Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Encyclopedia
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is a rock musical
with music and lyrics by U2
's Bono
and The Edge
and a book by Julie Taymor
, Glen Berger
, and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
. The musical is based on the Spider-Man
comics created by Stan Lee
and Steve Ditko
, published by Marvel Comics
, as well as the 2002 film
about the character and the Greek myth of Arachne
. lt tells the story of the origin of the character, his romance with Mary Jane
and his battles with the evil Green Goblin
. The show includes highly technical stunts, such as actors swinging from "webs" and several aerial combat scenes. At the first preview performance, these technical challenges caused several lengthy interruptions. Several actors were injured during rehearsals and previews.
Spider Man is the most expensive Broadway production and had the longest preview
period (182 preview performances) in history. Although the musical began performances in November 2010, the official opening was postponed several times. After receiving feedback from preview audiences and scathing reviews from critics, previews were suspended in April 2011. Director Julie Taymor left the production, as co-director Philip William McKinley was brought in to redirect portions of the show. The musical's book was revised, and new previews began May 12, with the official opening on June 14, 2011. Critical reception of the opening was better than for the earlier version, but mixed at best, with praise for the visual effects but little enthusiasm for the book and score.
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
stated that he is unsure of what description to use for the production, because "It is elements of rock and roll, it's elements of circus, it's elements of opera, [and] of musical theater." Bono
, admitting that his description is a little "pretentious," has referred to it as "pop-up, pop-art opera," noting that Julie Taymor is calling it a "rock-and-roll circus drama." Bono has also described the production as "wrestling with the same stuff" as "Rilke
, Blake
, Wings of Desire
, Roy Lichtenstein
, [and] the Ramones
." A 60 Minutes
CBS
special stated that it is being called a "comic book rock opera circus," although in that 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 not only features high-flying stunts, but 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 villainness 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".
. The musical began previews
on November 28, 2010, with the official opening night on June 14, 2011.
The creative team originally included director Taymor and choreographer Daniel Ezralow
, with scenic design by George Tsypin
, costumes by Eiko Ishioka
and lighting 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 production stars 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 and Isabel Keating
as Aunt May
. In primary ensemble role are 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 shares the role of Spider-Man with Matthew James Thomas
, who appears in two of the performances each week.
Cast replacements
Brown was replaced by Timothy Warmen in August 2011. Carney has extended his contract in the show through May 2012, although he will take sereval weeks off in the winter to shoot a film, during which time the role will be shared by Thomas and understudy Caplan. Damiano's contract ended on November 6, 2011, and Carpio's on Nov. 13. Damiano was replaced by Rock of Ages
star Rebecca Faulkenberry from Nov. 10, while Christina Sajous (Broadway's American Idiot
) replaced Carpio beginning Nov. 15.
, Goddess of the Weavers ("The Myth of Arachne"). As Peter gives his report, Arachne descends to the stage and tells the audience her story ("Behold and Wonder"). Thousands of years ago, Arachne was a skilled weaver who became conceited and boasted that she was greater than the goddess Athena
- who challenged Arachne to a weaving contest. When Arachne was made the victor, Athena became ashamed of her defeat and destroyed Arachne's work. Devastated, Arachne hanged herself, but Athena took pity on Arachne and transformed her into the world's first spider. Now Arachne is cursed to wander the universe and weave her web for all eternity.
After class ends, Peter's ex-best friend Flash Thompson
and his friends gleefully torment the straight-A student ("Bullying by Numbers"). Peter has a crush on popular girl Mary Jane Watson
, but they both have unhappy lives. Mary Jane has an abusive father and suffers at home while Peter suffers the torment of bullies at school ("No More"). Peter has lived with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May
ever since his parents Richard and Mary Parker
died in a plane crash when he was a baby. A few days later, Peter and classmates go on a field trip to the genetics laboratory of scientist Norman Osborn
and his wife Emily, who explain what they hope to accomplish with their genetic research ("D.I.Y. World"). While Peter takes pictures of the lab for the school newspaper, the Osborns put the whole lab on lockdown as a dangerous genetically altered spider has escaped. While the students and scientists panic, the spider lowers itself onto Peter's shoulder and bites him ("Venom").
Peter soon becomes aware that he has spider-like powers as a result of the spider's bite - along with a muscular physique, 20/20 vision and the ability to emit web strings from his wrists. He uses his powers at school to defeat Flash and his buddies in a fistfight ("Bouncing Off the Walls"). After seeing Flash give Mary Jane a ride, Peter decides to buy a car to impress her. He heads out and enters a wrestling tournament, where he defeats champion Bonesaw McGraw for the grand prize of $1,000. Peter returns home only to learn that Uncle Ben has been shot by a mugger. Ashamed of his recent selfishness and realizing he's powerless to save his dying uncle, Peter has an emotional encounter with Aunt May - unaware that Arachne is watching over him. Arachne encourages him to use his gift to defend the innocent from evil ("Rise Above"). Peter vows to avenge Uncle Ben's death by using his powers to save the world and notes that "with great power comes great responsibility".
