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Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is a musical with music and lyrics by Bono and the Edge of Irish rock band U2 and a book by Julie Taymor, Glen Berger, and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. Based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man, the story incorporates elements of the 2002 film Spider-Man, the 2004 film Spider-Man 2 and the Greek myth of Arachne. It tells Spider-Man's origin story, his romance with Mary Jane Watson, and his battles with the Green Goblin. It includes highly technical stunts, such as aerial combat scenes and actors swinging from "webs".
The Broadway production was notorious for its many troubles. Several actors were injured performing stunts and the opening night was repeatedly delayed, causing some critics to review the "unfinished" production in protest. Following negative reviews, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark suspended performances for a month to retool the show. Aguirre-Sacasa, a longtime Spider-Man comics writer, was brought in to revise the story and book. The director, Julie Taymor, whose vision had driven the concept of the musical, was replaced by the creative consultant Philip William McKinley. By the time Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark officially opened on June 14, 2011, it had set the record for the longest preview period in Broadway history, with 182 performances.
Critical reception of the opening was better than for the previews, but mixed, with praise for the visual effects but little enthusiasm for the book and score. Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is the most expensive Broadway production in history, with a budget of $75 million. Julie Taymor contested reports of the budget on the BBC Radio 4 program 'This Cultural Life' claiming that the production cost was overstated and instead comparable to the Shrek musical. In the week ending January 1, 2012, it held the box office record for Broadway sales in one week, taking in $2.941 million over nine performances, until it was beaten by Wicked at the end of the year, with $2.947 million. The production closed on January 4, 2014, at a massive financial loss.
Although often described as a rock musical, the production "treads new ground" that some commentators have asserted "have effectively distanced it from its peers—and caused some confusion when it comes time to describe the show." The Edge said he was unsure how to describe the production, saying it had elements of rock and roll, circus, opera and musical theater. Bono, admitting that his description is a little "pretentious", referred to it as "pop-up, pop-art opera", and said that the director, Julie Taymor, called it a "rock-and-roll circus drama". He said it dealt with "the same stuff" as Rilke, Blake, Wings of Desire, Roy Lichtenstein and the Ramones. 60 Minutes called it a "comic book rock opera circus," but in this segment, Bono noted that even using "rock" to describe the music is too narrow a description because "We've moved out of the rock and roll idiom in places into some very new territory for us ... [including] big show tunes and dance songs."
The production was described early on as "the most technically complex show ever on Broadway, with 27 aerial sequences of characters flying" and engaging in aerial combat. The production also includes a "multitude of moving set pieces that put the audience in the middle of the action," and enough projections onto giant screens that Bono has said that it is like a three-dimensional graphic novel. The original story treated the origins of Spider-Man similarly to the story in the 2002 film, but wove in an involved story about a villain based on the mythological Arachne. A "geek chorus" of four teenagers narrated the story. In the rewritten version, the plot hews closer to the comic book and film and trims and transforms the role of Arachne into a "kindred spirit in Spider-Man's dreams".
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark had no out-of-town tryouts because of the technical requirements of the production, which were designed for the Foxwoods Theatre on Broadway. The musical began previews at that theatre on November 28, 2010. After many delays, the official opening gala night took place on June 14, 2011.
The creative team originally included the director Taymor and the choreographer Daniel Ezralow, with scenic design by George Tsypin, costume design by Eiko Ishioka and lighting design by Donald Holder. An "expanded creative team", announced on March 9, 2011, includes Philip William McKinley, joining the production as "consultant" (when Taymor left the production). It also includes the addition of Chase Brock for additional choreography and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa for additional writing. Taymor retained her original credits in Spider-Man.
The opening night cast featured Reeve Carney as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Jennifer Damiano as Mary Jane Watson, Patrick Page as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, T.V. Carpio as Arachne, Michael Mulheren as J. Jonah Jameson, Ken Marks as Uncle Ben, Isabel Keating as Aunt May, Jeb Brown as Mary Jane's Father, Matt Caplan as school bully Flash Thompson, and Laura Beth Wells as Osborn's wife Emily. Due to the physical demands of the role, Carney performed in six of the eight performances each week. The original alternate was British actor Matthew James Thomas, who left the show in November 2012 to star in Pippin.
