@nbreslow
1) Please post the URL to your non-functioning gallery so that I can take a look.
I might be able to figure out why you see only the spinner.
2) Try:
configUrl : 'config.php?album=<?php echo $_GET["album"]; ?>&w=800&h=600&s=0&q=80&sh=1&tw=100&th=100&ts=0&tlw=50&tlh=50&tq=60&tsh=1&pw=54&ph=40&aps=0&baseURL=http%3A%2F%2Fdomain.name%2Fssp_director'You will also need to rename your 'index.html' page to 'index.php'.
3) I am not familiar with SlideShowPro so you may need to either wait for UrsusMaritimus to reply or do some further research within SlideShowPro's own support pages to try to figure out what all the parameters are.
You can introduce captions into the script by adding the following code before the line: $r->appendChild( $b );
$caption = $dom->createElement('caption');
$cdata = $dom->createCDATASection('caption_goes_here');
$caption->appendChild($cdata);
$b->appendChild($caption);... replacing 'caption_goes_here' with the code for your caption, whether it be plain text, the image's filename or some other parameter pulled in from SlideShowPro.