Spider-Man: The Musical, music by U2

With Evan Rachel Wood as Mary Jane.

this is kind of a stupid idea

"kind of"

Opening Feb. 18, 2010

Official site:

http://spidermanonbroadway.marvel.com/images/splashbg.jpg

The idea here = Broadway has gotten to a point where it's mostly subsidized by things enjoyed by pre-teen girls, so let's try and bring more pre-teen boys into the fold while we're at it?

More bits and pieces:

Mr. Bryan-Brown said that the music and lyrics were largely complete, but that Bono and the Edge would “of course write more songs as necessary.” He said that the subtitle of the musical, “Turn Off the Dark,” is the title of one of the songs, and added that there were no plans to use or riff on the well-known theme song from the television cartoon series about the Marvel comic-book superhero.

According to a news release from the producers, the show, in which the title character will indeed be flying around the Hilton, draws on the comic book series for “inspiration,” yet also “spins a new take on the mythic tale of a young man propelled from a modest row house in Queens to the sky-scraping spire of the Chrysler Building, the bustling offices of the Daily Bugle, through the dizzying canyons of Manhattan, to new vistas never before seen.”

The plot description concludes: “Spider-Man’s battles will hurtle the audience through an origin story both recognizable and unexpected, yielding new characters as well as familiar faces until a final surprising confrontation casts a startling new light on this hero’s journey.”

Nabisco, you were being funny about pre-teen boys liking U2 and being a broadway marketing target, right?

he's talking about pre-teen boys liking Spiderman and Broadway marketers latching onto that as an untapped demographic

next ilx compilation ideas

Gear requested to write "Turn Off the Dark" lyrics.

lol

Another collaboration surely in the offing.

"Turn off...THE DARK!"

at last U2 finds their level.

Open call!:

SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark, featuring direction by Julie Taymor (Across The Universe, Frida, The Lion King on Broadway) with music and lyrics by 22-time Grammy® Award-winners Bono and The Edge (from U2) will be holding open casting calls at major cities across the country starting next week. SPIDER-MAN is seeking principals and understudies for the roles of ‘Peter Parker,’ ‘Mary Jane,’ and ‘Female Lead Villian.’ The production is looking for performers with dynamic rock/pop voices including those with experience in bands and as solo performers. Regardless of experience, anyone who thinks they might be qualified is encouraged to audition.

Open casting calls are being organized by Telsey + Company (Rent, Across The Universe, Sex & The City, Wicked) and will be held in the following cities:

ORLANDO, FL (Thursday, April 9; 10 AM – 5PM) Orlando Marriott World Center, 8701 World Center Drive, Orlando, FL 32821

NEW YORK, NY (Monday, April 13; 10 AM – 5PM) The Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard Street, New York, NY 10013

LOS ANGELES, CA (Saturday, April 18; 10 AM – 5PM) Hollywood United Methodist Church, 6817 Franklin Avenue, Hollywood, CA 90028

SEATTLE, WA (Monday, April 20; 10 AM – 5PM) LOCATION TO BE ANNOUNCED

CHICAGO, IL (Thursday, May 7; 10 AM – 5 PM) LOCATION TO BE ANNOUNCED

AUSTIN, TX (Wednesday, May 27; 10 AM – 5 PM) LOCATION TO BE ANNOUNCED

The production is looking for candidates to fill the following roles (both principals and understudies):

PETER PARKER – Male. 16-20’s. Must have a great rock tenor voice. Can be nerdy with understated sex appeal and a good sense of humor.

MARY JANE – Female. 16-20’s. Beautiful girl next door. Strong pop/rock singing voice required.

LEAD FEMALE VILLAIN – Female. 25‐35 years old. All ethnicities encouraged. Must have an amazing rock voice. Think Sinead O’Connor with a Middle Eastern /Bulgarian/Greek twist. Foreign and/or world music types are great. Foreign accents are great.

WHAT TO BRING: All interested people should bring a snapshot or photo of themselves and a brief pop/rock or rock song to sing. Please note that no accompanist or audio equipment will be provided.

Oh that wacky lead female villain and her great twists.

A long hard road etc:

As this Spider-Man tale opens, the audience sees New York City "on fire and in ruins" as "a section of the Brooklyn Bridge ascends with Mary Jane bound and dangling helplessly from the bridge." Soon thereafter, a new villainess called Arachne flies into the picture spinning her own deadly trap, and as Spider-Man battles all kinds of criminals he's swinging right over the audience.

It sounds like the 3-D opening for the next "Spider-Man" sequel, and even though this superhero story is filled with Hollywood-style special effects, it is instead a glimpse from a confidential script of a planned "Spider-Man" musical -- the priciest undertaking, and among the most troubled productions, in Broadway history.

...

Given its immodest ambition to "reinvent Broadway," the musical's budget has soared to $52 million, counting theater renovations, according to one person familiar with its finances -- more than double the cost of 2006's "Lord of the Rings" musical, one of the most expensive musicals ever.

Like any compelling superhero story, "Spider-Man's" real-life final act is a cliffhanger.

Despite all the talent in its corner, it's still far from certain when -- or even if -- the elaborate musical will open after six years of development, as it has struggled to find a backer to close the budget shortfall. If the show doesn't premiere by the end of April, it not only will miss Tony Award eligibility but also face the expiration of the musical's license from Marvel Entertainment, whose comic-book division created the enduring superhero in 1962. Bono and Edge seem bewildered by the show's odyssey. "But who cares?" Bono said. "The visuals and the music are amazing, and that's what will matter."

Okay WHAT the hell:

Throughout the script -- credited to Taymor and playwright Glen Berger, stamped "Confidential" on its cover and dated from this summer -- stage directions call for action sequences that at first glance seem almost impossible to stage, let alone transfer to another theater for possible touring productions.

The opening bridge scene is followed closely by the arrival of a giant web woven by Arachne, a temptress who is the musical's central invention. "A giant loom is revealed -- seven actors swing on vertical silks to form a tapestry," the stage directions read. At another point, Spider-Man is so busy battling bank robbers and muggers that he multiplies into five different crime-fighting superheroes. One of the duplicate spiders swings over the audience, landing on the balcony.

For all of the theatrical pyrotechnics, the musical's core story is comparatively old-fashioned, following the basic plot of the first "Spider-Man" movie while adding some new characters and back stories.

The central romance between high school students Peter Parker and neighbor Mary Jane Watson remains intact. Parker is still bullied by his classmates and moonlights as a photographer for a New York newspaper; moreover, he's torn over his unexpected transformation into a web-slinger. As in the movie, the play's central villain, Green Goblin, is the genetically mutated form of scientist Norman Osborn. The biggest departure from the movie is the musical's femme fatale, Arachne.

A figure cut from Greek mythology and sometimes accompanied by her own Furies, she stalks and tempts Spider-Man throughout the story as any god does a mortal. "We're linked by instinct, but you think a spider can wait? She exterminates deficient mates!" she tells Spider-Man at one point.

The music marks a departure for U2 as well. Famous for their soaring, sometimes political rock anthems, such as "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "Pride (in the Name of Love)," Bono and Edge have crafted "Spider-Man" songs that are driven more by choral harmonies than lashing guitars. Because U2 does not play in the show (the performers are accompanied instead by a band and an orchestra), the songs are written for different voices (including women) with non-U2 arrangements.

