Toward the conclusion of Vanessa Williams’s performance during the VACAYA cruise of the Caribbean in February, the “Save the Best for Last” singer searched for a musical number that she knew would be a hit for the mostly LGBTQ+ audience.
From the crowd, someone yelled out, “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” Williams’s music director didn’t know the music, but Williams, who had made her Broadway debut in that musical, was inspired. “I said, ‘I’ll do it a cappella,’” Williams recalls. The crowd hushed, the boat swayed, Williams’s voice soared, and there was an “eerie connection by the end. It was