicole Kastrinos, Executive Director of Development and Planning Naomi Grabel,...

Just last week, East 9th street between Broadway and University Place was officially co-named Terrence McNally Way in honor of the late legendary playwright Terrence McNally, who proudly lived on East 9th Street for 24 years. The official unveiling ceremony featured speeches by Tony Award-winning producer and late husband of McNally, Tom Kirdahy, Executive Director of the Terrence McNally Foundation Santino DeAngelo, and New York City Council Members Carolina Rivera and Eric Bottcher. "Terrence died five years ago but his memory is very much alive in my heart and in the hearts and minds of theatre goers across the globe,” said Kirdahy. “I can't think of a single day since he passed that I haven't received a note, a call or a message about how he changed people's lives with his words and deeds. Terrence and I loved living...

On Friday, May 30, East 9th street between Broadway and University Place was officially co-named Terrence McNally Way in honor of the late legendary playwright Terrence McNally, who proudly lived on East 9th Street for 24 years. The official unveiling ceremony featured speeches by Tony Award-winning producer and late husband of McNally, Tom Kirdahy, Executive Director of the Terrence McNally Foundation Santino DeAngelo, and New York City Council Members Carolina Rivera and Eric Bottcher; Tony Winner Jonathan Groff reading from And Things That Go Bump in the Night; Tony Nominee Francis Jue reading from Love! Valour! Compassion!; Tony Winner Donna Murphy reading from Master Class; Caissie Levy and Tony Winner Brandon Uranowitz performing “Our Children” from Ragtime, accompanied by composerStephen Flaherty; A speech and musical...

It's hard to think of two more different characters on television right now than the unapologetically uptight Agnes van Rhijn on The Gilded Age and the unapologetically outspoken Victoria on Nine Perfect Strangers.

And the woman playing them both couldn't be happier about it.

Christine Baranski has made a career out of scene-stealing performances, from Cybill to The Good Wife, and was recently recognized by the Atx TV Festival with its annual Achievement in TV eXcellence Award.

Baranski trained at Juilliard with the dream of being a great theater actor, but then found a mid-life renaissance when she was offered the role of Cybill Shepherd’s martini-swilling, sharp-tonuged best friend in Cybill, which earned her an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in the first season.

“Nobody really starts a Hollywood career in their 40s, but I did,” she said. That then launched her into a 13-year run as the...

The Terrence McNally Foundation and Tom Kirdahy Productions will unveil Terrence McNally Way this week. East 9th street between Broadway and University Place will be co-named in honor of the late legendary playwright Terrence McNally, who proudly lived on East 9th Street for 24 years. The unveiling will take place on Friday, May 30 on the corner of East 9th Street and University Place. The event is open to the public. Terrence McNally was one of America’s great playwrights and the recipient of more Tony awards than any other American playwright in history. In a remarkably far-ranging career that spanned six decades, he wrote groundbreaking, critically-acclaimed, and widely loved plays, musicals, and operas that continue to be performed all over the world. In attendance at the celebration will be New York City Council...

Kathy Bates claims the late Garry Marshall declined to cast her in 1991’s Frankie and Johnny because of her appearance.

The veteran actress opened up about the way she was treated in Hollywood throughout her career because of her appearance during a recent interview with Vanity Fair. Following her breakout role in 1990’s Misery, which earned her a best actress Oscar, Bates recalled it being “like a desert” as she waited for another great project, partly because she didn’t look like conventional movie stars.

At the time, she said Marshall, who died in 2016, declined to cast her in his film adaptation of the off-Broadway production Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, even though she originated the stage role, because he couldn’t picture her playing a romantic lead.

“He couldn’t make the leap that people would see me onscreen kissing someone,” Bates claimed. “Me actually kissing...