Peter then makes a costume with the colors that Arachne described to him - red for every heart of the innocent that bleeds and blue for the sorrow of endangered citizens - before swinging through the city on his webs, fighting criminals and saving innocent civilians as "Spider-Man". The Daily Bugle
then begins to publish articles about Spider-Man while Peter is hired by editor-in-chief J. Jonah Jameson
as a freelance
photojournalist. Meanwhile, Norman Osborn begins thinking that Spider-Man stole his research as the military organization Viper Worldwide presses him to accelerate his project ("Pull the Trigger"). Norman contemplates the dilemma with Emily while Peter shares his first romantic moment with Mary Jane ("Picture This"). Norman then decides to experiment on himself, causing an electrical surge that results in Emily's accidental death. Norman goes insane and becomes the "Green Goblin
".
, Electro, Kraven the Hunter
, the Lizard
, Swarm
and Swiss Miss. That night, Mary Jane tells Peter that her love for him has grown and he admits that the feeling is mutual ("If the World Should End"). The Goblin and his new alliance of criminals - calling themselves the "Sinister Six
" - go on a rampage through New York ("Sinistereo"). Spider-Man quickly defeats the Sinister Six as the citizens of New York cheer him on ("Spider-Man!"), unaware that the Goblin has managed to escape. The Goblin arrives at the Daily Bugle and tells Jameson to print his plans of dominating the world through genetic mutation. The Goblin also tells Jameson that he gave Spider-Man life, making Jameson believe Spider-Man is in league with the Goblin and therefore giving Spider-Man an even worse image from the Bugle. Later that night, Arachne comes to Peter in a vision and explains that she is his guardian along with the reminder that being a hero is his destiny and he cannot escape it ("Turn Off the Dark").
Maligned by the media and suffering financial woes, Peter wants to spend more time with Mary Jane after missing the opening night of her play and begins considering to take time off from fighting crime. Upset over Peter's constant excuses and not wanting to lose the best friend she ever had, Mary Jane suggests they take a break from their relationship ("I Just Can't Walk Away (Say It Now)"). Hurt, Peter decides not to resume his heroic acts as Spider-Man and gives his costume to J. Jonah Jameson telling him that Spider-Man has quit. He later takes Mary Jane to a night club and impulsively proposes to her. While there, the Green Goblin intercepts the club's TV signal and sends a message to Spider-Man threatening his loved ones. Peter takes Mary Jane to his apartment and breaks off their relationship so that his enemies won't target her. After telling Mary Jane that he will always love her, Peter takes a walk and realizes that he needs to be a hero not only for Mary Jane but for the world ("The Boy Falls From the Sky"). Spider-Man then recovers his costume from the Daily Bugle and goes after the Green Goblin.
The Goblin sits at a piano at the top of the Chrysler Building and humorously boasts to the audience of his plan to destroy New York City ("I'll Take Manhattan"). Spider-Man arrives ready to fight, but is soon unmasked when the Goblin reveals he knows Spider-Man's true identity. Peter attempts to revive the good-natured Norman within the Goblin, but to no avail. Peter engages the Goblin in combat, but before he can finish him the Goblin reveals that he has Mary Jane, who now dangles from the Chrysler Building. A flying battle over the audience takes place and when it seems all hope is lost, Spider-Man webs the Goblin to his piano. The Goblin, not realizing this, thrusts the piano over the side of the Chrysler Building, taking him down to his death. After Spider-Man saves Mary Jane, she tells him not to leave and reveals that she has guessed who he is. Peter removes his mask and they embrace. The two contemplate their new life together before sirens begin wailing and Spider-Man swings away ("Finale - A New Dawn").
Act II:
† "The Boy Falls From the Sky" was written by all band members of U2
.
†† Not on the Broadway cast recording
, Bono began composing Spider-Man after Andrew Lloyd Webber
joked, "I’d like to thank rock musicians for leaving me alone for 25 years – I’ve had the theater all to myself"; Bono and Taymor "decided to give Andrew a little competition".
In August 2002, Marvel announced that Tony Adams
would produce a stage musical based on the Spider-Man comics. Adams approached Bono and The Edge to be involved with the project; in turn, they enlisted Taymor to direct. However, in October 2005, Adams suffered a stroke
while the creative team was assembled to sign contracts; he died two days later. Patrick Healy in The New York Times
described their situation:
to step in as producer, and by May 2010 Cohl had raised the money to proceed with the project, much of it from Jeremiah J. Harris, former Chairman of Live Nation, who is also listed as a producer. Meanwhile, the musical was eventually scheduled to open at the Foxwoods Theatre on February 18, 2010, but the production was delayed again until fundraising could be completed.
By November 2010, the production was estimated to cost $65 million. In addition, the show's unusually high running costs were reported to be about $1 million per week. Meanwhile, a new opening night of December 21, 2010 was scheduled, but this was delayed until January 2011, reportedly due to "a tremendous amount of creative commotion behind the scenes" as more time for rehearsals were needed. In December 2010, the official opening was again pushed back, to February 2011, "to provide more time for the creators to stage a new final numbers, make further rewrites to the dialogue and consider adding and cutting scenes and perhaps inserting new music. ... Ms. Taymor and the producers have concluded that Act II has storytelling problems that need to be fixed." A "final postponement" was made once again, pushing the opening to March 15, 2011, in order to "allow Taymor to fine-tune the production and instate a new ending".