Bono described his and Edge's compositions as varying from "giant, big pop songs to noisy rock 'n' roll to ethereal shivers"

who's in for a "This Is Not Spider-Man: The Musical by U2" comp?

Good luck there:

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/taymor-says-spider-man-needs-to-be-a-huge-hit-to-cover-costs/

And we have a song!

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/from-u2-a-song-for-spidey/

The rock band Carney on Tuesday unveiled a new song by U2, “Boy Falls from the Sky,” an emo-like mix of ballad and hard, aching energy that is intended as a major number in Act II of the coming Broadway mega-musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.” Bono and the Edge wrote “Boy” and a dozen more songs for the show, their first Broadway musical, which has suffered production delays because of financial problems but is expected to begin performances in New York this fall.

Reeve Carney, the singer-frontman of the band that bears his name, is set to play Peter Parker and Spider-Man on Broadway, though he did not act in character while performing “Boy” at a luncheon honoring the musical’s director, Julie Taymor. It was the first time that Mr. Carney had performed a U2 song from “Spider-Man” before several hundred Broadway artists and producers; his singing voice sounded both younger and sharper-edged than Bono’s.

In the musical, Peter Parker sings the number after his love interest, Mary Jane, has been abducted and his superpowers are gone. The song was by turns romantic and introspective, with lyrics like “you can change your mind/you can’t change your heart” and “I did not have to move so far/to find myself alone.”

Reeve Carney of the rock band Carney.

If they were smart, they would make this 3-D, like "Avatar."

Opening date set. Plus:

Tickets for "Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark" are set to go on sale to the general public in September, but no specific date was given.

Organizers also announced new cast members for the blockbuster production. Tony nominee Jennifer Damiano will play the role of Mary Jane Watson, taking over from Evan Rachel Wood, and Patrick Page will play the Green Goblin, a role that was previously going to be played by Alan Cumming.

Damiano received a Tony nomination last year for her supporting role in the musical "Next to Normal."

Reeve Carney is still on board to play the lead role of Peter Parker.

The cast is scheduled to begin full rehearsals on Aug. 16.

Among the casualties of the show is its original publicity team, Boneau/Bryan-Brown, which resigned from the account in July. The show's PR is now being handled by O&M Co.

Entertainment.

"Turn Off The Dark" always makes me laugh ... why are they bothering with a subtitle? Shouldn't it just be "Spider-man: The Musical"?

Oh dear:

http://twitpic.com/2n06pk

Enjoy!

http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2010/10/05/video-u2-performs-spider-man-song-for-the-first-time/

No way this is as good as the 70's Spider-Man rock opera performed by Crack the Sky:

http://www.amazon.com/Spider-man-Reflections-Superhero-Stan-Lee/dp/B00004TQXY

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519TGRT5JZL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

BEHOLD

You'd think Annie Liebowitz would be a little more skilled with the Photoshop

fuckin what?!? the fuck is that?

It...it is what it is.

I love the fact that, should I ever find myself in some hypothetical connect-the-dots game at at bad party, I'll be able to connect the author of Against Interpretation with stone-cold killer Cletus Kassady.

COME TO THINK OF IT: does this mean we'll get SECRET WARS on stage???? Or will they cop out like SPIDEY 3?

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.comicsalliance.com/media/2010/11/spiderman.jpg

ice to see you

http://images.nymag.com/arts/theater/features/spiderman101129_3_250.jpg

The score is rich in angsty ballads and nervous riffs, with impressionistic lyrics like “There’s no time for sorrow when there’s no such thing as time.” Taymor says, “You don’t even know what that means exactly, but you know it’s right.” A song called “A Freak Like Me Needs Company,” for the eight-stilettoed Arachne and her Furies to sing near the end of the show, was apparently less right. “I thought, and still do, that it would be a hit,” says Bono. “A percussive eighties Paradise Garage dance piece with a fantastic hook. Julie was like, ‘No … ’ And I said, ‘Julie, isn’t this what you call a ten o’clock number?’ And she goes, ‘Who cares what time it is?’ ”

http://nymag.com/arts/theater/features/69680/index2.html

The thought of Bono & Edge writing a Paradise Garage-y "number" is just wOOow

dunno, their last tribute to a discotheque wasn't so hot

It could not, therefore, have come as a surprise to her parents that, when she was 15, she insisted on traveling to Sri Lanka—then Ceylon—and that at 16 she was off to Paris for a year on her own to study mime with Jacques Lecoq. “Other mothers would say to me, ‘Well, Betty, how can you let her go?’ ” her mother recalls. “But Julie’s not the kind of person you ‘let.’ ”

I can totally relate, for when i was 15 I insisted on going to Wal-Mart to buy a Super Nintendo game.

xpost - yeah I meant that I don't believe they could pull it off.

Interesting post by Mark Evanier, a writer who knows his comics and his musicals:

http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2010_11_24.html#019808

First preview yesterday... five pauses.

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/11/28/spider-man-turn-off-the-dark-spurs-broadway-blogging/

http://www.newsfromme.com/spider-manbroadway.jpg

Why are they trying to make Spider-man into Batman?

Batman made more money?

So...will this kill or just maim people?

They should open a "Batman" musical across the street, and have the two leads fight suspended midair in the middle of NYC. (Twice a day on weekends.)

They are.

It's been done
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd_AZuBjEIw

It's a shame nobody's posted the first song from this movie. It's a training montage to the tune of "Surfin' Safari" that goes

Oh my god, Batman & Robin
Oh my god, Batman & Robin
Praise the lord, Batman & Robin
Shoot man shoot, Batman & Robin
Let's go Bruce Wayne now, and Dick Grayson now
They are a part of meeeeeee!

There's always this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAlfr7wsqcM

And, of course:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebI8H5nq5L4

Curses.

This one might work better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxySK01v1os&feature=related

A rousing start:

http://www.deadline.com/2010/12/spider-mans-broadway-bow-delayed-until-february-7/

Concussions! Breaks! Bono behind the troublesome Act II! He and the Edge haven't seen it staged yet! Scenes are being rewritten, added, or cut! And then, of course, it has to pass safety muster once again, since new scenes will have to be vetted by inspectors. So glad I set aside three or four free months in the off chance the show actually starts (the article I saw in the Times not so hopefully cites "sometime in February") and I'm able to jet to New York to watch a "Spider-Man" musical, with songs from U2. Before it closes.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/spider-man-opening-delayed-again/?hpw

Comments are deadly.

yea it's had a pretty dreadful opening, yet people are rushing to defend it, saying "it's only previews". Yea, previews generally means a few minor flubs, script/score tweaking, and possibly a hold or two in extreme circumstances. not like five stoppages.

i've had theatre brethren scream at people saying "don't root against people, we don't need more people losing money in this economy". ??????

The funniest thing is the weakest part of the show is supposed to be the score/book, otherwise known as 75% OF TEH SHOW.

My friends' six-year-old daughter reviewed it.

It was awesome because he acted like he hated Spider-Man, but the actor actually likes Spider-Man quite a bit because why would he ask to be in the musical if he really hates Spider-Man?

indeed, why would someone who hates spider man make a spider man musical?

indeed.

Batman is very rich, but he has had a very sad life, and his parents died, and he hates Christmas because his parents died on Christmas.

Is this true? Batman hates Christmas?

I loved that review!

At one point the entire audience right wings were exposed because the two stage-left LCD video panels just sort of... floated off... toward the center... seemingly bored with their duties as directed.
-

:D

Rumor fueled by Twitter: "Ambulances Called, Show Stopped After 'Big Accident' in Spider-Man Musical."