Watch David R. Gordon (Tateh) perform "Success" with the cast of Goodspeed's Ragtime in this all-new clip. Ragtime features a book by Terrence McNally. Music is by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens. The musical is based on the novel “Ragtime” by E. L. Doctorow. Set in the volatile melting pot of turn-of-the-century New York, Ragtime weaves together the stories of three fictional families striving for the American Dream. As an affluent society woman, an imaginative Jewish immigrant, and an optimistic Harlem pianist navigate a changing world, they confront history’s timeless contradictions of wealth and poverty, freedom and prejudice, hope and despair. With a Tony Award-winning score which blends ragtime, blues, jazz and show tunes, it’s a powerful, sweeping saga of America. The cast for Ragtime...

Goodspeed has shared a new video of Mamie Parris performing "Back to Before" from Ragtime. The production runs now through June 15, 2025. A powerful musical about the dreams of three American families woven together with ragtime, jazz and show tunes, Ragtime kicks off the East Haddam, Connecticut theatre's 2025 season. Ragtime features a book by Terrence McNally. Music is by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens. The musical is based on the novel “Ragtime” by E. L. Doctorow. Set in the volatile melting pot of turn-of-the-century New York, Ragtime weaves together the stories of three fictional families striving for the American Dream. As an affluent society woman, an imaginative Jewish immigrant, and an optimistic Harlem pianist navigate a...

Lincoln Center Theater has announced today that incoming Artistic Director Lear deBessonet’s inaugural season will open with a new production of her acclaimed New York City Center Gala revival of Ragtime, starring Tony nominee Joshua Henry, Olivier and Grammy nominee Caissie Levy and Tony Award-winner Brandon Uranowitz.

Ragtime will begin previews on Friday, September 26, and open on Thursday, October 16 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater and will play a limited engagement of 14 weeks only through Sunday, January 4, 2026. Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Wednesday, May 28 at 12 pm Et.

As previously announced, the 41st season at Lincoln Center Theater will be under the leadership of a new executive team, consisting of Artistic Director Lear deBessonet, Managing Director Mike Schleifer, Executive Producer Bartlett Sher, Producer Nicole Kastrinos, Executive Director of Development & Planning Naomi Grabel, and LCT3 Artistic Director & Producer Maria Manuela Goyanes.

Ragtime is a sweeping musical adaption...

Ragtime will be back on Broadway this fall.

The New York City Center Gala revival of Ragtime will play Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater starting Sept. 26. Joshua Henry, Caissie Levy and Brandon Uranowitz will reprise their roles in the production after taking part in the fall 2024 New York City Center production.

This marks the first production of the season under new Lincoln Center Artistic Director Lear deBessonet. DeBesonnet directs the revival, after directing the fall production while acting as the artistic director of City Center’s Encores! She previously directed Into the Woods at City Center, which also transferred to Broadway.

The musical revival, which features a score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens and a book by Terrence McNally, is scheduled to open Oct. 16 and run through Jan. 4. Based on E.L. Doctorow’s novel, the show follows three families in the early 1900s trying to pursue the American dream: a Black pianist,...

Lincoln Center Theater has teased a potential upcoming Ragtime revival on their social media. In a new video, an actor walks to a piano near the Vivian Beaumont Theatre to play the iconic opening chords from the musical. The video ends with text that states "Something's Beginning." The video is captioned "This is the music…," which led to a multitude of comments hoping the post teases an upcoming revival of the classic musical at Lincoln Center. The new tease follows the recent New York City Center production, which starred Joshua Henry, Nichelle Lewis, Caissie Levy, Brandon Uranowitz, Shaina Taub, and more. This sweeping, powerful musical adaptation of E.L. Doctorow’s novel of the same name features music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and a book by Terrence McNally. <blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJRqg5yur30/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"...

