The Official "Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark" Thread!

[danoyse]

So I saw this tonight. All I can say is this

It wasn't all terrible. Visually, it was terrific. The flying went off fine tonight, the work with the screens was very cool.

I did enjoy some of the music, particually Rise Above and the song Peter and MJ sing during Act 2. Mostly I'd just like U2 to take it back, take the Spiderman stuff out, and release it on one of their albums.

The cast was very talented. We saw the understudy for Spiderman, but he was very good as well.

As for the bad...

...the story was ridiculous. It was like they pulled some random references from the comics/movies and dropped them in between the special effects. My friend doesn't follow Spiderman at all and she didn't have a clue what was going on.

The Geek Chorus. That was downright bad. It can't be taken out of the show soon enough.

Arachne. She had a great voice, that's about it. The character just made no sense in the story. It didn't help that she had a whole number about stealing shoes, complete with dancing spiders in high heels.

The show was just boring. The audience wasn't iinto it at all - after one of the songs in Act 2, they were so dead silent that one of the ushers started clapping just to get them to applaud.

I was hoping it would at least be enjoyable, but it was really a dud.

[danoyse]

This catastrophe of a show has now inspired a Law & Order episode:

http://www.tvline.com/2011/04/law-or...r-man-musical/

Law & Order: CI Exclusive: Cynthia Nixon Set For Episode Inspired by Spider-Man Musical

My Spidey sense tells me there’s another Guest Star Emmy in Cynthia Nixon’s future.

Sources confirm to TVLine exclusively that Law & Order: Criminal Intent has tapped the Sex and the City vet to headline its upcoming episode loosely inspired by the troubled Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.

Nixon will play Julie Taymor Amanda Reese, the high-strung and larger-than-life director behind a problem-plagued Broadway version of Icarus. After a sabotaged stunt results in the death of an actor on stage, Amanda spirals out of control.

In 2007, Nixon picked up an Emmy for guesting as a woman with multiple personalities on Law & Order: SVU.

[SpideyForPrez]

Found this article about the changes made after the reboot and departure of Taymor.


http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/05/13/spider-man-broadway/

'Spider-Man' reboots on Broadway: What did they change?

So what’s different about the show now? Plenty. Overall, the new Spider-Man is a far more traditional musical, having left behind most of Taymor’s more radical concepts. Gone are the guitar players on the stage wings, the Geek Chorus that narrated the action, and the story’s meta-narrative about the intersection of myth and reality. More strikingly, the second act has an entirely new storyline — a straightforward conflict between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin in lieu of a semi-mystical battle with the villainess Arachne. But that’s not all. Here’s a rundown of the show’s biggest changes.

More action: The new show includes a number of new “flying” sequences, plus more web-slinging and more scenes of Spidey bagging bad guys.

More exposition: The critically maligned Geek Chorus is indeed gone, so dialogue has been added to clarify major plot points and character motivation.

More Goblin, less Arachne: Arachne, a major character in the original show, has been reduced to a small supporting role. She’s now a guardian angel figure who appears only a handful of times. Her Furies, the minions who performed the infamous “Deeply Furious” number, have been removed entirely. Taking Arachne’s place as the show’s main evildoer is the Green Goblin, whose climactic fight with Spider-Man — which used to conclude the first act — is now the show’s finale.

New jokes: The new script takes plenty of tongue-in-cheek jabs at the media — inspired, no doubt, by the show’s spiky relationship with news outlets that have covered its troubles. J. Jonah Jameson, the fiery Daily Bugle editor, denounces bloggers and defends his newspaper by saying it’s “not the [New York] Post.” Later, the Goblin winkingly refers to himself as a “65 million dollar circus tragedy.”

Expanded characters: With Arachne out of the picture, supporting characters like Emily Osborn (the Green Goblin’s wife) and Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben and Aunt May have been beefed up.

A new song: While most of the musical numbers have been reworked, the only brand new song is “Freak Like Me,” a hard-edged anthem sung by the Green Goblin.

[theShape]

Basically, if you go back and read my earlier post after I saw the show, you can see that they went back and changed everything I hated about it. I have no doubt that Turn Off the Dark is a much stronger theatrical experience now.

[Sawyer]

VIDEO-CLick to Watch!:

I'm actually somewhat enjoying this song.

And I want that jacket.

[Hellion]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

VIDEO-CLick to Watch!:

I'm actually somewhat enjoying this song.

And I want that jacket.

Pleasantly surprised myself when I saw it.......I'd give my siblings for a jacket...

[Ultimatehero]

Original Cast Recording is now on I-TUNES. I've gotta say, it sounds great!

[Angel_Faerie]

VIDEO-CLick to Watch!:

Here's the Tonys performance. All I could think the entire time was "I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You..." (If you haven't seen Evita, YouTube that title). That doesn't mean the song's bad, it just reminded me of another one.

[Mrpaul]

Wow this show even made tonight evening news. Hoping for the best and that they learn something from this

[SpideyForPrez]

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/166...-reviews.jhtml

Here's a nice summary of the reviews. Sounds like the changes made it a better show. I gotta get myself to NY for this and The Book of Mormon. More so The Book of Mormon.

