U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview
 

Good I hope it fails. U2 are getting way too big for their britches and a $50 million Broadway musical disaster about Spiderman just proves it.


http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/amp...rst-preview?nc
U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview
Posted Mon Nov 29, 2010 10:13am PST by Daniel Kreps in Amplifier
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After enduring high-profile production delays, major casting changes and the highest bill in Broadway history by a wide margin (most estimates put it in the $65 million range), the U2-penned musical "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" finally opened for preview performances this past weekend. And, by all accounts, the musical's inaugural show, staged at the Great White Way's Foxwoods Theater, was an even bigger disaster than critically loathed "Spider-Man 3" movie. As the New York Post so eloquently put it in today's review, "Turn Off the Dark" is "an epic flop as the $65 million show's high-tech gadgetry went completely awry amid a dull score and baffling script." Ouch.
[Rewind: Recapping the early troubles of the 'Spider-Man' musical]
Faced with towering critical and box office expectations due to its high cost and marquee talent, the "Turn Off the Dark" musical does have a lot going for it. It was scored by Bono and the Edge, and its jaw-dropping sets, costumes and cavalcade of infamous and original villains were imagined by Julie Taymor (of the $4.2 billion-grossing "Lion King" theatrical production).
But perhaps its biggest draw are the high-flying aerial effects that promise to wow audiences in a way that Broadway has never seen before. Taymor's crew has rigged the theater with all manner of pulleys and acrobatic high-wires in order to tell the story of Marvel Comics' teenage web-slinger. It's those ambitious aerial effects that resulted in five delays during the first preview performance, with technical difficulties often stranding the actors as they hovered above the audience for several minutes at a time.
[Photos: Gallery of young actresses reading for the latest 'Spider-Man' movie]
Audience members, who paid in the vicinity of $140 to see this debut performance, were warned by the show's producer Michael Cohl before the curtain went up that the show might need to hit the brakes throughout, since it was still a work in progress (it doesn't open officially until January 11, 2011). However, no one in the audience could have anticipated just how many times the performance would screech to a halt: There were four stoppages in the first act alone, including one incident where a stunt-gone-wrong left Spider-Man star Reeve Carney hovering over the audience for several minutes while stagehands tried to reel him back in. That mishap resulted in intermission being called prematurely, and the break itself lasted over 40 minutes. (It's worth noting that Act One itself started nearly a half-hour late, but the audience's slow filing to their seats could be to blame.)
In total, the preview performance ran a "Gone With the Wind"-esque three hours and 20 minutes, which is apparently more than a modern day audience can take in one sitting. During a technical stoppage in the second act, one frustrated woman in the audience yelled, "I don't know how everyone else feels, but I feel like a guinea pig today -- I feel like it's a dress rehearsal." The heckler was promptly booed, according to the New York Times, as the audience banded together to take pity on the technical woes facing "Spider-Man" five weeks before its opening. Considering that thankfully no one was injured during the preview performance -- two "Spider-Man" actors suffered broken bones while attempting the aerials during rehearsals last month -- it seems as though the musical is progressing positively on its march toward opening night.
It's not uncommon for previews to have glitches -- actors drop lines, miss cues -- and generally audiences are forgiving of that sort of thing. But when a show promises as much visual dazzle as "Turn Off The Dark," it may have a difficult time avoiding the bad PR stemming from such a trouble-plagued first preview.
What could be most damaging from the standpoint of traditional and word-of-mouth press is the fact that technical issues seemingly overshadowed the musical's other problems, which included a convoluted plot that seemed to confuse hardcore and nascent Spidey fans alike. Even U2's score, led by the first single "Boy Falls From the Sky," didn't receive the rave reviews that greeted the band's most recent album "No Line on the Horizon."
With a price tag of $65 million plus a weekly running cost of $1 million, its estimated that "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" would need to sell out every performance for the better part of forever (or at least "many months," says Variety) in order to finally turn a profit. No small feat by Broadway standards.
[Promotional image courtesy Spider-Man on Broadway]

Re: U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview
 

I imagine everybody who saw the 60 minute special wept a little bit when they kept repeating "nobody wants to see a $32 million Spider Man."

Re: U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview
 

I'll probably get the score/soundtrack since it was written by Bono and Edge. I just hope it has a few redeeming tracks on it.

Re: U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview
 

"Remember dearest, everyone thought Jesus Christ Superstar was a stupid idea."

"Jesus Christ Superstar WAS a stupid idea."

"True."

Re: U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview
 

I'm just about the biggest Spider-man fan in the world, but I have ZERO interest in this. What are they thinking??!?! Who would want to see this?!?!?

Re: U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview
 

What rave reviews?

Re: U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview
 

Bono's wife says "Oh, that's just fine, love!"

Re: U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview
 

I saw the piece on Sixty Minutes, too.

I thought it was some kind of This is Spinal Tap sequel I was watching.

Re: U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview
 

I'm a U2 fan, but this really sounded like a bad idea from the beginning.

Re: U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview
 

Adam Clayton's chippy of the week said "I would rather listen to this than have a bunch of baby carrots stuck in my ass."

Re: U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview
 

Spider-Man fanboys have no interest in Broadway musicals. Broadway aficionados have no interest in Spider-Man. The music, reportedly, is awful, as is the book. And then the technical problems which should have been hammered out a LONG time ago...

PLUS the fact that Julie Taymor invented two villains for the show, including one called "Swiss Miss".