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Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is a musical with music and lyrics by Bono and the Edge of Irish rock band U2 and a book by Julie Taymor, Glen Berger, and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. Based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man, the story incorporates elements of the 2002 film Spider-Man, the 2004 film Spider-Man 2 and the Greek myth of Arachne. It tells Spider-Man's origin story, his romance with Mary Jane Watson, and his battles with the Green Goblin. It includes highly technical stunts, such as aerial combat scenes and actors swinging from "webs".
The Broadway production was notorious for its many troubles. Several actors were injured performing stunts and the opening night was repeatedly delayed, causing some critics to review the "unfinished" production in protest. Following negative reviews, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark suspended performances for a month to retool the show. Aguirre-Sacasa, a longtime Spider-Man comics writer, was brought in to revise the story and book. The director, Julie Taymor, whose vision had driven the concept of the musical, was replaced by the creative consultant Philip William McKinley. By the time Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark officially opened on June 14, 2011, it had set the record for the longest preview period in Broadway history, with 182 performances.
Critical reception of the opening was better than for the previews, but mixed, with praise for the visual effects but little enthusiasm for the book and score. Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is the most expensive Broadway production in history, with a budget of $75 million. Julie Taymor contested reports of the budget on the BBC Radio 4 program 'This Cultural Life' claiming that the production cost was overstated and instead comparable to the Shrek musical. In the week ending January 1, 2012, it held the box office record for Broadway sales in one week, taking in $2.941 million over nine performances, until it was beaten by Wicked at the end of the year, with $2.947 million. The production closed on January 4, 2014, at a massive financial loss.
Although often described as a rock musical, the production "treads new ground" that some commentators have asserted "have effectively distanced it from its peers—and caused some confusion when it comes time to describe the show." The Edge said he was unsure how to describe the production, saying it had elements of rock and roll, circus, opera and musical theater. Bono, admitting that his description is a little "pretentious", referred to it as "pop-up, pop-art opera", and said that the director, Julie Taymor, called it a "rock-and-roll circus drama". He said it dealt with "the same stuff" as Rilke, Blake, Wings of Desire, Roy Lichtenstein and the Ramones. 60 Minutes called it a "comic book rock opera circus," but in this segment, Bono noted that even using "rock" to describe the music is too narrow a description because "We've moved out of the rock and roll idiom in places into some very new territory for us ... [including] big show tunes and dance songs."
The production was described early on as "the most technically complex show ever on Broadway, with 27 aerial sequences of characters flying" and engaging in aerial combat. The production also includes a "multitude of moving set pieces that put the audience in the middle of the action," and enough projections onto giant screens that Bono has said that it is like a three-dimensional graphic novel. The original story treated the origins of Spider-Man similarly to the story in the 2002 film, but wove in an involved story about a villain based on the mythological Arachne. A "geek chorus" of four teenagers narrated the story. In the rewritten version, the plot hews closer to the comic book and film and trims and transforms the role of Arachne into a "kindred spirit in Spider-Man's dreams".
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark had no out-of-town tryouts because of the technical requirements of the production, which were designed for the Foxwoods Theatre on Broadway. The musical began previews at that theatre on November 28, 2010. After many delays, the official opening gala night took place on June 14, 2011.
The creative team originally included the director Taymor and the choreographer Daniel Ezralow, with scenic design by George Tsypin, costume design by Eiko Ishioka and lighting design by Donald Holder. An "expanded creative team", announced on March 9, 2011, includes Philip William McKinley, joining the production as "consultant" (when Taymor left the production). It also includes the addition of Chase Brock for additional choreography and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa for additional writing. Taymor retained her original credits in Spider-Man.
The opening night cast featured Reeve Carney as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Jennifer Damiano as Mary Jane Watson, Patrick Page as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, T.V. Carpio as Arachne, Michael Mulheren as J. Jonah Jameson, Ken Marks as Uncle Ben, Isabel Keating as Aunt May, Jeb Brown as Mary Jane's Father, Matt Caplan as school bully Flash Thompson, and Laura Beth Wells as Osborn's wife Emily. Due to the physical demands of the role, Carney performed in six of the eight performances each week. The original alternate was British actor Matthew James Thomas, who left the show in November 2012 to star in Pippin.