Get a first look at the company of Goodspeed Musicals' Ragtime - the first production of the 2025 season. A powerful musical about the dreams of three American families woven together with ragtime, jazz and show tunes, Ragtime runs through June 15, 2025 at The Goodspeed in East Haddam, Conn. Ragtime features a book by Terrence McNally. Music is by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens. The musical is based on the novel “Ragtime” by E. L. Doctorow. Set in the volatile melting pot of turn-of-the-century New York, Ragtime weaves together the stories of three fictional families striving for the American Dream. As an affluent society woman, an imaginative Jewish immigrant, and an optimistic Harlem pianist navigate a changing world, they confront...

Harvey Fierstein will receive the 2025 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre.

Fierstein has won four Tony Awards, including two for Torch Song Trilogy, the 1982 play he wrote and made his Broadway debut in, which broke ground for its portrayal of gay culture, including the protaganist’s longing to have a family, and its inclusion of topics including gay marriage, adoption and bisexuality.

He also won Tony Awards for writing the best book of a musical for La Cage Aux Folles and best actor in a musical for Hairspray, where he originated the role of Tracy’s mother, Edna Turnblad.

Fierstein also wrote the book for the Tony Award winning musical Kinky Boots as well as Newsies and wrote Casa Valentina, A Catered Affair, Safe Sex, Bella Bella!, Legs Diamond, Spookhouse, Flatbush Tosca, Common Ground and more. He also revised the book for the recent Broadway revival of Funny Girl.

The highly anticipated musical drama film, Kiss of the Spider Woman, starring Jennifer Lopez, is finally headed to theaters worldwide on October 10, 2025. Moviegoers will get the chance to watch what critics call Lopez's most breathtaking performance as Ingrid Luna/ The Spider Woman, a classic screen actress. It will also star Diego Luna as Valentin Arregui and Tonatiuh as Luis Molina. Premiering first at the Sundance Film Festival in January, Kiss of the Spider Woman is directed by Bill Condon, who has a history of writing and directing acclaimed musical films such as Dreamgirls, Chicago, Gods and Monsters, plus more.

According to Deadline, the film was dubbed the "biggest movie at this year's Sundance Film Festival," and its North American rights were acquired by Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate, and Ld Entertainment. It's based on the stage musical by Terrence McNally, John Kander, and Fred Ebb. Argentine writer Manuel Puig wrote the...

Kiss of the Spider Woman has crawled it's way on to the 2025 release calendar. Jennifer Lopez and Diego Luna star in the big-screen adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, which will be released in time for awards season. Deadline reports that the Bill Condon-directed film will hit theaters on October 10. The film premiered to critical acclaim at Sundance earlier this year, and was acquired for North American distribution by Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate, and Ld Entertainment.

The October 10 date will see it open against a trio of big-name films: Tron: Ares, the latest entry in Disney's cyberpunk franchise; Animal Friends, a Ryan Reynolds-starring live-action/animation hybrid from Warner Bros.; and After the Hunt, a new thriller from Luca Guadagnino that stars Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, and Andrew Garfield. It will have to deal with leftovers from the previous week, as well, including Osgood Perkins' latest horror film Keeper, the...

Exclusive: The feature musical Kiss of the Spider Woman starring Jennifer Lopez, Diego Luna and Tonatiuh will be getting wide theatrical release October 10. Deadline first told you that the biggest movie at this year’s Sundance Film Festival had its North American rights acquired by Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate and Ld Entertainment.

Also opening on October 10 is Disney’s Tron: Ares, Warner Bros/Legendary’s Animal Friends with Jason Momoa and Ryan Reynolds, and the exclusive launch of Amazon MGM Studios’ Luca Guadagnino thriller After the Hunt with Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield and Ayo Edebiri.

The Bill Condon-directed Spider Woman, an Artists Equity production, is based on the book by Terrence McNally and John Kander and Fred Ebb’s songs from the Broadway show. Argentinian author Manuel Puig wrote the original 1976 novel upon which the 1985 Oscar-winning movie starring William Hurt, Raul Julia and Sonia Braga is based. Luna and Tonatiuh...

Gold Derby's top news stories for April 2, 2025.