This is going to be one of those massive, once-in-a-lifetime colossal failures that will be analyzed for decades...

Re: U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview
 

$50 million invested and it needs to make $1 million a week for who knows how long to eek out a profit. Sounds like they got a bunch of investors who said: Hey it's U2, it's Spider-man! How can it fail? Once the stink if on this thing it's going to sink like a rock.

Re: U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview
 

I'd heard about this a number of times, and I was SURE that Joaquin Phoenix was going to pop out at some point with a smug grin on his face. Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would actually happen.

Where's Max Bialystock?

-jason

Re: U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview
 

It costs $1 million a week to keep the show going? Jesucristo...

Re: U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview
 

There were lots of great reviews.

Rolling Stone, Blender, EW, Mojo, HotPress, Billboard all gave it very good or better.

As far as the show goes, most of the issues were either around:

Production - It's a show with people flying over the audience and that is the biggest "issue". People getting trapped overhead, or set pieces not moving into place.

Lyrics - Heard it's hard to understand what everyone is singing.

All the reviews I have read, from critics to those that saw it, focus almost entirely on the production parts. Yea, Spiderman shouldn't get stuck over the audiences head, but that is far from being a plain shitty show.

I hope they get their act together and it at least breaks even. It's not as if Bono/Edge would be hurt in anyway if this bombs. All the music I've heard (being a U2 fan) sounds good to me, so if it fails I'm just gonna blame the director, who supposedly has a bigger head than Bono.

Re: U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview
 

But kids parents do, and they dragged them out in force for opening night. Just like Lion King.

Re: U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview
 

This abortion is entirely is Julie Taymor's creation, and when it fails, she's gonna take the fall for it. Hard. That said, I'd easily watch Titus, Frida, or Across the Universe any day of the week instead of listening to any U2 album. :shrug:

Re: U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview
 

Kids don't drag parents out to Broadway shows at $100 a ticket. Besides, Lion King succeeded because of its existing familiarity as a Disney musical and the goodwill brought on by the success of Disney's previous theater exercise, "Beauty and the Beast", which was a smash 3 years previous.

AND it had the benefit of exceptional word of mouth... while Spider-Man's buzz is akin to Turd of the Year. The technical errors are getting the most exposure, but there is plenty of buzz that the book and music are both quite mediocre.

Re: U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview
 

What exceptional word of mouth has been thrown around for Spiderman? (Other than who is attached to it?) All I heard was it was getting canceled, way overbudget, etc...nothing on how great it is...

I know someone who was there, and said there were quite a few kids in attendance. I saw something on the news this morning about it, and they showed all the kids in line waiting for the first show.

When I saw Lion King in the first week it played here in Los Angeles, lots of kids were there. I understand the basic difference between Lion King (Established Disney Property) vs. Spiderman (Comic book / U2 involvement) but both would appeal and attract kids in a higher percentage than most other Broadway shows.

I would not count B&TB as really helping Lion King. I saw both, and their was no buzz around Lion King because of B&TB, it was more about hearing the spectaular staging / costumes of Lion King. Something that may help Spiderman (From the director of the Lion King!)

and again, please show me a review not focused on the production issues. Not saying it's a hit, but everything I've read focuses on the highwire issues, etc...

And for good measure:

Re: U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview
 

OF COURSE! U2 is behind this. How good would anyone really expect this to be?

Re: U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview
 

Rolling Stone - Never said a bad thing about U2
Blender - Phhht
EW - LOL
Mojo - OK, one decent magazine gave it 4 stars
Hot Press - ?
Billboard - Has Billboard ever given a bad review to anyone? Basically free advertising for the music industry.

FYI I like U2 a lot. I think they're a brilliant band live but over the last decade they've become a parody of themselves, releasing albums that seem to follow musical trends rather than create them. If they were the Who, I'd say they're around It's Hard in their history.

Re: U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview
 

You say you like U2, yet all the posts I find on here from you, regarding U2 are critical. Hence why I posted your comment above.

If anything, the 2 before this latest album could be called "following U2's 80's Musical Trends" but this last one, was quite different than the 2 before it, and was well reviewed. Both Q & RS said it was their best since Achtung Baby.

Q Magazine - Simply, what this amounts to is the best U2 album since "Achtung Baby.

Uncut - It's U2's least immediate album--but there's something about it that suggests it may be one of their most enduring.

Hot Press - No Line On The Horizon is a mature, tender, reflective record of great musical variety, depth and beauty that could only have been made by four people who've experienced just about everything that life can throw at you.

Los Angeles Times - No Line on the Horizon partakes of that romance by trying to expose its inner workings. It's risky to expose those delineations; as the band said long ago, it's like trying to throw your arms around the world. But the effort has its payoffs.

New Musical Express (NME) - It has the pomp and arrogance of their best work, enough new sounds and interesting new avenues to satisfy the musos and, at its core, is a very good collection of very good songs played very well. A little more silliness would go a long way, though.

Metacritic shows 20 positive reviews, 8 mixed and 2 negative.

Re: U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview
 

What about U2's music has ever said, "This should be on Broadway!"?

Re: U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview
 

Probably nothing. It would be as silly as putting Green Day's music on Broadway. :)

Re: U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview
 

http://www.geekshow.us/wp/wp-content...03/prod009.jpg

I'd rather shove red hot pokers in my eyes and take it up the ass from a syphilitic horse than see Across The Universe again, but that's just me.