Photos: Jennifer Lopez, John Kander, Ben Affleck, More at the Kiss of the Spider Woman Movie Premiere | Playbill

Film & TV News Photos: Jennifer Lopez, John Kander, Ben Affleck, More at the Kiss of the Spider Woman Movie Premiere

The composer has given his approval of the pop star's rendition of his songs.

Jennifer Lopez, John Kander, and Tonatiuh Jason Crowley

If there's a movie musical on, don't bring us the news. The Kiss of the Spider Woman movie musical had its New York premiere last night at The Shed, and Broadway and Hollywood were both on the guest lists. Bill Condon's film adaptation of John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Terrence McNally musical Kiss of the will be released in movie theatres October 10. 

On the red carpet was composer John Kander (who had previously praised star Jennifer Lopez's rendition of his songs), Lopez herself, Condon, lead actor Tonatiuh, and executive producer Ben Affleck. Flip through the gallery below to go inside the festivities, which also included appearances from Whoopi GoldbergMarc Shaiman, Nathan Lane, Laverne Cox, and more.

Photos: Kiss of the Spiderwoman Premiere

Kiss of the Spider Woman also stars Andor actor Diego Luna as Valentin Arregui, Broadway alum Josefina Scaglione, Bruno Bichir, and Aline Mayagoitia.

Director Bill Condon's screen adaptation deletes several non-diagetic songs for the characters of Luis Molina and Valentin Arregui, and restores formerly deleted numbers from the musical's pre-Broadway try-out. The Kiss of the Spider Woman film soundtrack, featuring the new songs by Kander and Ebb, is out now.

Based on Manuel Puig's 1976 novel, Kiss of the Spider Woman centers on a pair of cellmates in an Argentine prison. Valentin is a political revolutionary, while Molina is a gay window dresser who takes care of him by telling him the stories of his favorite films, many of which star his favorite movie star of all, Aurora. But the one story he fears telling is Aurora's greatest role: The Spider Woman.

The novel was adapted by Puig himself into a 1983 stage play, and then into an Academy Award-winning film in 1985 starring Broadway favorite Raúl Juliá. Kander, Ebb, and Terrence McNally's stage musical version expanded the story somewhat, making Aurora a character who appears in a number of fantasy sequences. Chita Rivera created the role and won a Tony Award for her performance, later succeeded by Vanessa Williams in her Broadway debut.

The musical has been rumored to be making a return for some time in some form. A reading was held in 2015 with Audra McDonald, Alan Cumming, and Steven Pasquale. More recently, Washington, D.C.'s Kennedy Center was poised to stage a new revival as part of its Broadway Center Stage season, but it was ultimately pulled and replaced with the staging of Spamalot that subsequently transferred to Broadway. At the time, Kennedy Center representatives cited casting complications due to plans for a Broadway revival. A Broadway return for the work has yet to materialize.

Though she is also a recording artist and self-produced a musical film titled This Is Me... Now: A Love Story, Spider Woman marks Lopez's debut in a musical theatre piece. She was previously set to star in a live TV production of Bye Bye Birdie for NBC, though that was ultimately thwarted due to scheduling conflicts. As early as 2016, she was eager to have a musical written for her by Hamilton writer Lin-Manuel Miranda. One of Lopez's first feature films was 1997's Selena, which while not expressly a musical, featured the singer-songwriter lip-syncing as late Mexican pop star Selena Quintanilla-Pérez.

Barry Josephson, Tom Kirdahy, and Greg Yolen are producing with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon for Artists Equity, the film's studio and lead producer. Michael Joe, Danie Bernfeld, and Kevin Halloran are executive producing for Artists Equity along with Condon for 1000 Eyes, Lopez and Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas for Nuyorican Productions, and D. Matt Geller for Josephson Entertainment. Luna, Pamela Thur, Sam Weisman, Daniel Weisman, and Margaux Weisman are also executive producing.

 
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