Supposedly Spider-Man took a two-story fall without a harness, into the pit. Hope he's OK, but my spider senses tell me ..

http://sayanythingblog.com/files/2010/11/money-toilet.jpg

this shit is gonna make Capeman look like Cats

I feel like they could have made a fine musical without making this super dangerous for all the actors

Performing performer injured during performance of 'Spider-Man' musical performance, reports the performing New York Performing Times performance.

from the nyt comments:

When I saw "Spiderman", my chin wasn't all covered with good, meaty, Broadway juices which I then sopped up with a soft, warm, almost painfully delicious soft bun. I was not rolling my eyes in satisfied delight and belching up the Bono tunes as a gastronomical tribute to the chefs.

But were I a swine so inclined, I'd sure as hell smell truffles.

that dude's Yelp reviews are all about mise en scene

Steven Tartick, an audience member, said the accident occurred during a scene when Spider-Man is rescuing his love interest, Mary Jane, as she dangles from a rope attached to a bridge.

Mr. Tartick said he saw the actor playing Spider-Man appear to trip and fall from the bridge, into an open pit at the end of the stage.

“You heard screams,” Mr. Tartick said. “You heard a woman screaming and sobbing.”

Mr. Tartick said there was a blackout, and then the house lights in the theater were restored. An announcement made in the theater first said there would be a delay in the performance. The announcement was then updated to say the show was over.

...A press representative for “Spider-Man” said in an email message: “An actor sustained an injury at tonight’s performance of ‘Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.’ He fell several feet from a platform approximately seven minutes before the end of the performance, and the show was stopped. All signs were good as he was taken to the hospital for observation. We will have more news shortly.”

Since he sounds relatively okay, I feel like I can make the joke about maybe the stage hands should make sure to "Turn Off the Dark" too, amirite?

I'm sure the Cirque du Soleil folks are just shaking their heads at this whole thing.

hahaha

Hey peeps there is a lunar eclipse going on right now.

My friends' six-year-old daughter reviewed it.

― would like a calmer set (Eazy), Sunday, December 19, 2010 3:44 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

That were good that

Look, of course it is sad when someone is injured, but this is the price you have to pay if you want to create great theater. Everyone knows that great theater is about launching people across stages using slingshots. It is what Ibsen did, it is what Shakespeare did, it is what made Sondheim famous.

To all the haters posting here, how do you expect to be enlightened at the theater if you can't see shows that launch actors into the air using slingshots? Mark my words, in one hundred years High School's will require their students to read Hamlet and to construct slingshots with which to launch each other. That obviously justifies these injuries.

reports of a little man seen laughing in the rafters, wearing a WoW giantstalker's helmet and muttering something about how he would have used The Vulture. verify?

If the guy didn't land on Bono, I don't care.

That would have been poetic justice.

not to be a killjoy but dude was in a neck brace and on a stretcher

i'm pretty sure you meant to be a killjoy there

yah, i suppose i did.

Neck brace and stretcher does not mean he sustained injuries to his neck or spine. It's standard procedure, in case he did sustain injuries, which will be determined once he reaches the hospital. Small solace, sure, but don't assume the worst (though video of that tumble looked, er, bad).

It seems like so little thought was given to safety precautions for this production, which seems insane given the amount of wirework involved.

So apparently this will need to run for at least four years just to recoup costs? What will the death toll be by then?

As with any misfortune in the 2010s, I read the instant zings and think oh no not funny not funny, but then:

@Reddingwb: I hear now that during the next U2 tour they will do a tribute scrolling the names of people injured during The Spiderman broadway show.

How to fix the Spider-Man musical: cast Jerry Lewis in the lead role. Change title to The Nutty Spider. You're welcome.

To tell the truth, I've yet to hear anything about this and not immediately think of "Stop The Planet Of The Apes. I Want To Get Off!" Though I'd much rather see "Stop The Planet Of The Apes. I Want To Get Off!"

"Equity to Halt Performances; Investigation Underway"

Several broken ribs.

Very lucky man, I should add.

Curious if Julie Taymor's going to follow her "when did we start caring about money?" quotes with "when did we start caring about cast injuries?"

Internal bleeding, too. And he fell 30 feet, not the initially reported 8-10.

well given the pic/video, there's no way that was 8-10 feet

this is basically done, right

after the cash they've dropped, it feels like it would take an actual fatality for them to just give up

when is the emperor's no clothes moment gonna happen? apart from the injuries this was just a stupid idea to begin with.

I believe that moment happened around the time this project was announced.

Hard to believe they've been working on this shit for nearly a decade.

Spider Man: Polish The Turd

nearly a decade to come up with this:

http://leagueofcomicgeeks.com/media/library/images/spider-man-turn-off-the-dark-costumes-5.jpg

oh my God, I didn't realize he was supposed to be catching Mary Jane

this is horrible but I am super glad dude is okay because it makes me feel like less of an ass for laughing at the absurdity of this

holy shit I just watched the video, that makes this decidedly less funny

You know, the Cirque de Soleil comment above made me realize that if the rightsholders had just approached *them* to do a production based on all this and they just had it run in Vegas, there might have been some eyerolling but the damn thing would have made a mint and be chugging along without a worry.

Instead there's Bono blathering, Julie Taymor biting off more than she can chew and near-death.

The Gawker piece calling for them to close down for good and cut their losses basically says that even if all the technical elements we were pulled off perfectly, the terrible book and songs and basics would make it one of the most boring, bad Broadway productions in history.

This would have made a great Vegas Cirque de Soleil stunt thing, no doubt, U2 songs and all.

the terrible book and songs and basics would make it one of the most boring, bad Broadway productions in history.

If the 60 minutes piece on the play was anything to go by, the songs were really weak even by current U2 standards.

oh my God, I didn't realize he was supposed to be catching Mary Jane

he wasn't supposed to catch her - he was supposed to rush to the edge and appear to jump as the lights went back, with the cord keeping him from actually going over. And it didn't.

lights went off, sorry

insane that they've got these massive, movement and sight-blocking harnesses everywhere and they don't actually WORK

Maybe they're trolling everybody and this is actually Phantom of the Opera 2.0

http://broadwayworld.com/article/Morning_Update_Video_of_SPIDERMAN_Injury_Actor_Identified_20101221

We're told via a stagehand that this was NOT a flying sequence and that Spider-Man was NOT supposed to drop at all. He was supposed to run to top of the ramp as if to jump with the lights then set to go to black. The cable that snapped is what stops him from going over the edge, and that is what failed. He then fell approximately 30 feet.

Can't believe the rep actually said "several" feet

this is giving me emotional whiplash

like I keep going back and forth between "this is horrible" and "AHAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

A hyper-realist post-modern reenacting of the phantom of the opera would be genius come to think of it.

They're inviting everyone into the play, even those who haven't seen it. The play is half Broadway, half street performance with the media not knowing of their participation. In a few weeks hired audience members will suffer from an accident and eventually they'll reveal the green goblin has been living inside the theater all this time and he has been tampering with the production.

one thing that wasn't pointed out is that the only reason we have video of this is because some dickhead was taping a Broadway musical on his iPhone

Was he gonna post it to Midtown Vegan?

one thing that wasn't pointed out is that the only reason we have video of this is because some dickhead was taping a Broadway musical on his iPhone

possibly because whogivesashit.jpg

one thing that wasn't pointed out is that the only reason we have video of this is because some dickhead was taping a Broadway musical on his iPhone

― mmmm... yung hummus (Whiney G. Weingarten)

but, the point here is: was it really an accident? How do we know that's not Taymor's iphone.