Watch the Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld trailer

Disney+ has released the trailer (watch below) and key art for Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld, Lucasfilm Animation's new anthology series of animated shorts. Created by Dave Filoni, chief creative officer of Lucasfilm, the show premieres May 4, aka the unofficial Star Wars holiday that sounds just like "may the force be with you." Tales of the Underworld is the next incarnation of 2022's Tales of the Jedi and 2024's Tales of the Empire, and this time focuses on the criminal underbelly of the Star Wars galaxy through the eyes of former assassin Asajj Ventress and outlaw Cad Bane.

Hans Zimmer to receive lifetime achievement honor

Two-time Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer is this year's career achievement honoree at the Banff World Media Festival. The trophy will be bestowed at the Rockie Awards in...

Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate, and Ld Entertainment announced today the acquisition of Kiss of the Spider Woman, from Bill Condon, the Academy Award-winning writer-director known for such films as Gods and Monsters, Chicago, Dreamgirls, and Beauty and the Beast.

This visionary new adaptation is based on the acclaimed 1976 novel Kiss of the Spider Woman by Argentinian writer Manuel Puig and the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical of the same name by the multiple Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally and composer/lyricist team John Kander and Fred Ebb.

Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions

Written for the screen and directed by Bill Condon, this visually stunning and emotionally charged adaptation stars Emmy Award nominee Diego Luna, Tonatiuh, and Emmy and Grammy Award-nominated superstar Jennifer Lopez, who also serves as an executive producer alongside Diego Luna.

Produced by Barry Josephson, p.g.a., Tom Kirdahy, p.g.a., and Greg Yolen, p.g.a., the...

What we first told you on Sunday is now official: Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate and Ld Entertainment have officially picked up North American on the Bill Condon directed, Jennifer Lopez starring feature musical Kiss of the Spider Woman, which was one of the most buzzed about titles at this year’s Sundance. A fall wide theatrical release has been set just in time for awards season.

Look for Jennifer Lopez to be out there on the awards season trail, along with the new discovery in this pic, Tonatiuh, who wows as gay prisoner Molina during a 1980s Argentian dictatorship, an inmate who keeps his cellmate Valentín (Diego Luna) alive with stories about his favorite movie, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and its actress Ingrid Luna (Lopez). Molina’s stories are portrayed in colorful song and dance. An eight-figure P&a spend is in store to get the word out. Condon is...

Jennifer Lopez stars in an adaptation of the famous play, Kiss of the Spider Woman, which premiered at Sundance last month. Our Chris Bumbray got to see it and said in his review, “While the premise certainly sounds heavy, Condon infused the film with a lot of Hollywood flash and sizzle. However, the songs and musical numbers are confined to the film within the film, making this more realistic as far as big-screen musicals go. It’s precisely the right way to film it, as the power of the story, which reflects grim, real-world events, isn’t diluted. It’ll be interesting to see if a major studio picks up the movie, as it feels fairly commercial, even if, at its soul, it is a desperately sad story that doesn’t feel far removed from events that still happen all over the world forty years after the story is set.

The new adaptation of Kiss of the Spider Woman that stars Jennifer Lopez is close to a sale after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.

Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate and Ld Entertainment are in final negotiations to acquire domestic distribution rights for the musical feature. Diego Luna, Tonatiuh and Tony Dovolani round out the cast for director Bill Condon’s film that hails from Artists Equity and Mohari Media.

Kiss of the Spider Woman is based on playwright Terrence McNally’s stage musical that debuted on Broadway in 1993 and adapted Manuel Puig’s 1976 novel of the same name. Condon penned the script, and the film features music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb.

The project centers on a political prisoner (Luna), whose cellmate (Tonatiuh) creates a fantasy Hollywood narrative involving his favorite star, Ingrid Luna (Lopez).

Producers include Barry Josephson, Tom Kirdahy and Greg Yolen. Among...

