After months of catastrophes, calamities and creative changes, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is still plugging along with preview performances. I was really hoping to be able to end that sentence with a “has finally opened with its official show.” But that was way too optimistic of me. Nonetheless, last night I took my seat in the Foxwoods Theater on 42nd Street and Broadway and waited, quite eagerly to be honest, for the curtain to rise on a show more infamously cursed than MacBeth.
There are a few things you should know about this performance before I get into the nitty gritty. First, I was genuinely looking forward to seeing this show. I didn’t buy tickets out of morbid curiousity; I wasn’t looking for a train wreck. I, unironically, was excited about seeing this show. Second, as I mentioned, this was a preview performance, which means it’s basically an open dress rehearsal. It is by no means a finalized version of the show, and technical kinks are to be expected – I knew this before I walked into the theater. If you’ve been following along with the madness, you probably know Julie Taymor was recently let go from the show. Massive changes are in store for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. The show will go on hiatus for a couple of weeks in April so that the actors and crew can rehearse the even newer version of the play. The show I saw was one of the final performances of Julie Taymor’s vision for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Whatever ends up opening in June will be very different.
The show is framed by a “Geek Chorus” – a group of teenage boys sitting around, trying to write their perfect Spider-Man comic, until someone’s bratty sister comes in and changes things around. She’s “responsible” for bringing in the new big-baddy Arachne, and all the other departures the story takes. It’s all very meta, although I'm not sure how intentional it was. Like any Greek Chorus, the group moves the story along and fills in gaps. It's a pretty standard theatrical function and, for the most part, it works very well in the larger Greek odyssy type of story Taymor is telling. [Editor's Note: It would appear that the "Greek Chorus" is being cut from the show.]
It becomes quite clear within the first few scenes that the play is borrowing quite heavily from Sam Raimi’s original Spider-Man film. It opens with Peter in high school and his unrequited crush on popular girl-next-door Mary Jane. The actors playing Aunt May and J. Jonah Jameson are channeling the performances of Rosemary Harris and J.K. Simmons. The first act of the show hits a lot of the same beats as Spider-Man. And it works very well.
There's no nice way to put it; the second act goes off the rails. There was a lot of scuttlebutt that this was the weakest portion of the show, so I was expecting it to be a bit rough. It was, at points, a bit unwatchable. After cramming the whole Green Goblin plot into the first act, the second focuses on Arachne. Taymor uses the Arachne of Greek mythology – a woman who angers the gods and as punishment is turned into the world's first spider. This ancient spider goddess has a major crush on Spider-Man and goes all Fatal Attraction when Peter gives up being Spidey so he can spend more time with M.J. Calamity ensues, often in the worst way possible.
The music is exactly what you would expect for music written by Bono and the Edge. It very much has that U2 sound, and Bono manages to crowbar his political views into the lyrics. There are a few standout numbers: D.I.Y. World, Bouncing Off the Walls, Picture This and the annoyingly catchy Rise Above. But a majority of the numbers feel like plain-old pop songs, making part of the show feel more like a rock concert or music video, particularly with some of the staging.
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has its flaws, and most of them are blatant. But there are also a lot of fantastic moments.
Patrick Page was an absolute delight as Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin. Taymor took a bit of a departure from the traditional evil genius/corporate titan Osborn we're used to seeing. Instead he starts out as a fun and loveable mad scientist-type working in genetics. His wife Emily runs the day-to-day operations of Oscorp, while Norman runs amok Reed Richards-style in his lab. The two are very much in love – at least until she dies in the lab accident that creates the Goblin. Page, who is a Broadway veteran, is pitch perfect as this exaggerated, cartoony version of the character. I wish there was more of him in the show.
The costumes have rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, but they really do look impressive on stage. They have a very Tim Burton look and feel that reminded me a lot of Beetlejuice. Personally, I loved them. We get a fashion show montage of all Spider-Man's villains: Carnage, Swarm, Kraven the Hunter, Electro, the Lizard, and the new Swiss Miss (created on the spot by that pesky girl in the Geek Chorus). The scene itself falls a bit flat, but design-wise it is a spectacle to behold.
Speaking of spectacles, I'm sure you're all chomping at the bit to hear about all the aerial stunts and wire work. If you're looking for a horror story, you will be sadly let down. Aside from a brief pause because of a system safety lock, the stunts went off without a hitch.
In the way that Raimi's Spider-Man made us believe a man could swing through the concrete canyons of Manhattan, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark makes you believe the web-slinger really is flying over your head. The aerialists are wonderful at what they do. The first time Spider-Man swings off the stage and onto the mezzanine, I gasped. His battle with the Green Goblin had me on the edge of my seat. And when he flew over my head, telling M.J. "I'm just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man" I quite literally swooned (and then sent the entire iFanboy staff an email about it because OH MY GOD THAT WAS TOTALLY AMAZING!!!). I'm still getting goosebumps thinking about it.
Seeing a childhood hero quite literally come to life before my eyes made the whole thing worth it. No matter how many bad reviews this show gets, no matter what new dirt the press digs up, no matter how many creative directions the show gets pulled in – at the end of the day, you get to see Spider-Man about as real as you'll ever see him. And that's why this show will be an absolute success.
Ali Colluccio still has high hopes for How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, starring Harry Potter and Dan Fielding.
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Glad you enjoyed it, Ali! Is Reeve Carney still playing Spider-Man? How was he? I have to admit I kind of like his band. . .
After all the bad press I really didn’t think anyone liked it.