O_O

i mean, that actor was so happy to be working with U2, but wasn't happy to finally meet... THE EDGE

lol

If your theatrical production is better known for cast injuries and technical delays than good songs or good performances, expect gawkers

Poor spiderman. 30 feet is ow

On a side-note - excellent review by the 6 year old. I loved the part about repetitive song lyrics: "I said it six times so you would be prepared to be annoyed."

Anyways, wow, that kid is tooo smart. I blame the parents

ummm 26 feet.

hey, its closer to 30 than "several"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBFvu4FiYds

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l7me8uVqDa1qbche3o1_500.jpg

lol

Can't believe the rep actually said "several" feet

Exactly. Is this an 80-year-old veteran Broadway press guy who doesn't know you can't say these things in 2010?

ned otm re cirque

have we considered that the rep said "several" because he didn't know how many feet exactly?

If a rep knows so little about the situation that he bought that THAT was "several", then imho he shouldn't be repping anything to the general public.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdRS_LDu7AY

they need to shut this shit down. There's a score of people on BroadwayWorld.com who are pointing out that 'lots of shows experience many injuries', but what they fail to realize is that most of those are minor injuries due to physical accidents, whereas the four major injuries regarding Spiderman have mostly been due to equipment failure or failure to maintain safety regulations. The Department of Labor is making its SECOND visit after all.

fuck this show!

I do feel for the actors though. they all deserve Purple Hearts.

would actors equity shut it down? or the city?

well, they'll probably work in tandem to make that happen. I mean after this little delay, assuming that they do prove in good faith to both parties that they have addressed all safety concerns, they're going to be on such a short leash with the Department of Labor from tehn on...the show is so infamous now it's going to be impossible for anything to go unnoticed.

I wouldn't be surprised if a demand is made to scale back certain stunts, which would mean *gasp* another delay (which would be funny considering that they only just pushed opening back another month like a week ago).

only spiderman can shut this show down

@Robalope SPIDER-MAN: TURNED OFF BY OSHA

maybe if they jettison the Bono/Edge score and get Randy Newman to do a brand new one, and then have all the fight sequences performed offstage while clangy sound effects play, this show will have a shot.

from september: taymor's quote is chilling in light of recent events.

Bono agrees that "what's special is the very ordinariness of Peter Parker. It sounds odd to say, but Spider-Man is as important to the 21st century as the story of Ulysses was to the ancient Greeks. These are morality plays, where luminous characters duke it out in ways very revealing of the nature of who we are."

In Spider-Man, that battle is enhanced with spectacle. "We've got a great dance company, and there will be acrobatic circus feats and unbelievable action sequences," Taymor says. "We'll have (performers) flying over people in the audience, landing in the aisles and the balconies."

http://movieclips.com/DbPN-three-amigos-gringos-falling-from-the-sky/

did the audience present the night of the most recent accident get their money back, i wonder?

probably not, because even though they didn't make it to the end, I'm sure Julie Taymor will argue that the first three preview shows didn't even have an ending.....

A friend of mine was in that audience (and tweeted about it like a fiend for 24 hours) and no, I don't believe they got their money back.

No one's been getting their money back, because these shows have all be retroactively declared previews. Which is just one more facet of the royal scam.

Taymor tries to reassure cast everything is cool, cast not so sure, tonight's performance is off

yea I know it's previews -- I'm not so sure all the paying audience does though, which is part of the problem.

i think there's too much money involved/to be made for this to jump the tracks now

with the nut being one million a week, I'm not so sure there is a lot of money to be made. The show has extremely negative word of mouth, and while in general "there is no such thing as bad publicity", there are limits to that.

They'd have to be at near capacity almost nightly, and not many shows that aren't Lion King and/or Wicked are capable of that.

I'm sure they're not going to quit right now at this moment, but the idea of opening day happening seems less likely to me. If the cast is really as unhappy as they sounded in the report, I don't doubt we'll start to see attrition and people fleeing to other projects.

and if they do get to Opening Night, they will almost surely be lambasted by Ben Brantley, who isn't quite powerful enough to kill a show with his pen like his predecessors, but well can weaken it significantly nonetheless.

they've made a million a week in previews!

and there's already been attrition and people running to other projects; doesn't seem to have deterred the thing from stumbling on

xpost I know, but that isn't necessarily a predictor of long-term success. Experts are already predicting that Spidy would have to run for years to even begin to make a profit, and that's a tough fate no matter what type of show you are.

Critically panned crap has succeeded before (hello Mamma Mia), but it didn't begin its run with a sea of controversy like this either. Nor did Wicked. I don't think this show could run for years, there's too many x-factors, such as the safety concerns, and the fact that people are pointing out that beyond the spectacle, it's a pretty terrible show that even many Spidy fanboys are trashing.

ie, the general public isn't even liking what they're seeing.

The spokesman, Rick Miramontez, categorically denied a media report that “Spider-Man” had been shut down indefinitely. “Absolutely false,” Mr. Miramontez said shortly after 5 p.m. on Wednesday. “The performance is on for tomorrow night.”

Rick "Several Feet" Miramontez

regarding the attrition, some attrition doesn't hurt because they have understudies, but if a significant number of principals walk at the same time, it could have a devastating effect and might require more cancellations. also worth noting is that they are now in previews, whereas much of the aforementioned attrition happened before that stage.

Surely, though, with most of the money now spent, they'd keep it running as long as they could not to make a profit, but to diminish the losses

But, you know, fuck this show anyway

You know if they keep up this controversy then they can just keep doing disastrous sell out shows to NYC audiences who want to go and see if anything crazy will happen tonight that they can blog about.

two years from now it will be revealed that this was the masterplan all along

The lead with the concussion is reportedly leaving the show

On Sunday, Ms. Mendoza wrote on her Facebook page that she was grateful to be down to two nausea tablets and four painkillers per day to cope with her concussion.

Looks like Taymor cancelled a public interview. Because she's so busy, LOL. At least they're offering refunds to that.

March 15th now.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/nyregion/14spiderman.html?hp

Over a year late!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704803604576077940743813136.html

One key element the show is still hammering out: the ending. Producers intend to replace the $65 million show's temporary finale—a scrim unfurling to reveal an image of Spider-Man—with a more elaborate scene, Mr. Cohl said. "The actual ending that we have planned is still not in the show," he said. "Nobody's seen it—including us, by the way."

How can you say shit like that while charging full price for tickets

cuz it's America 2011?

see New Yorker cover, btw

This may the first Broadway production to make record money during its previews and then flop when it goes live. Assuming they ever land that pesky, elusive ending, that is. Might I suggest lighting the cast on fire? It worked for Metallica.

not really thinking this will ever open

Waiting for Doc Ock

Taymor should try her hand at a musical adaptation of "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" next.

wld be great if it turned out steve ditko was carrying out a phantom-of-the-opera-like vendetta against this

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ESC4bygtp2M/SHxxLB7wVII/AAAAAAAAEE8/cn7ug6kRKdc/s400/Ditko+Mr+A+Laughs+witz4p8pn2.jpg

they should announce new untested scenes every so many weeks, the way other shows have "8 weeks only!" stuntcasting

or combine the two. "Bono to be flung across stage until April 13th!"