The New York Times
reported that the show's opening would be delayed for the sixth time, until summer 2011. This latest delay included a shutdown of previews. The shutdown lasted from April 19 to May 11, 2011, in order for the new creative team to implement changes; preview performances resumed May 12. In March, Cohl and Harris said they shut down previews because they felt "the story needed some work, the songs needed some work, and the sound needed some work", and that they "were going to concentrate on those three areas over the next three and a half weeks." They also announced that injured Spider-Man stunt performer Christopher Tierney would be rejoining the show. By April 2011, also, the budget was reported to have grown to $70 million, and as of the opening, it was reported as $75 million.
and Alan Cumming
were cast as Mary Jane Watson and the Green Goblin, respectively, in June 2009, but Wood left in March 2010 and Cumming the following month when the show was delayed. The new original cast was announced on August 16, 2010. During early previews Mat Devine
, Gideon Glick
, Alice Lee and Jonathan Schwartz played a group of characters known as the "Geek Chorus
". After revisions, the characters were cut from the show.
In February 2011, playwright
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
was asked by the producers "to help rewrite the script". He had written several stories for Spider-Man comic books and had revised the book for a production of It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman
. On February 21, 2011, Paul Bogaev (a 2004 nominee for a Tony Award for Best Orchestrations
) was hired "as a consultant to help improve the performance, vocal and orchestration arrangements, and sound quality of the songs and numbers."
In early March 2011, Playbill
and The New York Times reported that the producers had considered whether to "work with an expanded creative team" or have Taymor leave the production. Soon thereafter, Taymor left the production. Philip William McKinley joined the show as "consultant", and Chase Brock joined as co-choreographer.
reviewed these scenes in the show and, in February 2011, cited the show for two workplace safety violations. The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration
fined the show $12,600 in March 2011 for three serious safety violations. The Actors' Equity Association
also looked into the incidents. One of the injuries occurred when Spider-Man stunt double
Kevin Aubin broke both wrists. Another actor "had broken [his] feet on the same move a month earlier."
Natalie Mendoza
, who was originally cast as Arachne, suffered a concussion during the first preview performance on November 28, 2010, when she was struck in the head by equipment in the wings. She did not report the accident to producers until November 30. She appeared in the second performance against her doctor's advice; the role involves several flying sequences, including one in which she is spun upside-down. Mendoza later felt ill, and America Olivo
, her understudy, played the role during her nearly two-week absence. Mendoza returned to the show for the December 15 evening performance. Following the preview of December 20, 2010, when Spider-Man stunt performer Christopher Tierney was injured and hospitalized, Mendoza suspended her performance. On December 30, she announced her permanent withdrawal from the show and was replaced by T. V. Carpio.
In that December 20 preview, Tierney fell more than 20 feet off a piece of scenery when his harness was not connected to the safety cord, leaving him to freefall through the stage and into the orchestra pit
. Tierney was hospitalized at Bellevue Hospital Center
; he was released for rehabilitation on December 28. The December 20 performance was ended prematurely. After rehearsals for stricter safety procedures involving the harnesses, the show resumed with the evening performance on December 23. Tierney was released from New York University
's Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine
on January 5, 2011. He returned to the show for rehearsals on April 25, 2011 and performed in the show on opening night. Meanwhile, Carpio was injured during a March 16 performance, reportedly hurting her neck, and left the show for two weeks.
. Carney, Bono, and The Edge all performed on the May 25, 2011, final episode of American Idol Season 10
at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles
, singing "Rise Above." Carney and Damiano performed "If The World Should End" on the 65th Tony Awards
telecast in June 2011.
The show has twice appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman. In March 2011, the cast performed Rise Above. On July 18, 2011, the cast, led by Patrick Page, performed A Freak Like Me Needs Company.
is Turn Off the Darks lead media partner, offering tickets to the show as prizes and airing commercials for the production. CBS
' 60 Minutes
aired a feature on the production on November 28, 2010, the production's first preview performance, in which Lesley Stahl
chronicled the creation of the musical.
championed the production after attending the preview showings several times.
Most of the major theater critics published their reviews of the first version on February 7, 2011; nearly all of them were strongly negative in tone. Although reviews during the preview period are unusual, the critics decided that the ever-expanding preview period was so long, and ticket prices were so high, that they should not wait for the official opening. An analysis in The New York Review of Books
by classics scholar Daniel Mendelsohn
followed up the complaints of other critics that Taymor's attempt to graft the classical myth of Arachne
onto the comic book story turned the show into "a grotesque hybrid" and overloaded the plot with two unrelated main villains in Arachne and Green Goblin.
In a scathing review of the first version, The New York Times
critic Ben Brantley
had said that Spider-Man may "rank among the worst" Broadway musicals. In his review of the revised version, Brantley wrote, "So is this ascent from jaw-dropping badness to mere mediocrity a step upward? Well, until last weekend ... I would have recommended Spider-Man only to carrion-feasting theater vultures. Now, if I knew a less-than-precocious child of 10 or so, and had several hundred dollars to throw away, I would consider taking him or her to the new and improved Spider-Man."
In the show's first incarnation, the average rating from critics was "F+", while the revision garnered an average score of "C+". In a roundup of the reviews, Linda Buchwald commented, "critics actually miss some of Julie Taymor's ambition, crazy as they may have thought it at the time. Critics agree that the show is improved in that it makes much more sense, however, now they mostly find it a bore. Bono and the Edge's score is almost universally panned while Patrick Page's Green Goblin and stunning visuals remain for most critics the best reasons to see the show."