Exclusive: We hear that Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate and Ld Entertainment are in final talks to take domestic rights to Sundance’s most buzzed about movie this year, the Bill Condon directed, Jennifer Lopez feature take of Broadway musical, Kiss of the Spider Woman.

We’re hearing it took a lot for this deal to come together on this net low-$30sM Artists Equity production based on the book by Terrence McNally and John Kander and Fred Ebb’s songs. Stuart Ford’s AGC handled foreign sales at EFM. WME and CAA Media Finance co-repped U.S. rights on the movie.

Tonatiuh and Diego Luna in ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’

Details are still coming together. The pic follows Diego Luna and Tonatiuh as Valentín and Luis, jail cellmates in a military-run 1983 Argentinian. Gay widow dresser, Luis, keeps Valentín’s spirits alive with tales about his favorite actress, Ingrid Luna (Lopez...

Exclusive: While it continues to stalk a U.S. buyer, Jennifer Lopez’ Sundance musical-drama Kiss Of The Spider Woman will be tempting international buyers at next week’s EFM for Stuart Ford’s AGC.

AGC will screen the Bill Condon-produced film privately for buyers in Berlin where it’ll be among the bigger-budget projects available. WME and CAA Media Finance are co-repping U.S. rights.

Diego Luna (Andor) and Tonatiuh (Promised Land) star with global icon Lopez (Hustlers), who, along with Condon and Diego Luna, also executive produce. Pic is based on the acclaimed 1976 novel Kiss of the Spider Woman by Argentinian writer Manuel Puig and the Tony-winning Broadway musical of the same name by the multiple Tony-winning playwright Terrence McNally and composer/lyricist team John Kander and Fred Ebb.

The synopsis reads: “Argentina, 1983. With the country’s military dictatorship waging a brutal war against its political opponents,...

Oscar-winner Bill Condon was itching to make Kiss of the Spider Woman 20 years ago while he was still working on the hit adaptation of Chicago. The upcoming film, written and directed by him, is a reimagining of both Manuel Puig's Argentinian novel of the same name and the stage musical crafted by Terrence McNally. It focuses on two prisoners, one being a queer outcast and the other being a tormented revolutionary, as they form a bond while sharing a cell. Part musical inspired by Hollywood's Golden Age and part prison drama, Kiss of the Spider Woman promises to be a unique cinematic experience that is even difficult for Condon to put into words.

For a musical so dedicated to celebrating and critiquing the transformative potential of cinematic fantasy, Bill Condon’s Kiss of the Spider Woman brings relatively little of the kind of overwhelming star power that can truly transport audiences. This isn’t to say that the film is poorly acted or doesn’t understand how to deliver movie magic. In fact, there are few working directors who know better than Condon how to recreate the pizzazz of classic Technicolor musicals without it feeling like pastiche. But despite the material’s highly dramatic potential and handful of show-stopper moments, it too often feels like a well-meaning production that has many of the right elements but misses a cast that could bring it all to life.

Condon adapted Terrence McNally’s book for the Tony-winning 1992 stage musical by John Kander and Fred Ebb, which was itself based on Hector Babenco’s Oscar-winning 1985 film of Manuel Puig’s novel.

This time last year, industry experts and armchair pundits began the drumbeat for Kieran Culkin’s performance in A Real Pain. The intimate drama about a pair of cousins (Culkin and writer-director Jesse Eisenberg) who travel to Poland to see the ancestral home of their grandmother, who left the country during the Holocaust, was one of several buzzy titles to debut at last year’s Sundance Film Festival. It was eventually acquired by Searchlight Pictures, given a platform theatrical release last fall, and feted throughout awards season with honors for Culkin. He’s currently the top pick to win Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars in March, 14 months after his film’s initial debut. Culkin and Eisenberg, a nominee in the Best Original Screenplay category, are just two of several 2024 Sundance standouts that received bids from the Academy this year, including A Different Man (Best Makeup and Hair) and Best Documentary nominees Sugarcane,...