U2 must be scrambling to make a new album to release a month after this opens/closes.

lol @forks

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/jan/26/spider-man-musical

against the producers' wishes, all the NY papers have run reviews today...so, it officially stinks.

http://theater.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/theater/reviews/spiderman-review.html?hp

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/02/08/arts/jp-theater/jp-theater-popup.jpg

There is also the Geek Chorus (Gideon Glick, Jonathan Schwartz, Mat Devine, Alice Lee), a quartet of adolescent comic-book devotees, who would appear to be either creating or commenting on the plot, but in any case serve only to obscure it even further. They discuss the heady philosophical implications of Spider-Man’s identity while making jokes in which the notion of free will is confused with the plot of the movie “Free Willy.”

Good for the papers, fuck the producers trying to tell them to wait.

It's not their fault the opening has been delayed so many times...besides, you're charging full price for tickets, fans deserve to have a professional opinion to guide them.

So glad Brantley did this one, he has a knack for insulting duck shows.

Also gates/capacity has been on the decline for Spidy too.

While the NYT doesn't carry the weight it once did with the theatre community, this review will do damage, and to that I say...good.

Give these actors Purple Hearts, a hefty severance package, and free them from career suicide...save that for the production team!

My guess would be that the critics community didn't care for the way this idiot enterprise was becoming the face of Broadway, and after the endless postponements they united to hasten its demise. LIKE SUPERHEROES!

Be great if they updated their marquee with the one rave review they've received so far...from Glenn Beck.

Loved that Ben Brantley review, particularly this Luther Ingram moment:

Because only when things go wrong in this production does it feel remotely right

"The songs by Bono and the Edge ... blur into a sustained electronic twang of varying volume, increasing and decreasing in intensity, like a persistent headache."

So how is that different from... oh, never mind.

Sounds like the best stuff they've done in years

A roundup:

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/spider-man-turns-off-the-critics/?ref=arts

Backhanded disclaimer:

The choreography took some thumps, and the flying sequences did not particularly wow the critics (all of whom, it’s perhaps worth noting, are adults).

Yeah, what about the child reviewers? and the idiots? why don't we let the idiots review this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNkYQvV5w6g&feature=player_embedded#

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/8910/image0gq.jpg
Who do I shot to get out of this production?

Same guy:

http://www.youtube.com/user/petermmarino#p/a/u/0/dPH7vZ3Rev8

^hilarious review quotes in less than a minute.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/whats-not-to-love-jackie-mason-waits-for-spider-man-to-break-his-dubious-record/

This damn show was simply using up all of Broadway's oxygen.

Now, maybe people will start talking about The Book of Mormon, which may be great or may suck, but at least won't be an overproduced fiasco.

The Book of Mormon: The Musical

Oh Moroni!

"... their most howling derision was reserved for a shoe-related number in the second act called Deeply Furious, or, as Variety puts it, "the spiders-in-high-heels number which is fast developing into musical-theatre legend". Elisabeth Vincentelli from the New York Post dismissed it as "a preposterous number", while Rooney admitted that "this is where the show really jumps the shark [...] Arachne and her Furies go shoe-shopping before entering the human world. Seriously."

really need You Tube footage of this in my life. http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/feb/09/spider-man-musical-reviews-roundup

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPH7vZ3Rev8

Yeah, this production's in no trouble at all...

http://www.deadline.com/2011/02/breaking-roberto-aguirre-sacasa-hired-to-rework-spider-man-turn-off-the-dark/

What's funny is that the folks that saw it both before and after the book was allegedly worked on the first major time said that not only did it still suck, but that it remained more or less the same. This far down the line I can only imagine so much of the show is locked into place that whatever changes can still be made to the story are limited at best.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/theater/16vanessa-redgrave.html?scp=1&sq=redgrave&st=cse

The director, David Esbjornson, described Vanessa Redgrave’s focus on puzzling out her character as “laserlike and total,” and this seemed wholly so. For example she wasn’t too familiar with the other Broadway fare around her; she referred to “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,” the $65 million musical extravaganza a few blocks away, at one point, wonderfully, as “Let the Light Come in From the Dark, Superman.”

Okay SHE should be doing the rewrites.

Brilliant. Cannot be improved upon.

Funniest thing are the threads on BroadwayWorld.com. For message boards it's not bad but there's a few doofuses in the Spiderman thread admonishing everyone for hoping the show fails because "of the economy impact" of the show.

Err last I looked the Spidy investors won't be denting Wall Street or getting a bailout

I might go see Miss Daisy if Redgrave wore the Knicks shirt onstage.

Michael Feingold on why he didn't bumrush Spider-Man:

It all has little to do with theater, and even less to do with criticism. Postponements, accidents, and epic cost overruns generate publicity. If seeing the show that provoked such publicity tempts you, you don't really care whether one reviewer called the score forgettable and another thought the story was incoherent. A critic trying to interfere with that public's interest is ludicrous—he might as well stand outside an amusement park bitching that the Ferris wheel doesn't look like a Rodin.

http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-02-16/theater/spider-man-turn-off-the-kvetch/

Lol, idiot producer posted this blog (and even logged onto BroadwayWorld to show everyone). What an idiot...

http://www.crazytownblog.com/crazytown/2011/02/look-out-here-comes-a-spider-critic.html

Never knew Jackey Harvey moonlighted as a producer.

excellent use of bolding

The producers of the Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” have brought on a veteran musical supervisor and conductor, Paul Bogaev, as a consultant to help improve the performance, vocal and orchestration arrangements, and sound quality of the songs and numbers, a production spokesman, Rick Miramontez, confirmed on Monday.

I guess it's about time to readjust that budget figure, huh

http://thespideyproject.blogspot.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiV-9HblOvM

The producers of the Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” have brought on a veteran musical supervisor and conductor, Paul Bogaev, as a consultant to help improve the performance, vocal and orchestration arrangements, and sound quality of the songs and numbers, a production spokesman, Rick Miramontez, confirmed on Monday.

There's some quote coming to mind right now involving "deckchairs" and "Titanic", but damned if I can remember the rest of it.

lol I remember a similar joke like that from Del Shores's "Sordid Lives", where this dude's wife claims she lost weight, and dude replies by saying she's fat and her weight loss was like "the Titanic losing a few deckchairs"

too bad it never occurred to them to bring in a writer familiar with comics and a musical supervisor familiar with broadway until after months of previews, I guess?

Every time I hear or read a headline about this I picture Bono and a bunch of rich investors just tossing buckets full of money into a giant bottomless hole.

OK, there's talk of a JUNE opening now. I still say never.

http://broadwayworld.com/article/Bloomberg_Says_SPIDERMAN_Has_No_Chance_to_Recoup_20010101

turning the currently schedule March 15 opening performance into a celebration of the work done so far

everybody gets a trophy day!

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/spider-man-cited-for-federal-safety-violations/?hp

Writing clearly on the wall now:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/theater/spider-man-director-faces-tough-choices-including-her-exit.html

“Anyone who creates knows — when it’s not quite there. Where it hasn’t quite become the phoenix or the burnt char. And I am right there.”

Indeed.

god please close this, i'd even settle for a revival of Bring Back Birdie in its place

Miss Taymor, lest you shirk, you should know:

"With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility."

I like Titus and some of the Beatles movie. I hope she rebounds.