The New York Times Patrick Healy stated that Spider-Man had become "a national object of pop culture fascination—more so, perhaps, than any show in Broadway history" due to media coverage and late-night comedians' monologues on the musical's many delays, injuries, and creative issues. He speculated that the musical would not have staying power through repeat viewings like other hit musicals, after "tourists and parents with children" watched it for "bragging rights at dinner parties or on the playground". The New York Post
columnist Michael Riedel stated that the musical would be short-lived: "Depending on how much more money its backers are willing to lose, my hunch is that 'Spider-Man' will stagger through the spring, pick up with the tourist traffic in the summer and then collapse in the fall. It should be gone by September [2011]."
, host Sean Hayes
ran on stage dressed as Spider-Man, struggling comically to sing through the mask. After the first preview performance, Conan O'Brien
featured his own "preview" of the show, demonstrating how the show could have been more inexpensively produced, in ways that included using Silly String
for web-slinging stunts. The cover of the January 17, 2011 The New Yorker
featured a cartoon showing multiple actors dressed as Spider-Man wearing casts or a head brace or in rehab, parodying the cast injuries in the show.
The musical has been parodied several times on Saturday Night Live
. On the December 4, 2010 episode, Andy Samberg
played an understudy playing Spider-Man due to injuries, hanging upside-down from the ceiling and failing to flip over, saying, "You'll flip for it!" The February 12, 2011 episode had a commercial parody for a law firm
called Gublin and Green
specializing in lawsuits related to Turn Off the Dark, with a lawyer portrayed by Fred Armisen
. While none of the defendants receive cash, they do receive free tickets to a future showing of the musical. One of the testimonials in the advertisement comes from Bono, as played by Andy Samberg
. In the March 12, 2011 episode, Taymor, who had just left the production, was satirized by Kristen Wiig
.
The May 23, 2011 episode of the satirical animated series Mad
involved Taymor approaching the Smallville
TV-series version of Clark Kent
to cast him and the rest of the characters in Smallville: Turn Off The Clark. At the 2011 Tony Awards
, host Neil Patrick Harris
tried but failed to confine himself to as many jokes about Spider-Man as he could complete in 30 seconds, focusing mainly on the accidents plaguing the show.
On June 13, 2011, Sesame Street
posted a segment online parodying the musical, featuring Grover
as the accident-prone "SpiderMonster".
The June 19, 2011 episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent
concerned a high-flying Broadway musical named Icarus
, where events similar to the events in the production history of Spider-Man turn tragic, leading to an actor's death. In Icarus, the creative team includes a high-strung director and a secretly bisexual rock-star composer.
, was released on June 14, 2011. On May 25, 2011, a single
version of "Rise Above", titled Rise Above 1: Reeve Carney Featuring Bono and The Edge, was released digitally.
The music video was released on July 28, 2011 and for the Billboard
chart week of August 13, 2011 the single debuted on the Adult Top 40 chart at position 40, and peaked at position 34.
Jon Dolan for Rolling Stone
gave the album a three stars rating out of five commenting: "Amid the all many disasters that beset the Broadway version of Spider-Man, Bono and the Edge's songs emerge pretty much unscathed by critics. Now that the show has been revised and restaged, this centerpiece anthem of struggle over adversity may become a metaphor for its slog towards redemption. "Rise Above" is a trademark soaring U2 ballad, with the elegant grandeur cranked up to Andrew Lloyd Weber levels. But show tunes need big voices too, and, singing next to Bono on this version from the forthcoming cast recording album, leading man Reeve Carney sounds like a nervous understudy."
Rock musical
A rock musical is a musical theatre work with rock music. The genre of rock musical may overlap somewhat with album musicals, concept albums and song cycles, as they sometimes tell a story through the rock music, and some album musicals and concept albums become rock musicals...
with music and lyrics by U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
's Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
and The Edge
The Edge
David Howell Evans , more widely known by his stage name The Edge , is a musician best known as the guitarist, backing vocalist, and keyboardist of the Irish rock band U2. A member of the group since its inception, he has recorded 12 studio albums with the band and has released one solo record...
and a book by Julie Taymor
Julie Taymor
Julie Taymor is an American director of theater, opera and film. Taymor's work has received many accolades from critics, and she has earned two Tony Awards out of four nominations, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design, an Emmy Award and an Academy Award nomination for Original Song...
, Glen Berger
Glen Berger
Glen Berger is an American playwright.Berger has received commissions from the Children’s Theater of Minneapolis, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Alley Theatre, and the Lookingglass Theater...
, and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is an American playwright, screenwriter and comic-book writer best known for his work for Marvel Comics and for the HBO drama series Big Love.-Biography:...
. The musical is based on the Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
comics created by Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
and Steve Ditko
Steve Ditko
Stephen J. "Steve" Ditko is an American comic book artist and writer best known as the artist co-creator, with Stan Lee, of the Marvel Comics heroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange....
, published by Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
, as well as the 2002 film
Spider-Man (film)
Spider-Man is a 2002 American superhero film, the first in the Spider-Man film series based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. It was directed by Sam Raimi and written by David Koepp...
about the character and the Greek myth of Arachne
Arachne
In Greco-Roman mythology, Arachne was a great mortal weaver who boasted that her skill was greater than that of Minerva, the Latin parallel of Pallas Athena, goddess of wisdom and crafts. Arachne refused to acknowledge that her knowledge came, in part at least, from the goddess. The offended...