As the films of 2024 alone have demonstrated, there's still a good amount of confusion about how a movie musical should function in our modern age. Even 2016's "La La Land," the film that ended up bringing back the popularity of the movie musical in a big way, wasn't interested in fully leaning into its ode to the movie musicals of classic Hollywood, using it instead as a jumping off point, a wry commentary on the subgenre and cinema itself. Since then, it's felt like each new movie musical has had to find some offbeat justification for its existence: this one is a multi-part blockbuster event ("Wicked"), this one is an anti-musical musical ("Emilia Pérez"), this one has a monkey in it ("Better Man"), and so on. Even "Chicago" director Rob Marshall, who for many years seemed to willfully bear the torch of keeping the more traditional movie musical alive, has...

Jennifer Lopez has never gotten a lot of love from fans or critics when it comes to her acting career, but all that seems to be changing thanks to her most recent performance in Kiss of the Spider Woman, which is getting rave reviews coming out of Sundance this past weekend. Lopez has been nominated for more Golden Raspberry Awards than she has Golden Globes in her 30-year career in Hollywood, but next year's Oscar buzz has already started thanks to director Bill Condon's musical thriller, in which Lopez stars as Ingrid Luna.

Fans and critics have been singing the praises of Lopez since Kiss of the Spider Woman's debut on Jan. 26, with Pete Hammond from Deadline calling it "the role she was born to play," while at the same time mentioning that the movie itself is "a master class in how to find the cinematic soul of...

Jennifer Lopez starred in the world premiere of “Kiss of the Spider Woman” at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, realizing a career-long aspiration to perform in a musical film. The Bill Condon-directed feature received a standing ovation at its Sunday night screening at the Eccles Theatre.

The film blends two contrasting storylines: a gritty prison drama set in 1983 Argentina and a vibrant Hollywood musical. It follows Luis Molina, a gay window dresser imprisoned on morals charges, and his cellmate Valentin Arregui, a Marxist revolutionary.

Condon reimagined the 1992 Broadway musical by creating a single fictional film within the narrative. This approach allowed Lopez to showcase her talents in elaborate musical numbers, including a Marilyn Monroe-inspired dance sequence.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life,” Lopez said after the screening, recalling her childhood inspiration from watching “West Side Story” with her mother. The film represents a technical triumph,...

Dreams do still come true, it seems. On Sunday night in Park City, Utah, the big “hot ticket” screening was the world premiere of Bill Condon’s much-anticipated “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” a dazzling big screen adaptation of Terrence McNally, John Kander, and Fred Ebb’s 1992 Broadway musical of the same name (itself a take on Manuel Puig’s 1976 novel of the same name). While the story, about a pair of Argentinian prisoners who are brought together during the “Dirty War,” was previously made into a feature film in 1985 with stars William Hurt, Raul Julia, and Sônia Braga, Condon’s film marks the first big screen musical spin on the original material.

And, for star Jennifer Lopez, starring in a musical — her very first, if you can believe it — was the culmination of decades of dreaming. The film, which stars breakout star Tonatiuh as Luis Molina and Diego Luna...

Sometimes, it takes a pinch of audacity and a dash of serendipity for something to truly steal the spotlight. So, if you’ve been living under a rock (or perhaps in a parallel universe where Emilia Pérez hasn’t dominated every award show conversation), let’s quickly break it down. Directed by Jacques Audiard, it is a musical about a Mexican cartel leader—played by Karla Sofía Gascón—who embarks on a journey of transformation, seeking to become a woman.

The plot’s as complex as it is captivating, with a powerhouse cast including Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, and Édgar Ramírez. It’s a film that’s garnered international acclaim, a solid 13 Academy Award nominations, and racked up accolades at the Golden Globes, including Best Motion Picture—Musical or Comedy.

Emilia Pérez | Credit: Netflix

But while critics and industry bigwigs can’t stop singing Emilia Pérez’s praises, there’s...