@Bryce31 Just about every review I’ve read as echoed a lot of what Ali said: the first act is good, the second act is a disaster, and the music is a mixed bag.
The producers apparently hired a team of comic book writers to rework the show. The Geek Chorus has already, according to the New York Times, been axed. I’d expect Arachne and Swiss Miss to go as well. As mind-blowing as some of Taymor’s mythological meditations may have been, they just didn’t seem to work on stage very well. I’ll be curious to learn what reviewers think of the rewrites.
“an absolute success”
Umm- no.
Unless by success – you mean tax shelter.
@ericmci Regardless of the shows quality and whether you like it or not, I 100% believe this will make boat loads of money.
@SirCox: boat loads of money, eh? Maybe if it runs for DECADES. One of the many problems with this show has been its projected ~$1+ million WEEKLY operating expenses. The general consensus at this point seems to be that the producers will NEVER make back the $65M already invested in the show.
http://www.irishcentral.com/ent/Spider-Man-Turn-Off-the-Dark-will-not-recoup-65-million-on-Broadway-117144828.html
I saw the play on March 12. I have to say that the worst part of the play was the kids who narrated it and the horrible scene between Osborne and the military.
I love ya Ali but…..you might be the only person, I know anyways, that enjoyed it.
I think the random fantastic moments you mentioned clouded how bad it actually was. I’m sure there are some great moments in this show. But it sounds mostly like a train wreck from everyone else I’ve read.
Still a great review and I’m glad someone found some enjoyment out of it.
Maybe it’s the horrible, unnecessary dance scene in Raimi’s Spider-Man III that has prejudiced me against this. Maybe it’s that I have a strong dislike for musicals, with a very few exceptions. I think the wire-work would be cool, and I have nothing against Spider-Man. Some of my earliest comics were Spidey. But this sounds horrible. The songs I saw performed on Good Morning America were terrible. Swiss Miss? Arachne? Really? I could do better for $65 million.
Maybe some of it can be fixed, maybe not. If you enjoy it, go for it. I can only give thanks that the Batman musical died before it lived.
http://www.freewebs.com/batman_themusical/home.htm
@cahubble09 That article is absurd. Of Course it’s not selling every seat yet. It hasn’t even debuted yet!
@kennyg No you couldn’t. You would not be able to develop nearly as good a show as you would think you could. You may be able to write a better plot, but to bring it to life on the stage is not nearly as easy as you might think.
@SirCox The fact that it hasn’t debuted and yet they are charging such high price preview tickets is one of the problems. They need the audience to get the feedback (and generate the revenue) but every time soneone sees a bad preview, they go out and trash it. You’re right that it isn’t set until it opens, but that doesn’t matter, bad press is bad press.
Taymor leaving and a new director coming in, with new writers is the only thing that might be able to save it, but at this point, saving it means just being able to open and run for a few months. If this show isn’t playing to capacity every night, they will close quickly. That’s the nature of Broadway nowadays. This has become a vanity project for those still involved, an attempt to redeem themselves so that they aren’t the butt of jokes for years to come.
@Fractal514 For $65 million I’d definitely give it my best shot! That’s more money than I will earn in my entire lifetime.
By my calculations, at the current avg ticket price of $175 and at capacity of 1800, I think they could make over a million profit every week.
Speaking as a theater fan though… I hate this show. The price they are charing is ludicrous, it is just insane. I sincerely hope this show flops, if for no other reason than to show producers that they can’t get away with charging that much for a single ticket to a Broadway show. The higher ticker prices go in New York, the more it becomes an elitist and rare event to attend the theater, and that just isn’t good for anyone.
People are aware that this is the top grossing play in New York currently, right?
And that Peter David gave it a joyously positive review?
And that excellent comic writer (Sensational Spider-Man) & award winning playwright Roberto Aguirre Sacasa is now rewriting the story?
Ok, just checking.
@KickAss And those all affect the personal opinions of the reviewer how?
@WonderAli Hey, AMAZING review! I like the personal details a lot, Ali.
@kennyg > I don’t understand your logic. First you say you have a “strong dislike for musicals” and then you say that you would do a better job than the people involved in it; people who I’m pretty sure LOVE musicals. I believe that is one of the biggest problems with a lot of Broadway shows nowadays, people who do it only for the dough, because they saw passionate people doing tons of it out of their good work. The trick is the passion and good work have to come before the millions of dollars.
@Fractal514 > I agree that the prices for this one are on the high end of the stick (my calculations say it’s actually a $195 average) but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I mean, Broadway IS THE BIG LEAGUES of theatre and it ALWAYS has been an elitist experience. I mean, about the only time I suit up is for weddings AND Broadway shows. There are tons of options for theatre lovers that don’t cost almost a month of my rent. We have off-Broadway shows and alternative underground theatre companies and community theatre (and as an amateur actor, PLEASE support us too).
BUT, and mind the all caps, IF I’M GOING TO SPEND A MONTH’S RENT ON A SHOW I EXPECT IT TO BE FREAKING AMAZING. I spent almost 400 bucks for 2 seats (not orchestra, mind you) for Wicked, and the moment I saw the Wicked Witch of the West take her first flight while singing that high note was worth all of it. That is the magic of Broadway, when done right. And I guess that’s the magic that touched Ali at some moments during Turn off the Dark. And that’s what people who have a “strong dislike” for musicals will never understand. Just like people who have a “strong dislike” for the funny magazines will never accept that comic books are literature too.
Anyway, I just hope they can iron out the details on this baby for my next trip to NYC, ‘cause I sure as hell will be there.