. lt tells the story of the origin of the character, his romance with Mary Jane
Mary Jane Watson
Mary Jane Watson, often shortened to MJ, is a fictional supporting character appearing, originally, in Marvel comic books and, later, in multiple spin-offs and dramatizations of the Spider-Man titles as the best friend, love interest, and one-time wife of Peter Parker, the alter ego of Spider-Man...
and his battles with the evil Green Goblin
Green Goblin
The Green Goblin is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #14 ....
. The show includes highly technical stunts, such as actors swinging from "webs" and several aerial combat scenes. At the first preview performance, these technical challenges caused several lengthy interruptions. Several actors were injured during rehearsals and previews.
Spider Man is the most expensive Broadway production and had the longest preview
Preview (theatre)
Previews are a set of public performances of a theatrical presentation that precede its official opening. The purpose of previews is to allow the director and crew to identify problems and opportunities for improvement that weren't found during rehearsals and to make adjustments before critics are...
period (182 preview performances) in history. Although the musical began performances in November 2010, the official opening was postponed several times. After receiving feedback from preview audiences and scathing reviews from critics, previews were suspended in April 2011. Director Julie Taymor left the production, as co-director Philip William McKinley was brought in to redirect portions of the show. The musical's book was revised, and new previews began May 12, with the official opening on June 14, 2011. Critical reception of the opening was better than for the earlier version, but mixed at best, with praise for the visual effects but little enthusiasm for the book and score.
Description
Rock musical
A rock musical is a musical theatre work with rock music. The genre of rock musical may overlap somewhat with album musicals, concept albums and song cycles, as they sometimes tell a story through the rock music, and some album musicals and concept albums become rock musicals...
, 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
The Edge
David Howell Evans , more widely known by his stage name The Edge , is a musician best known as the guitarist, backing vocalist, and keyboardist of the Irish rock band U2. A member of the group since its inception, he has recorded 12 studio albums with the band and has released one solo record...
stated that he is unsure of what description to use for the production, because "It is elements of rock and roll, it's elements of circus, it's elements of opera, [and] of musical theater." Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
, admitting that his description is a little "pretentious," has referred to it as "pop-up, pop-art opera," noting that Julie Taymor is calling it a "rock-and-roll circus drama." Bono has also described the production as "wrestling with the same stuff" as "Rilke
Rainer Maria Rilke
René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke , better known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was a Bohemian–Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most significant poets in the German language...
, Blake
William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
, Wings of Desire
Wings of Desire
Wings of Desire is a 1987 Franco-German romantic fantasy film directed by Wim Wenders. The film is about invisible, immortal angels who populate Berlin and listen to the thoughts of the human inhabitants and comfort those who are in distress...
, Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein was a prominent American pop artist. During the 1960s his paintings were exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City and along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, James Rosenquist and others he became a leading figure in the new art movement...
, [and] the Ramones
Ramones
The Ramones were an American rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group...
." A 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
special stated that it is being called a "comic book rock opera circus," although in that 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 not only features high-flying stunts, but 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
Spider-Man (film)
Spider-Man is a 2002 American superhero film, the first in the Spider-Man film series based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. It was directed by Sam Raimi and written by David Koepp...
, but wove in an involved story about a villainness based on the mythological Arachne
Arachne
In Greco-Roman mythology, Arachne was a great mortal weaver who boasted that her skill was greater than that of Minerva, the Latin parallel of Pallas Athena, goddess of wisdom and crafts. Arachne refused to acknowledge that her knowledge came, in part at least, from the goddess. The offended...
. 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".
Productions
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 BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
. The musical began previews
Preview (theatre)
Previews are a set of public performances of a theatrical presentation that precede its official opening. The purpose of previews is to allow the director and crew to identify problems and opportunities for improvement that weren't found during rehearsals and to make adjustments before critics are...
on November 28, 2010, with the official opening night on June 14, 2011.
The creative team originally included director Taymor and choreographer Daniel Ezralow
Daniel Ezralow
Daniel Ezralow is a dancer and choreographer. In addition to having his own dance company, he has choreographed for the theatre, opera, film, and television.-Career:...
, with scenic design by George Tsypin
George Tsypin
George Tsypin is an American sculptor, architect and stage designer .-Early life and education:...
, costumes by Eiko Ishioka
Eiko Ishioka
is an Oscar-winning costume designer, known for her work in stage, screen, advertising, and print media, and has been called "Japan’s leading art director and graphic designer," though she now works primarily in New York City....
and lighting by Donald Holder
Donald Holder
Donald Holder is an American lighting designer in theatre, opera, and dance based in New York. He has been nominated for eight Tony Awards, winning the 1998 Tony Award for Best Lighting Design as well as the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design for The Lion King. He won a second Tony in...
. 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
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is an American playwright, screenwriter and comic-book writer best known for his work for Marvel Comics and for the HBO drama series Big Love.-Biography:...
for additional writing. Taymor retained her original credits in Spider-Man.
The production stars Reeve Carney
Reeve Carney
Reeve Carney is an American singer-songwriter and actor. He appears in the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark as the character of Peter Parker/Spider-Man.-Early life:...
as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Jennifer Damiano
Jennifer Damiano
Jennifer Damiano is an American actress and singer, most known for originating the role of Natalie Goodman in Next to Normal on Broadway. She was nominated for the 2009 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance in that musical...
as Mary Jane Watson
Mary Jane Watson
Mary Jane Watson, often shortened to MJ, is a fictional supporting character appearing, originally, in Marvel comic books and, later, in multiple spin-offs and dramatizations of the Spider-Man titles as the best friend, love interest, and one-time wife of Peter Parker, the alter ego of Spider-Man...