Oscar-winning Sundance Film Festival veteran Bill Condon returned to Park City to present the world premiere of his new movie musical, Kiss of the Spider Woman, at Eccles Center Theatre on Sunday night. When it was over and all the credits had rolled, his star Jennifer Lopez was moved to tears, the capacity crowd delivered two standing ovations and a star was born thanks to a revelatory turn from Tonatiuh.

Considering the pedigree of its filmmaker — Condon previously directed musicals Dreamgirls and Beauty and the Beast and wrote the Oscar-winning Chicago — and its global superstar who plays dual roles including the title character, Spider Woman was the most anticipated debut of Sundance this year. In his review, The Hollywood Reporter‘s chief film critic David Rooney calls it one of Lopez’s best roles of her decades-long career.

Lopez, who skipped snow boots and sweaters for her festival debut, hit...

Jennifer Lopez, outfitted in a sparkling, webbed-up gown and sky-high black heels, fought back tears as “Kiss of the Spider Woman” was embraced at Sundance Film Festival with a standing ovation. She told the audience at Park City’s Eccles Theatre that starring in the musical adaptation fulfilled a lifelong dream.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life,” she said. “The reason I even wanted to be in this business is because my mom would sit me in front of the TV and [‘West Side Story’] would come on once a year. I was mesmerized and was like, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ This is the first time I actually got to do it. This man made my dream come true.”

She’s referring to director Bill Condon, who has become a preeminent filmmaker for movie musicals, having worked on “Chicago,” “Dreamgirls,” Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast...

A touching dedication at the end of Kiss of the Spider Woman reads simply: “For Fred, Terrence and Chita.” That would be lyricist Fred Ebb, playwright Terrence McNally and original star Chita Rivera, key figures behind the 1993 Broadway musical, alongside composer John Kander and stage director Harold Prince. The show won seven Tony Awards and ran for just over two years, though critics and audiences were divided, and it’s mostly considered a second-tier musical by the standards of Kander and Ebb, the celebrated team behind Cabaret and Chicago.

Bill Condon sets himself a tough assignment trying to transform the tricky material into a great movie musical, but thanks in part to laudable work from his three leads, he occasionally comes close. The writer-director revisits an idea that worked well in his screenplay for 2002’s Chicago — paralleling squalor and splendor, with central characters stuck in grim reality seeking escape through Golden Age Hollywood musical fantasy.

Boundaries are constantly blurring in “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” the revolutionary mid-’80s film that became a Kander and Ebb musical, and that cunningly (and stunningly) morphs back to the big screen, courtesy of “Dreamgirls” director Bill Condon. Confined mostly to an Argentine detention facility in 1983, at the height of the country’s Dirty War, the show is the flip side of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Evita,” focusing on the brutal military regime that came decades after first lady Eva Péron’s death. Bleak as that may sound, the musical finds rare shards of light — and an unlikely connection — in the most despairing of places.

In every incarnation of Manuel Puig’s novel, cinema offers much-needed escapism from not only political injustice, but also the kind of biological prisons that oppress us. Sitting in the dark, transfixed the dreams unfolding on screen, filmgoers leave their bodies for a time,...

‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’ is an upcoming American musical drama film directed and written by Bill Condon. It’s based on the 1992 stage musical by Terrence McNally, John Kander, and Fred Ebb, which itself is adapted from Manuel Puig’s 1976 novel. This marks the second time the novel has been turned into a movie, following the 1985 version directed by Héctor Babenco.

Jennifer Lopez stars in the lead role, adding to her involvement as an executive producer. Diego Luna and Tonatiuh join her in the main roles as Valentin Arregui and Luis Molina, respectively.

The film is set to make its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2025, building anticipation for a fresh take on this classic story.

The story takes place in an Argentinian prison in 1981, during the tumultuous Dirty War. Luis Molina, a gay hairdresser, is serving an eight-year sentence for allegedly corrupting a minor. To...

Spoiler Alert: This article contains details on the plot of “Carry-On,” now streaming on Netflix.