Postponed, oh the shock

Little do we know, this is the world's most expensive media prank. Literally every single one of us has been secretly filmed throughout this whole thing. It's going to be a movie.

Webroulette

It's like that Stone Fury prank except we're all that guy who thinks he's playing Stone Fury

Seriously tho if I were a director, seeing "Spiderman" on anybody's resume would be a plus. If they can handle that disaster and not run fleeing, what can't they handle?

Course it could also trigger subconscious emotional damage to where years later they'll wind up weeping uncontrollably on stage for no reason.

Hulk: Turn Off Dark

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41m-zerzJUL._SS500_.jpg
Howie B: Turn the Dark Off

spidey project still going strong, second show about to sell out
http://thespideyproject.blogspot.com/2011/03/normal-0-0-1-366-2091-17-4-2567-11.html

So long farewell etc.:

A lead producer of “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” has told at least two investors and one other person involved with the Broadway musical that its director, Julie Taymor, will step aside once negotiations about complex contractual matters like her creative legal rights and her considerable financial stake in any profits are concluded, according to the investors and a person in a senior position within the show’s management.

All three people, who spoke anonymously because the producer, Michael Cohl, has asked that information remain private, said that he had told Ms. Taymor that she had to step aside so the producers could bring in a new team to overhaul the $65 million production. Yet Ms. Taymor’s departure from the musical would be an enormously complicated matter given that she is its creator, director, mask designer and one of its two script-writers.

On a personal level both sides want to find a way for Ms. Taymor — who has worked on the show for nine years — to leave while also saving face.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/03/10/theater/10taymor/10taymor-articleLarge.jpg

"Yes, that is a door, and you are leaving through it."

the most fitting exit would be for her to fling herself off the platform that that body double fell off of

Man, what a fail upwards, lose is a win for Taymor. She's going to get a truck of cash for walking away from the production she screwed up. I bet Bono is watching with envy, wishing his songs were even worse so that he could open his own golden parachute and tandem jump.

Not according to Richard Johnson

http://www.thedaily.com/page/2011/03/09/030911-gossip-spider-man/

Bono and U2 guitarist, The Edge, precipitated Taymor's exit when they finished their tour of South Africa, came back to New York and saw the show. Bono suggested some improvements, but Taymor wasn't receptive..."Bono will do some more work on the show. He really feels it can be a masterpice, as opposed to a survivability test for young actors. Bono and Edge will make it more of a Broadway musical...Taymor didn't want to make changes. Her attitude was 'take it or leave it'...when she lost the trust of Bono, that was it for her."

when she lost the trust of Bono, that was it for her.

oh my GOD

I'm not even going to bother c/p-ing that multiple times because you can never reach infinity

The irony of Bono assuming to know how to make "more of a Broadway musical" more than a highly successful Broadway director does is not acknowledged.

Also, judging from the "survivability test" crack, it sounds like he'd just take down a bunch the ropes and have people stand on stage singing his awful songs that nobody's liked.

I think the only thing better than the trainwreck of death that the show has become would be to remove all of the life-threatening bits from it and just turn it into ppl singing some really stupid shit

Bono's shooting more for:
http://www.littlestuffedbull.com/images/comics/adff288-capbway.jpg

oh wow I totally remember that ad

Marvel's got a great track record w/ Broadway Musicals so far.

'Captain America' boasts a hero-sized $4 million budget. IT'S going to be a big one, if everything works out as befits a musical named ''Captain America.'' Big, in this case, means a budget of $4 million - a lot of money, even for a superhero fighting for the American dream, the flag and the woman he loves. The superhero will not, in fact, be particularly super when the curtain goes up. The book by Mel Mandel and Norman Sachs (who are also responsible for music and lyrics) has Captain A. going through a mid-life crisis. Fortunately, the action speeds up - his girlfriend, a candidate for President, is captured by terrorists and held hostage at the Lincoln Memorial. That's enough of the plot - when you invest millions, as are Shari Upbin, James Galton and Marvel Comics and some as yet untapped sources, you're entitled to a few secrets.

never premiered, apparently

Clearly the solution is that Bono plays Spider-Man.

He's probably been angling for that the whole time.

Meanwhile in the 'shut up, you' department:

BONO FINALLY returned to the scene of his crime last week - shockingly, his first visit to the victim in two months.

The next afternoon, the two of me - tech lover and music critic - also went to inspect this long-suffering creature...

I don't think anyone could believe in Bono as Spiderman. Fans of music and superheroes identify him too strongly with the man who defeated MacPhisto in the "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" video.

Oh my gosh: For the film Batman Forever, Joel Schumacher attempted to create a role for Bono as MacPhisto, but both later agreed it was not suitable.

I read that as 'not subtle' and was wondering how either of them would think that was a bad thing.

Formal NYT report up:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/10/theater/julie-taymor-spider-man.html

And in honor of that, tonight:

A preview performance of "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" came to a halt Wednesday night during one of the Broadway musical's aerial stunts, a fight between Spider-Man and Green Goblin.
After soaring over the audience, Green Goblin's flight came to a stop when his steering mechanism failed. While the Goblin dangled over the stage and Spider-Man stood on a balcony ledge waiting to fly, the actors mugged for the laughing crowd.
A stage manager finally told the audience that the stunt would have to be canceled for safety reasons and Spidey and GG were returned to earth.
"I think they handled it well," said Avi Schwartz, 23, of Brooklyn, who was seeing the show with his wife Ariella, 19. "It didn't bother me whatsoever — the show is great."
"It's kind of easy for things to go wrong when people are flying over the audience," Ariella Schwartz said.

Admit it Ned, you're enjoying this!

Of course I am!

Bono and the Edge, for their part, are expected to play a greater role; one of their songs is expected to be a new Act II opener that reflects Peter Parker’s struggle between being a young man and being Spider-man.

I'm sure these 2 new songs will save the show!

"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Spinning For"

"The Fly"?

"Stuck in a Moment," to be performed whenever an actor gets hung up during a wire stunt.

"Unforgettable Wire"

Peter Parker’s struggle between being a young man and being Spider-man.

"I Will Wallow"

i'd love it if they add menial songs for just about every possible Parker daily activity, like "Putting On My Jeans", "Aced the Chem Test", "OMG That Girl's Boobs", etc....

That sounds like a musical of the Spiderman syndicated comic strip.

"It's a puzzle
This daily grind
My head's a mess!
No sleep to find!

*pause*

But though I am dreaming
Of Mary Jane (or Sue? or Deb?)
All I want to know is...

How?
How do I?

SHOT WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEB!"

^newest director

sPIderman: Squaring The Circle

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2011/03/spidey-bites.html

"I don’t know if I should put this on the record, but I’m surprised and a little hurt that they haven’t asked me to do a cameo yet."

More Jack Kirby.

Hahah the weaselly language here:

The revamping of SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark represents an unprecedented and historic moment on Broadway. The new version takes the best aspects of the original, adds great new songs by Bono and The Edge, tells the story from a different angle, and will offer an even more thrilling audience experience.

Lead producers Michael Cohl and Jeremiah J. Harris said, in a joint statement, "We salute the artists and performers who have made this show an exciting reality, and we look forward to getting to the finish line with the wonderful new version of SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark that is now in the works, with Phil McKinley at the helm."

What if "rampant performer injuries" are considered some of the "best aspects of the original"?

hahahaha

oh they'll be keeping those

Be funny (inevitable?) if the show emerges from this much better and stronger, but ticket sales drop off.