, Patrick Page
Patrick Page
Patrick Page is an American actor and playwright living in New York City.-Career:Page’s Broadway credits include originating the role of The Grinch in Dr...
as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin
Green Goblin
The Green Goblin is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #14 ....
, T. V. Carpio
T. V. Carpio
-Life and career:Carpio was born in Oklahoma City. She is the daughter of Hong Kong Chinese-Filipina singer Teresa Carpio, with whom she has performed on stage as a backup singer. Her mother has also recorded one of her compositions. Her father is Peter Mui, who co-founded Tungtex Co Ltd, a Hong...
as Arachne
Arachne
In Greco-Roman mythology, Arachne was a great mortal weaver who boasted that her skill was greater than that of Minerva, the Latin parallel of Pallas Athena, goddess of wisdom and crafts. Arachne refused to acknowledge that her knowledge came, in part at least, from the goddess. The offended...
, Michael Mulheren
Michael Mulheren
- Theatre :Mulheren's Broadway debut was in 1995 in On the Waterfront, after previously appearing in The Fantastickss off-Broadway run in the 1960s. He also appeared in the 1997 production of Broadway's The Titanic. Other Broadway credits include The Boy from Oz and La Cage aux Folles; his...
as J. Jonah Jameson
J. Jonah Jameson
John Jonah Jameson Junior is a supporting character of Spider-Man in the .Jameson is usually the publisher or editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle, a fictional New York newspaper and now serves as the mayor of New York City...
, Ken Marks as Uncle Ben and Isabel Keating
Isabel Keating
-Biography:Keating is widely acclaimed for her portrayal of Judy Garland in the 2003 Broadway theatre production of The Boy From Oz, starring opposite Hugh Jackman, for which she received a Tony Award nomination and for which she won the Drama Desk Award and the Theatre World Award...
as Aunt May
Aunt May
May Reilly Parker-Jameson, commonly known as Aunt May, is a supporting character in Marvel Comics' Spider-Man series. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, she first appeared as May Parker in Amazing Fantasy #15...
. In primary ensemble role are Jeb Brown as Mary Jane's Father, Matt Caplan as school bully Flash Thompson
Flash Thompson
Eugene "Flash" Thompson is a supporting character in Marvel Comics’s Spider-Man series. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 ....
, and Laura Beth Wells as Osborn's wife Emily.
Due to the physical demands of the role, Carney shares the role of Spider-Man with Matthew James Thomas
Matthew James Thomas
Matthew James Thomas is a British actor, best known for his role in the UK drama/musical show, Britannia High.-Early life:...
, who appears in two of the performances each week.
Cast replacements
Brown was replaced by Timothy Warmen in August 2011. Carney has extended his contract in the show through May 2012, although he will take sereval weeks off in the winter to shoot a film, during which time the role will be shared by Thomas and understudy Caplan. Damiano's contract ended on November 6, 2011, and Carpio's on Nov. 13. Damiano was replaced by Rock of Ages
Rock of Ages (musical)
Rock of Ages is a rock/jukebox musical, with a book by Chris D'Arienzo, built around classic rock hits from the 1980s, especially from the famous glam metal bands of the decade. The musical features songs from Styx, Journey, Bon Jovi, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister, Steve Perry, Poison and Asia, among...
star Rebecca Faulkenberry from Nov. 10, while Christina Sajous (Broadway's American Idiot
American Idiot
American Idiot is the seventh studio album by the American punk rock band Green Day. It was released on September 21, 2004 through Reprise Records and was produced by longtime collaborator Rob Cavallo. In mid-2003, the band began recording songs for an album entitled Cigarettes and Valentines...
) replaced Carpio beginning Nov. 15.
Act I
At Midtown Manhattan Magnet High School in Queens, New York, local teenager Peter Parker gives a book report about ArachneArachne
In Greco-Roman mythology, Arachne was a great mortal weaver who boasted that her skill was greater than that of Minerva, the Latin parallel of Pallas Athena, goddess of wisdom and crafts. Arachne refused to acknowledge that her knowledge came, in part at least, from the goddess. The offended...
, Goddess of the Weavers ("The Myth of Arachne"). As Peter gives his report, Arachne descends to the stage and tells the audience her story ("Behold and Wonder"). Thousands of years ago, Arachne was a skilled weaver who became conceited and boasted that she was greater than the goddess Athena
Athena
In Greek mythology, Athena, Athenê, or Athene , also referred to as Pallas Athena/Athene , is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, warfare, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, justice, and skill. Minerva, Athena's Roman incarnation, embodies similar attributes. Athena is...
- who challenged Arachne to a weaving contest. When Arachne was made the victor, Athena became ashamed of her defeat and destroyed Arachne's work. Devastated, Arachne hanged herself, but Athena took pity on Arachne and transformed her into the world's first spider. Now Arachne is cursed to wander the universe and weave her web for all eternity.
