First Showing of the Delayed 'Spider-Man' Musical is a Disaster

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark Debuts to High-Flying Technical Problems
By Andrew Scott
Posted Nov 29th 2010


$65 million later, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Broadway's most expensive musical ever, had its first official preview performance last night at the Foxwoods Theater in Midtown Manhattan.



Expectations were understandably sky-high, given the talent involved in the project (Lion King director Julie Taymor brought in Bono and The Edge of U2 to write the show's music and lyrics) and its sheer ambition.

But did Spider-Man's unofficial debut go off without a hitch? Well, not exactly.





According to the NY Times, the show, which began 24 minutes late, had to be stopped five separate times, four of which came during Act I.

In one instance, the titular character (played by Reeve Carney) found himself stuck above the audience during a routine flying scene. Intermission was called as soon as Carney was rescued.





Carney wasn't the only actor who found himself in a sticky situation.

The NY Post reports that Natalie Mendoza, who plays the eight-legged Arachne, was caught in midair for "an embarrassing seven or eight minutes" at the end of her number, 'Rise Above,' due to a reported wire malfunction.



And if that wasn't bad enough, a few theatergoers were spotted walking out of the theater after the fifth and final show-stopper, according to the NY Daily News.




Meanwhile, various audience members took to Twitter to express their initial -- and not exactly positive -- thoughts on the musical.


"Definitely needs work in the 6 weeks until it opens. It's basically incoherent," said nyindieguy. "A pageant of Taymor imagery ..."


"Two and a half hours into #spiderman and we are only at intermission," said avantgame.


"Lots of tech items to work out. Numerous stops and waits," added TomHTweets, before ending with a presumably optimistic "That's why its previews!!"






If there's an upside to all of this, it's that Taymor and crew still have about six weeks to fix the show's glitches before it's official opening on Jan. 11, 2011.

But for now, Broadway's Spidey appears to be caught in a nasty web of technical errors.

http://blog.moviefone.com/2010/11/29/spider-man-turn-off-the-dark-prev iew-performance-buzz/