New random details or something.

Funniest detail -- the "Failure is Impossible" award.

Reports!

http://gawker.com/5801702/made+over-spider+man-musical-manages-to-not-kill-anyone-on-its-first-night-back

"opens" next Tuesday! maybe!

"Re-Imagined!"

"Now only slightly worse than seeing Paula Poundstone naked!"

The thing that made this all worth it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR1DdMeVqTw

Oh that Edge, teasing Bono at the Tony Awards about now being humble. In the 2nd NY Times articel below there's the "humble" reference (it's mentioned somewhere after the part about Bono bringing takeout food from a pricey Italian restaurant to the NYC recording studio)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/theater/bono-and-the-edge-explain-spider-man-back-story.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Bono and the Edge expressed regret at not being on site during previews in December, saying they were locked into a U2 tour of New Zealand and Australia. Most Broadway composers, both veterans and especially newcomers, are in their theaters virtually every night during previews, watching and taking notes. The Edge said they watched videos of performances from Australia yet were not in the theater again until early January, by which time the musical had become a late-night TV punch line.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/arts/music/bono-and-the-edge-at-work-on-spider-man-turn-off-the-dark.html?ref=theater

The project led Bono and the Edge to try new structures. “I’d never written a waltz in my life,” the Edge said. Now he has: a mad scientist’s patter song, “D.I.Y. World,” with lines like “Designer genes are a better fit.” It’s a show-tune-y number far removed from anything in the U2 catalog.

article

“I’d never written a waltz in my life,” the Edge said. Now he has: a mad scientist’s patter song, “D.I.Y. World,” with lines like “Designer genes are a better fit.”

Yeah, stop there.

OK, gotta say, Taymor may be a piece of work, but she got hosed. Bono/Edge collaborate with her, are fully aware of her vision, like the script, support her crazy vision, write the shitty songs (which pushes them out of their comfort zone), then wait out the entire preview process until it's too late. Then they swoop back in - like superheroes!- and kick her off the project when she won't change the shitty musical they worked on together for years.

The other reading is that Bono recognized they were in over their heads, and understood she had to go to remotely save his investment of time and money. Though from that article it seem as if Bono was smart enough not to put any of his own money into this. Edge, not so lucky.

Asked whether he and Bono plotted against Ms. Taymor, the Edge replied: “Julie was clearly exhausted, overwrought, and we all thought that if we don’t tread carefully, she’s going to walk. We were tip-toeing around her, and I think that probably meant that people were careful in what they said or told her. I certainly didn’t feel I could be 100 percent frank with Julie, and that was because I felt she was carrying so much of the weight.”

so she took the fall eh? pun intended

I guess this would be what people refer to as "throwing someone under the bus"

idk if it's that easy to shift blame onto Bono and The Edge in this case though....

I'm pretty sure it was known well in advance they'd be on tour during Previews

it's just the show was supposed to have been opened by then, and not be in previews anymore

Wasn't the U2 tour postponed for a year when Bono had a back operation? So maybe that wasn't on the original slate. Anyway, it sounds like their participation was passive at best until the shit hit the fan, then they decided to place the blame squarely on Taymor to save face/money.

idk, from what I read in the theatre community, she was extremely resistant to make changes suggested to her from the outside, ones that were eventually made after her ouster (ie, the removal of the Geek Chorus, the stupid song about shoes, etc)

According to that article, she was extremely resistant to make changes ... after all those months and months of development and previews. But no one asked her to make major changes until the very, very, very end, after it had shut down. There were plenty of opportunities to change the production in the months (and years!) preceding that, but the U2 guys (who OK'd her vision) were apparently AWOL.

I mean, if you read that article, even Bono seems bored of the whole thing by now, and was likely obligated to see this through to fruition. Anyone remember U2's aborted stage version of "A Clockwork Orange?"

Heartwarming.

Mr. Clinton applauded after every song and laughed heartily during a scene in which the villain Green Goblin becomes irked by an elaborate voice mail system.

sesame street spidermonster is beyond classic. bono muppet!

The mega-expensive musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” is no longer the ungodly, indecipherable mess it was in February. It’s just a bore

NY Times

I saw Bono and the Edge on NBC news last night saying the show was 90% ready. Still 10 % away?

"You'll applaud after every song if you're seated next to Bono!" - Bill Clinton

LOL michael musto

The tonal shifts are uncomfortable, but what's worse is the fact that most of the times someone opens their mouth to sing, you want to reach for the Raid can. Bono has moaned that Julie Taymor was too close to the material to accept criticism, which is what I've said all along, but his and the Edge's score is not exactly inspired, so should he be the one to complain? Maybe they should have called Elton John for lessons on how to write pop-rock music for the theater—or perhaps just trotted out their old hits and set the show on "New Year's Day."

you end up humming the scenery

Is that even legal.

But I feel they should retool this show one more time and use music by Adam and the Ants.

I WOULD SEE THIS.

"Broadway extrava-gorgonzola"

http://twitter.com/jacksonlewislee/status/80743577969377280

He hasn't posted since. Crushing.

http://fastcache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/7/2011/06/xlarge_0615_spidermannew_01.jpg

More Maleficient than Green Goblin, I'd think.

holy shit i just realized that guy in the far right is supposed to be J.Jonah Jameson and not some Dick Tracy mobster

if those are Spidey's natural thighs I am envious of MJ (they're a couple now apparently)

Best Song Title From SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK

xpost A couple of what, ha ha.

So has this closed yet?

Also, if you didn't hate Bono enough:

http://gawker.com/5817275/glenn-becks-final-broadcast-he-left-because-of-spider+man-and-bono

Oh boy, a video!

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2011/07/spider-man-star-reeve-carney-in-new-video-with-bono-the-edge.html

Reeve Carney sounds like a Spiderman villain name.

Skeeve Carney would be too perfect.

btw over the theater doors is this quote;

"What an amazing night on Broadway!"
-President Bill Clinton

Is this thing still going?

I was going to post more or less the same thing. I totally forgot about it.

On the plus side, that means no one else has been hurt.

Yet.

That's because they've switched to an all-Nerf cast.

Took in $1.5 M last week, 3rd to The Lion King and Wicked.

http://broadwayworld.com/grosses.cfm

sad that a stupid show like Wicked continues to rake in the green

si sad. Met the drummer once, lives in my neighborhood, seemed like a pretty nice guy

i thought this bump was going to be about south park. i didn't know there was a spiderman musical until 10 minutes ago.

But of course.

just set a single-week Broadway record for gro$$es and asses in seats.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-04/-spider-man-sets-broadway-record-with-2-9-million-box-office.html

Its success feels similar to that of "Avatar," just this sort of gormless achievement. It's like citing the longevity of Twinkies or whatever. At a certain point you just have to throw up your hands and sigh.

pretty sure that's the end of act 2

Its success feels similar to that of "Avatar," just this sort of gormless achievement. It's like citing the longevity of Twinkies or whatever. At a certain point you just have to throw up your hands and sigh.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, January 4, 2012 3:05 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

man i hate to be prick but this is the kind of glib nonsense that us real people hate you city folk for.

spiderman fucking means something to these people. yet you mock them for it.

just GTFO with your godless twinkie talk and say something meaningful

latebloomer, are you ... Spider-Man?

Or Glenn Beck?