After class ends, Peter's ex-best friend Flash Thompson
Flash Thompson
Eugene "Flash" Thompson is a supporting character in Marvel Comics’s Spider-Man series. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 ....
and his friends gleefully torment the straight-A student ("Bullying by Numbers"). Peter has a crush on popular girl Mary Jane Watson
Mary Jane Watson
Mary Jane Watson, often shortened to MJ, is a fictional supporting character appearing, originally, in Marvel comic books and, later, in multiple spin-offs and dramatizations of the Spider-Man titles as the best friend, love interest, and one-time wife of Peter Parker, the alter ego of Spider-Man...
, but they both have unhappy lives. Mary Jane has an abusive father and suffers at home while Peter suffers the torment of bullies at school ("No More"). Peter has lived with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May
Aunt May
May Reilly Parker-Jameson, commonly known as Aunt May, is a supporting character in Marvel Comics' Spider-Man series. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, she first appeared as May Parker in Amazing Fantasy #15...
ever since his parents Richard and Mary Parker
Richard and Mary Parker
Richard and Mary Parker are fictional characters of Marvel Comics. They were the parents of Peter Parker, the boy who one day would become Spider-Man. They will appear in the 2012 reboot of the Spider-Man film franchise...
died in a plane crash when he was a baby. A few days later, Peter and classmates go on a field trip to the genetics laboratory of scientist Norman Osborn
Green Goblin
The Green Goblin is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #14 ....
and his wife Emily, who explain what they hope to accomplish with their genetic research ("D.I.Y. World"). While Peter takes pictures of the lab for the school newspaper, the Osborns put the whole lab on lockdown as a dangerous genetically altered spider has escaped. While the students and scientists panic, the spider lowers itself onto Peter's shoulder and bites him ("Venom").
Peter soon becomes aware that he has spider-like powers as a result of the spider's bite - along with a muscular physique, 20/20 vision and the ability to emit web strings from his wrists. He uses his powers at school to defeat Flash and his buddies in a fistfight ("Bouncing Off the Walls"). After seeing Flash give Mary Jane a ride, Peter decides to buy a car to impress her. He heads out and enters a wrestling tournament, where he defeats champion Bonesaw McGraw for the grand prize of $1,000. Peter returns home only to learn that Uncle Ben has been shot by a mugger. Ashamed of his recent selfishness and realizing he's powerless to save his dying uncle, Peter has an emotional encounter with Aunt May - unaware that Arachne is watching over him. Arachne encourages him to use his gift to defend the innocent from evil ("Rise Above"). Peter vows to avenge Uncle Ben's death by using his powers to save the world and notes that "with great power comes great responsibility".
Peter then makes a costume with the colors that Arachne described to him - red for every heart of the innocent that bleeds and blue for the sorrow of endangered citizens - before swinging through the city on his webs, fighting criminals and saving innocent civilians as "Spider-Man". The Daily Bugle
Daily Bugle
The Daily Bugle is a fictional New York City newspaper that is a regular fixture in the Marvel Universe, most prominently in Spider-Man comic titles and their derivative media...
then begins to publish articles about Spider-Man while Peter is hired by editor-in-chief J. Jonah Jameson
J. Jonah Jameson
John Jonah Jameson Junior is a supporting character of Spider-Man in the .Jameson is usually the publisher or editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle, a fictional New York newspaper and now serves as the mayor of New York City...
as a freelance
Freelancer
A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is somebody who is self-employed and is not committed to a particular employer long term. These workers are often represented by a company or an agency that resells their labor and that of others to its clients with or without project management and...
photojournalist. Meanwhile, Norman Osborn begins thinking that Spider-Man stole his research as the military organization Viper Worldwide presses him to accelerate his project ("Pull the Trigger"). Norman contemplates the dilemma with Emily while Peter shares his first romantic moment with Mary Jane ("Picture This"). Norman then decides to experiment on himself, causing an electrical surge that results in Emily's accidental death. Norman goes insane and becomes the "Green Goblin
Green Goblin
The Green Goblin is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #14 ....
".
Act II
The Green Goblin comes up with a plan to genetically alter other humans as he did himself ("A Freak Like Me Needs Company"). Through his experiments on his former employees, he manages to create six villains: CarnageCarnage (comics)
Carnage is a fictional character, a supervillain in the . The character first appears in The Amazing Spider-Man #344 , and was created by writer David Michelinie and artist Mark Bagley. The character is frequently depicted as an enemy of Spider-Man...
, Electro, Kraven the Hunter
Kraven the Hunter
Kraven the Hunter is a fictional character, a supervillain and enemy of Spider-Man appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Kraven's name is Sergei Kravinoff. He also appears as Xraven, with white-grey skin and red eyes, possessing the powers of X-Men. He is the half-brother of Dmitri...
, the Lizard
Lizard (comics)
The Lizard is a fictional character, a supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe and enemy of Spider-Man. The Lizard first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #6 , and was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko...
, Swarm
Swarm (comics)
Swarm is a fictional character and supervillain, an enemy of Spider-Man in the Marvel Comics universe. A former Nazi sympathizer, his most notable physical feature is that his entire body is composed of bees....
and Swiss Miss. That night, Mary Jane tells Peter that her love for him has grown and he admits that the feeling is mutual ("If the World Should End"). The Goblin and his new alliance of criminals - calling themselves the "Sinister Six
Sinister Six
The Sinister Six are a group of supervillains in the Marvel Comics universe, drawn from Spider-Man's rogues gallery. The original incarnation of the group was organized by Doctor Octopus, and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 ....