Tonatiuh wasn’t happy sitting on the sidelines watching a stunt person perform his fight scenes with Taron Egerton in the hit Netflix thriller “Carry-On.”

In one sequence, the two are going at each other while tumbling down a luggage conveyer belt. “They originally hired a person to do my stunts because they don’t know me. They were just following protocol,” Tonatiuh tells me over Zoom a few days before “Carry-On” premiered on Netflix. “They did one take and I saw that Taron was doing it. I had this face when the director looked at me and was like, ‘You want to do this, don’t you?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I learned the choreography for a reason. Throw me in there.’ It was a blast.”

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and written by T.J. Fixman,...

Last month playwright Jez Butterworth brought his latest work, “The Hills of California,” to Broadway. The haunting family drama explores the relationships between four sisters and their dying mother in their creaky seaside home, seamlessly moving back and forth in time between 1976 and 1955. The play previously bowed in London earlier this year, and before coming stateside it earned two Olivier Award nominations for Best New Play and Best Actress for Laura Donnelly, who reprises her performance in New York.

Since his Broadway debut only 13 years ago, Butterworth has quickly established himself as one of the theater’s most accomplished contemporary playwrights. He has two Tony nominations to his name, for New York debut “Jerusalem” in 2011 and for his Tony-winning epic “The Ferryman” in 2019. Those nominations alone already tie him with theater royalty including Ayad Akhtar, Tony Kushner, Tracy Letts, David Mamet, Lynn Nottage, Eugene O’Neill, and Wendy Wasserstein — all...

He has done frothy romcoms and weighty epics such as Tony-winning The Inheritance. Now the US playwright is revisiting the drink-fuelled drama that terrified him as he wrote it

In 2008, the playwright Matthew López had a bright idea: to examine the lives of gay male New Yorkers one generation after the advent of Aids by using Howards End as the scaffolding with which to build a new drama. Perhaps Em Forster himself could even be a character wandering through it. A decade later, the two-part, six-hour-plus epic The Inheritance premiered at the Young Vic in London before transferring to Broadway, vacuuming up prizes along the way including a Tony for best play, which made López the first Latiné writer (his preferred non-gendered term for people of Latin American heritage) to win that award. The consensus was that he had written the greatest theatrical account of gay life since Angels in America.

Patt Shea, the Norman Lear regular who co-wrote the 1979 series finale of All in the Family and co-created and worked on two spinoffs of the fabled sitcom, Archie Bunker’s Place and Gloria, has died. She was 93.

Shea died April 12 of natural causes on her birthday at her home in Sherman Oaks, her son Michael Shea, a director and assistant director, told The Hollywood Reporter. The family chose to wait until this week to publicly announce her death.

“Patt Shea was a trailblazer in comedy writing,” Michael noted. “Her success as a writer in groundbreaking sitcoms was only matched by her generosity and compassion for people.”

Jack Shea, her husband of 59 years, died in 2013. He directed dozens of episodes of such Lear-connected sitcoms as The Jeffersons, Silver Spoons and Sanford and Son and served as president of the DGA from 1997-2002, part of a half-century of dedicated service to the guild.

At this year’s Tony Awards “Suffs” managed to win prizes for Best Musical Book and Best Score, both of which went to Shaina Taub. Historically, winning those two accolades in particular would bode well for a show’s chances at Best Musical. Yet in a shocking turn of events, the top award went to “The Outsiders.” But this is not the first time something like this has happened.

SEETony Awards: Every winner (and nominee) in all 26 competitive categories

In 1978 “On the Twentieth Century” won Tonys for Best Score and Best Book (Comden and Green). It also won Best Actor in a Musical (John Cullum), Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Kevin Kline), and Best Scenic Design (Robin Wagner). Yet Best Musical that year went to Murray Horwitz and Richard Maltby Jr.‘s revue “Ain’t Misbehavin’.” A tribute to the music of Fats Waller, it also won Tonys for Best...