[SpideyForPrez]

Here's a quick look at the show


http://teamcoco.com/video/spider-man-musical-childish

[Mary Jane Watson]

*sub*

[spida-man]

I want to see this so badly

[The Guard]

I caved and bought the soundtrack on Amazon. It's got its moments, but it's a pretty generic, substandard score. There are a few major moments, and the rest of the songs are hardly even fitting for Spider-Man. Its so WHINY.

[Chris Wallace]

I was initially wholeheartedly against this. BUt now I'm curious enough to check it out.

[Ultimatehero]

Just saw it last night.

I thought the first act was beyond amazing. The sets, the actors, the songs, the effects every single thing rung true to what Spider-Man is all about. There were a lot of call backs for the fans of Marvel which was awesome. Spider-Man flew right over the heads of audiences. Only one technical glitch, I think, which the guy playing the Green Goblin expertly navigated around using improv. Not noticeable.

The second act... things got a little muddled. The song "freaks in new york city" had completely different lyrics from the cast album which kind of made it odd - having listened to that song numerous times. The story seemed rushed - one second Peter gives up being Spider-Man and within five minutes becomes Spidey again. The villains, well the majority of their presence was all videos projected big - it would have been awesome seeing them come into play more. This play definitely should have been longer. Also the villains were all created by Norman Osborn - general audiences won't have a problem here, but it cheapens them in the MU. There were also no fight sequences - just webbing - the punches that were thrown weren't even close to the other actor which is kinda odd considering everything else they did...

That said the stand-outs...

The whole first act - was literally amazing and did everything right.
Uncle Ben? I haven't come this close to tears since 2001. That says a lot. Just epic.
Bouncing off the walls? Probably my favorite musical number. Literally amazing.
Spider-Man flying overhead? Dudes, I felt like a kid again. It was beyond awesome. Spidey even crawled right past me... just AWESOME.
The final battle? You'll have to see it to believe it - that was way beyond amazing!
The sound? People were looking EVERYWHERE - - I haven't had this much fun with sound design since the first X-Men movie and hearing Xavier's voice coming from every side of the theater. Seriously, this was amazing. Not to mention there was one section with tons of Spider-Men throughout the theater that was spectacular.

Also keep in mind this is coming from a very hard to please first time through viewer. I went in with really high expectations. Yeah, some parts bugged me - pun not intended - but that's because all the other stuff was just so well done. Now my Dad? Not a Spidey fan, no real expectations, loved it completely - so these are just more fanboy nitpicks.

To sum up...

The good:
- The entire first act
- The songs
- The acrobatics
- The sound design
- The audience participation
- Uncle Ben's death (no musical has ever effected me like this before)

The bad:
- The villains were under used
- There were no real punches thrown (even stunt punches); aerial - punches were thrown but with Spidey vs. Goblin on top of Chrystler, they were punching thin air...
- The pacing seemed way too fast for the story they had to tell

Nice in-jokes:
- Mary Jane was starring in a broadway version of 'The Fly'
- In high school MJ was in a performance of 'The Fantastics,' nope not the Fantastic Four.

As said though, this was a scenario where the amazing far out weighed the minor flaws in it. I tried thinking of an equivalent and I'd say it's on Iron Man 2 level. It's not as good as Spider-Man 2. It's not as messed up as Spider-Man 3, which I still found enjoyable (and my Dad hated). It's near par with Spidey 1, it even has some areas I'm wondering if the reboot can beat emotionally - and that's saying something.

So to all Spidey fans, while there are some flaws within it that could bother comic fans, overall? There were several moments where I felt like a kid again. The only real films to have accomplished that to me were:

- X-Men
- X-Men: First Class
- Spider-Man
- The Dark Knight
- The Avengers trailer

There's just something special about having Spidey live and in the flesh crawling right past you.

Lots of fangasm areas here folks.


8/10

Feel free to ask questions.

[Mary Jane Watson]

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/20...-highest-ever/

"Broadway Box Office Soars, With ‘Spider-Man’ Flying Highest Ever"

Of course, it is Spider Man. Spidey sells.

[Hellion]

Originally Posted by Mary Jane Watson

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/20...-highest-ever/

"Broadway Box Office Soars, With ‘Spider-Man’ Flying Highest Ever"

Of course, it is Spider Man. Spidey sells.

Thats good to hear ... glad to see that the opposite of what most thought would happen is happening...wait I kinda confused myself, but you guys should get it...LOL...wish I could see it.

I'd like to hear someones opinions that saw the newer version and compare it to those test screenings that were getting harsh reviews, I'd love the take on differences, etc...

[tzarinna]

I'm thinking about going next month, I know I am so late.

[danoyse]

Tony nominations were announced today. Spiderman was nominated for two: Best Scenic Design and Best Costume Design.

No Best Musical nomination (it was possible), and no nomination for Patrick Page as the Green Goblin (which was another possibility).

I hated the show - and I know they've revamped it since then, but since it already took $70 and nearly three hours of my life that I won't be getting back, I won't bother seeing the new version. But the sets/costumes were excellent, so the nominations were certainly deserved. I think it will definitely take the scenic design award.

But Best Musical? I'm rooting for Newsies (saw it last night, loved it). Although I'll be happy if Once wins.