The singer and actress is starring in the big screen adaptation of another John Kander and Fred Ebb musical, ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’

Jennifer Lopez with Julia Cheng, Tom Scutt, Rebecca Frecknall and Jordan Fein on April 13. PHOTO: LUIS SUAREZ FOR CABARET

Cabaret said “willkommen” to Jennifer Lopez over the weekend!

The superstar singer and actress visited the smash new Broadway revival of John Kander and Fred Ebb’s iconic musical on Saturday, April 13, alongside her longtime manager, Benny Medina.

PEOPLE has an exclusive photo of Lopez, 54, as she posed during intermission with Cabaret’s creative team — choreographer Julia Cheng, designer Tom Scutt, director Rebecca Frecknall and associate director Jordan Fein.

Her visit comes amid news that the actress is working a Kander and Ebb musical of her own: the film adaptation of Kiss of the Spider Woman. Lopez will star in the movie alongside Andor’s Diego Luna and Promised Land actor Tonatiuh.

Cabaret follows fictional American writer Clifford Bradshaw and his interactions with the eclectic characters at the seedy Kit Kat Club in Berlin, including the mysterious Emcee and English singer Sally Bowles, whom Clifford strikes up a romance. All the while, the Nazi party is rising to power in Germany, bringing an impending doom on all, especially Bradshaw’s German boarding house owner Fräulein Schneider and her suitor, Jewish fruit vendor Herr Schultz.

The revival, now in previews at the August Wilson Theatre in New York City, stars Tony Award winner Eddie Redmayne as the Emcee and Gayle Rankin as Sally Bowles. Ato Blankson-Wood (Clifford), Steven Skybell (Herr) and Tony winner Bebe Neuwirth (Fräulein) round out the principal cast.

Penned by Joe Masteroff, Cabaret is adapted from John Van Druten’s 1951 play I Am a Camera, which in turn was based on the 1939 novel Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood. The show first opened on Broadway in 1966 and the West End in 1968. It has enjoyed several revivals since — most recently in 2021 for London and 2014 in New York City — as well as a 1972 movie led by Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey (Broadways original Emcee).

This production comes from London’s West End, where it opened in 2021. The show won seven Olivier Awards (the U.K. equivalent of the Tonys) including a trophy for best musical revival and statues for Frecknall, Redmayne and Jessie Buckley, who starred as Sally.

Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin rehearsing for the ‘Cabaret’ revival. 

Redmayne, who also produces the Broadway revival, has long said that Cabaret “properly ignited” his love for theater, while playing the Emcee in a student production of the musical over 25 years ago. “It now feels completely thrilling and a little surreal to be a part of Rebecca’s truly unique vision of Masteroff, Kander, and Ebb’s brilliance as it arrives on Broadway, where the piece has such a history,” he proclaimed in a statement in October.

Meanwhile, Kander and Ebb are two of the most acclaimed and prolific songwriting duos in Broadway history, with a string of hits including Chicago, Woman of the Year, Steel Pier, The Scottsboro Boys and The Visit. They famously penned the title song for Martin Scorsese’s “New York, New York,” which became the signature song for Frank Sinatra.

Cabaret spawned a string of songs that have become musical theatre mainstays, like “Willkommen,” “Don’t Tell Mamma,” “Mein Herr,” “Two Ladies,” “Tomorrow Belongs to Me,” “Money,” “Maybe This Time” and, of course, “Cabaret.”

As for Kiss of the Spider Woman, Kander and Ebb’s musical version of Manuel Puig’s landmark 1976 novel — with a book by Terrence McNally — it debuted in the West End in 1993 before opening on Broadway the following year. It went on to win seven Tonys including best musical, trophies for Kander, Ebb and McNally, as well as acting awards for all three principals in the cast: Brent Carver, Anthony Crivello and Chita Rivera.

Oscar winner Bill Condon (Chicago, Dreamgirls) will direct Kiss of the Spider Woman. Lopez, Medina and Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas are executive producing through their Nuyorican Productions Banner, alongside others including Ben Affleck and Matt Damon (for Artists Equity).

Puig’s novel was previously adapted for the screen in 1985 by Héctor Babenco. That version was nominated for four Oscars, with William Hurt winning Best Actor.

Chita Rivera kicks up a leg in ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’ in 1992. 

The musical is set in an Argentinian prison in 1981, and follows two cellmates — department store window dresser Luis Molina (Tonatiuh) and Marxist revolutionary Valentin Arregui (Luna) — as they form an unlikely bond amid the horrors of war. Silver screen diva Ingrid Luna (Lopez) appears to Molina in a film he imagines to pass the time — the actress playing both fashion editor Aurora and the Spider Woman, who kills her prey with a kiss.

A release date for Kiss of the Spider Woman has yet to be announced.