REVIEW: Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark – Take 2

As comics fans, we’re used to reboots and retcons. New creators come to reinvent a character or a franchise pretty regularly. It’s the nature of comics. Some times is refreshing and iconic; some times it’s little more than a marketing gimmick; and other times it’s just a train wreck.

Back in March it was announced that director Julie Taymor would no longer be heading the $65 million fiasco production of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. A new creative team was taking over to do some much needed damage control. Now helming the show is Philip William McKinley, who is most well know for his work with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s The Greatest Show on Earth (I’m not even joking, the dude runs a circus). Comic creator and playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and TV writer Glen Berger were brought on to do some significant rewrites. Spider-Man went dark for three weeks so the cast and crew could rehearse the new show. The first preview performance was set for May 12, and for once, the show managed to stay out of the headlines.

I had already seen the show in March, but was honestly thinking about purchasing tickets for the revamped show once (if) it was out of previews. So when I won a Twitter contest for tickets to the first preview performance of the new show, I was genuinely happy about it. Once again I walked in to the Foxwoods Theater, eager and excited to see the “reimagined” production.

As soon as I sat down I started flipping through the new Playbill. The cover had changed, but I didn’t see any of the Greg Horn art that had been announced in February. Off the bat I noticed that the order of the songs had changed around, notably the battle between Spidey on the Green Goblin had been moved from the end of the first act to the end of the show. A couple of numbers had been removed and it looked like we were getting one new song.

A majority of the elements of the show have stayed the same. There were no set or costume changes. Aside from a few lyrical changes, the music is all the same. The overall look-and-feel of the production hasn’t changed.

The most obvious and significant change to the show is the plot. The major problem with the first version of the show was the second act had little to no real structure. Like mad scientists, Aguirre-Sacasa and Berger have taken the best pieces of the previous production, rearranged them a bit, added some much needed connective tissue, and breathed live into a new show. Instead of getting Frankenstein’s monster, we have a fully realized and, dare I say, good Broadway musical.

The new production follows much of the structure of the original first act. Similar to the Spider-Man movie, the show centers on Spidey’s origin story, as well as Norman Osborn’s decent into madness as the Green Goblin.

Arachne is still part of the story but she has a much smaller role. She opens the show and has a with-great-power themed song in the second act, but that’s it. We get to see a lot more of the relationship between Peter and Mary Jane, which is sweet and adorable (if you like that kind of thing, and I do). There are a couple more fantastic scenes with J. Jonah Jameson and the Daily Bugle staff. Osborn’s arc is fleshed out a bit. In the new version, he creates the Sinister Six as a way of seeking revenge and wrecking havoc on Spider-Man after the loss of his wife.

Most importantly, we finally get to hear the infamous line, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

The show is not without its problems. There are a few numbers that don’t quite work; a few scenes feel a bit forced. There’s still a giant cut-out baby and a scene in which Peter wrestles a giant blow-up doll. If I had one problem with the show, it would that Uncle Ben’s death happens off-panel and doesn’t feel as poignant as it should. But overall it is such a dramatic improvement over the previous production.

Back to the good stuff. The aerial stunts are still oh-my-god amazing, and an extended sequence with the Sinister Six gives us some more on-stage web-slinging and shooting. The climactic aerial battle between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin has been moved to the end of the show, where quite frankly, it belongs. These scenes are truly what make Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark stand out from anything else on Broadway. Again, I had goosebumps – it's just spectacular to watch.

The best performance of the show, hands down, is from Patrick Page as Norman Osborn and the Green Goblin. He perfectly blends whimsy, humor, and complete madness into his portrayal of Osborn, and it’s an absolute delight to watch.

On seeing the show a second time, I really enjoyed Reeve Carney as Spider-Man. Maybe it’s the weight of having done 146 performances of the show, but he really captures the frantic exasperation of Peter Parker and the many directions his life pulls him. Aguirre-Sacasa and Berger have also punched up his dialog a bit, so Carney gets to deliver some classic Spidey quips while he’s fighting bad guys. And in the shows penultimate number, he’s a total rock star.

So when the curtain came down and the house lights went up, I looked at my friend and said, “It was actually good! No. Seriously.” Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has become a musical worth seeing. I can confidently recommend that, given an opportunity, people go see this show. It’s a fun, action-packed web-slinging adventure through New York that I think people will really enjoy.

Ali Colluccio was actually able to get her hands on tickets for How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, starring Harry Potter and Dan Fielding. She’ll most likely tweet about it.