The Broadway musical Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark didn’t have the reaction they had hoped for when it was shown to a preview audience. Apparently nothing really worked, Spiderman was caught up on the ceiling, props fell down, it was a mess. Check out some of the reactions below.
“I hated it. The fashion show was horrible. All of the villians looked horrible. That whole love thing with Arachne made no sense whatsoever. They also had 4 kids in Act 1 basically talking about what was happening and then somehow in Act 2 they end up really being in the story. The book is a total cluster[frick]. A U2 song made it into the show as well. Arachne also sings a song about her shoes. Awful. Just awful.”
“Ok, I have no idea what I just witnessed. It was a total incoherent mess. Taymor seems to have gotten so caught up in the symbolism and fx that she forgot to include a story. innovative at times, but soulless always. I’ll write more later but now i need a drink to clear my head.”
“The show was stopped 5-6 times. During one of those times in the second act, a woman in the audience screamed out (at least what I think was:) “I don’t know about anybody else, but I feel like a guinea pig and I want my money back! We should all get refunds!” The audience booed her. Another time the show was stopped right at the Act I Finale “stunt” and the Spider-Man performer was above the audience. Trapped. Stagehands walked on stage and he swayed and they reached over the orchestra to try and grab him. Took 3 attempts. Audience laughed.”
“The set, costumes, lighting, and sound will all be nominated for Tonys. Set and costumes is a front-winner to win. The flying sequences are amazing, but even after they get all the bugs out, I feel that they ultimately will stop the story and the show dies. We’ll see.”
“Oh. Plot. Right. That thing that supposedly was there but only Julie Taymor could understand because she wrote it in her alien language on her alien planet. ACT I was understandable. ACT II was bizarre. It was completely lost. The show is meant to be meaningful, I guess?”
I find this kind of funny actually, hopefully they can get the kinks worked out and make something worthwhile before it’s cancelled and all those actors are unemployed. Seems as if someone doesn’t know what they’re doing here and considering the $65 million price tag on the production, that’s just shameful.