*tears up*

mmmmm, twinkies

"Taymor refused to develop a musical that followed the original, family-friendly Spider-Man story, which was depicted in the Marvel comic books and the hugely successful motion picture trilogy based on them. Instead, Taymor, who admits that she was not a fan of the Spider-Man story prior to her involvement with the musical, insisted on developing a dark, disjointed and hallucinogenic musical involving suicide, sex and death."

http://www.nme.com/news/u2/61500

And dangerous falls and stunts.

i'm as amazed that they wanted a musical based on 'the hugely succesful motion picture trilogy' of Spiderman as i am by the fact that the director wasn't a Spiderman fan. to say nothing of her only being fired after the previews, if the entire story she was telling wasn't what they wanted!

TWO Tony nominations!

:/

is that a lot? not being sarky. i'm assuming it's surprising they got any?

yeah two technical noms - that's like Alice In Wonderland getting Best Visual Effects at the Oscars

"Best Scenic Design Of A Musical" and "Best Costume Design Of A Musical" - hey, two of the parts Julie Taymor is suing over

are the TONYs about as respected as the Oscars or way less or more respected? you know how say the Oscars are considered to get it wrong a lot of the time etc?

the TONYs cover a far, far smaller realm of potential nominees than any of the other big awards. Instead of an entire medium, it covers a multi-block radius, so getting it "wrong" in the nomination pool is tough.

ha, it's up against "Once," "Ghost" and "Newsies" for Scenic

Would like to see a version of "Once" with a superhero busker.

considering Once has rave reviews and the other three noms for "costume" (Follies, Porgy & Bess, that Matthew Broderick Gershwin thing) all have more than a shred of appreciation, it seems unlikely anyone from Spidey will be approaching the stage - or more likely having their name said in a scroll of "other awards given".

this was actually a massive snub; not getting a nom for best musical especially when Leap of Faith got one is a major fuck you to the whole produciton

it seems unlikely anyone from Spidey will be approaching the stage - or more likely having their name said in a scroll of "other awards given"

But Andrew Garfield is nominated for best supporting actor in a drama, so the movie Spidey winning an award is a possibility.

considering how well the musical is doing, it's pretty possible they'll find a way to shoehorn a spot for spidey in the festivities since the tonys are still a big national ad for Broadway. Or maybe they'll just show a lot of ads.

considering the recent spurt of musicals based on ridiculous early '90s movies, i'm shocked they haven't announced an adaptation of Swing Kids yet.

i predict a "Swingers" musical within the decade

considering the recent spurt of musicals based on ridiculous early '90s movies, i'm shocked they haven't announced an adaptation of Swing Kids yet.

Add on Velvet Goldmine and there could be a whole Christian Bale based musical genre.

is there an American Psycho musical yet

That would be so fun! There definitely should be.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/9221030/American-Psycho-the-musical.html

"Do you like Phil Collins?
His songs are the shit.
Ensemble playing's great.
Sussidio, a favorite hit!"

Duncan described the musical as "The American Psycho score is, so far, completely electronic. Prophet 5, Moog, various drum machines. Imagine Depeche Mode as the pit band!" on his Twitter feed.

it's good to know the composer for the American Psycho musical has no fucking clue about the source material

Yes, that gives me a sad. They should have got Phil Collins.

tbh I think Duncan Sheik is incapable of giving anything but a sad

C#
I have run
G#
I have crawled
G#
I have scaled these city walls
F#
These city walls
C#
Only to be with you

40 blocks further uptown on Thanksgiving Eve, title becomes Spider-Man, You Don't Have to Put On the Red Light

http://towleroad.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c730253ef017c33de81b4970b-pi

The $75 million Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,” the most expensive theatrical production in history, will close in early January after months of declining ticket sales, one of the lead producers said on Monday night. A somewhat revamped version of the show is being planned for Las Vegas in 2015, according to the producer, Jeremiah J. Harris.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/19/nyregion/spider-man-to-shut-on-broadway.html

Incredible:

The new Australian musical “King Kong” has been considering a move to the Foxwoods after “Spider-Man” closes, but no official plans are in place. The Foxwoods is expected to undergo some renovations before its next tenant moves in.

!?!??!

A great bit:

Like many producers on struggling shows, Mr. Cohl made attempts through the summer and fall to recruit star names in hopes of reviving ticket sales — in the case of “Spider-Man,” talking to the rock musicians Alice Cooper and Gene Simmons about playing the villainous Green Goblin.

“We got fairly far along with Gene, but there just wasn’t time to get him into the show quickly enough to make a difference,” said Mr. Cohl, who knew both musicians from his years as a rock concert promoter.

longest-running $60 million flop ever

(that is 60 in the red)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9zzHnRYxtc

getaway stayaway

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt52nJWik4A

We saw one of the Julie Taymor previews. The crowd was giddy, the show was crazy and carnival-like. A+

can we get an Ant-Man musical now

keep Reed on, make it a crossover with Down With Love

Up with Ant-man?

Up With Giant-Man

i miss when this was all that was going on in the world

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCBjJwjgTgW

Crap. This gets you there:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkLi5F0G0Hw

https://aux.avclub.com/how-youtube-is-keeping-the-memory-of-spider-man-turn-o-1846832894

I still can't believe that this happened

guess we'll never get follow-up musical Hulk Hop Hooray

I mean, I do and I don't want to get lost in that Archive, but shit like this is like Batman & Robin: The Movie, The Musical:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK46JScH2XI

god bless those archivists

i'm sure once his harness failed, he became Brown Goblin

Goblin doing stand-up, then transitioning into a dance-pop tune. never knew I wanted this in my life. well because I didn't. but watch I do

On November 19, 2013, producers announced that the show would close on January 4, 2014, citing falling ticket sales[26] and no longer being able to get injury insurance for the production as reasons for closure.[27]

lmao

It's mentioned once upthread but the Lord of the Rings musical just missed out a bit on this kind of archival coverage -- a couple of years earlier in social media existence and more importantly never did play Broadway, only Toronto and the West End. We had a blast on our podcast talking about it and I think our show notes actually pull together the most documentation about it all around:

https://www.megaphonic.fm/bythebywater/16

But yeah, nothing will top this and I'm with Neanderthal's post for the revive. Admittedly I was having a total blast on this thread.

This is some straight up “Zoo Animals On Wheels” horror.

i regret not seeing that LotR musical in toronto but i figured it would play for more than a few months, ha

there's a 10-min video on that spider man youtube channel just called "all recorded accidents", not sure if i have the nerve to watch it

The archive might as well just be called "all recorded accidents."

They chose that song when they went on Letterman (watch the ending if nothing else)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RgR0-EWuNY

Which inspired this Comedy Bang Bang sketch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZOcPFoT6T8

cant believe they couldnt sneak Grinder Girl onstage in that Letterman clip

lol i used to work next door to this but watching that "bouncing off the walls" video is the first time i've ever heard any of the music.
sounds like what i thought it would sound like

What

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-03/george-santos-produced-broadway-s-spider-man-musical-at-least-he-claims-he-did

Add Broadway producer to the long list of George Santos’s fabrications.

While running for Congress in 2021, Santos told some potential donors he was a producer on the musical Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, according to people familiar with the discussions. That show, which ran from 2011 to 2014, was an ill-fated production that lost tens of millions of dollars and suffered from technical mishaps and actor injuries.

Here’s a guy who thought he knew how to fix the one problem with the scam in The Producers: you gotta raise money on the production *after* it fails