" - go on a rampage through New York ("Sinistereo"). Spider-Man quickly defeats the Sinister Six as the citizens of New York cheer him on ("Spider-Man!"), unaware that the Goblin has managed to escape. The Goblin arrives at the Daily Bugle and tells Jameson to print his plans of dominating the world through genetic mutation. The Goblin also tells Jameson that he gave Spider-Man life, making Jameson believe Spider-Man is in league with the Goblin and therefore giving Spider-Man an even worse image from the Bugle. Later that night, Arachne comes to Peter in a vision and explains that she is his guardian along with the reminder that being a hero is his destiny and he cannot escape it ("Turn Off the Dark").
Maligned by the media and suffering financial woes, Peter wants to spend more time with Mary Jane after missing the opening night of her play and begins considering to take time off from fighting crime. Upset over Peter's constant excuses and not wanting to lose the best friend she ever had, Mary Jane suggests they take a break from their relationship ("I Just Can't Walk Away (Say It Now)"). Hurt, Peter decides not to resume his heroic acts as Spider-Man and gives his costume to J. Jonah Jameson telling him that Spider-Man has quit. He later takes Mary Jane to a night club and impulsively proposes to her. While there, the Green Goblin intercepts the club's TV signal and sends a message to Spider-Man threatening his loved ones. Peter takes Mary Jane to his apartment and breaks off their relationship so that his enemies won't target her. After telling Mary Jane that he will always love her, Peter takes a walk and realizes that he needs to be a hero not only for Mary Jane but for the world ("The Boy Falls From the Sky"). Spider-Man then recovers his costume from the Daily Bugle and goes after the Green Goblin.
The Goblin sits at a piano at the top of the Chrysler Building and humorously boasts to the audience of his plan to destroy New York City ("I'll Take Manhattan"). Spider-Man arrives ready to fight, but is soon unmasked when the Goblin reveals he knows Spider-Man's true identity. Peter attempts to revive the good-natured Norman within the Goblin, but to no avail. Peter engages the Goblin in combat, but before he can finish him the Goblin reveals that he has Mary Jane, who now dangles from the Chrysler Building. A flying battle over the audience takes place and when it seems all hope is lost, Spider-Man webs the Goblin to his piano. The Goblin, not realizing this, thrusts the piano over the side of the Chrysler Building, taking him down to his death. After Spider-Man saves Mary Jane, she tells him not to leave and reveals that she has guessed who he is. Peter removes his mask and they embrace. The two contemplate their new life together before sirens begin wailing and Spider-Man swings away ("Finale - A New Dawn").
Musical numbers
Act I:- "The Myth of Arachne"†† – Peter
- "Behold and Wonder"†† – Arachne, Ensemble
- "Bullying by Numbers"†† – Peter, Bullies, High School Students
- "No More" – Peter, Mary Jane
- "D.I.Y. World" – Norman, Emily, Peter, Mary Jane, High School Students, Lab Assistants
- "Venom"†† – Bullies
- "Bouncing Off the Walls" – Peter, High School Students
- "Rise Above" – Peter, Arachne, Ensemble
- "Pull the Trigger" – Norman, Emily, Viper Executives, Soldiers
- "Picture This" – Peter, Mary Jane, Norman, Emily
Act II:
- "A Freak Like Me Needs Company" – Green Goblin, Ensemble
- "If the World Should End" – Mary Jane, Peter
- "Sinistereo" – Reporters
- "Spider-Man!"†† – Citizens of New York
- "Turn Off the Dark" – Arachne, Peter
- "I Just Can't Walk Away (Say It Now)" – Mary Jane, Peter
- "The Boy Falls From the Sky"† – Peter
- "I'll Take Manhattan"†† – Green Goblin
- "Finale - A New Dawn"†† – Full Company
† "The Boy Falls From the Sky" was written by all band members of U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
.
†† Not on the Broadway cast recording
Original Broadway cast
- Peter Parker/Spider-ManSpider-ManSpider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
– Reeve CarneyReeve CarneyReeve Carney is an American singer-songwriter and actor. He appears in the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark as the character of Peter Parker/Spider-Man.-Early life:... - Mary Jane WatsonMary Jane WatsonMary Jane Watson, often shortened to MJ, is a fictional supporting character appearing, originally, in Marvel comic books and, later, in multiple spin-offs and dramatizations of the Spider-Man titles as the best friend, love interest, and one-time wife of Peter Parker, the alter ego of Spider-Man...
– Jennifer DamianoJennifer DamianoJennifer Damiano is an American actress and singer, most known for originating the role of Natalie Goodman in Next to Normal on Broadway. She was nominated for the 2009 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance in that musical... - Norman Osborn/Green GoblinGreen GoblinThe Green Goblin is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #14 ....
– Patrick PagePatrick PagePatrick Page is an American actor and playwright living in New York City.-Career:Page’s Broadway credits include originating the role of The Grinch in Dr... - ArachneArachneIn Greco-Roman mythology, Arachne was a great mortal weaver who boasted that her skill was greater than that of Minerva, the Latin parallel of Pallas Athena, goddess of wisdom and crafts. Arachne refused to acknowledge that her knowledge came, in part at least, from the goddess. The offended...
– T. V. CarpioT. V. Carpio-Life and career:Carpio was born in Oklahoma City. She is the daughter of Hong Kong Chinese-Filipina singer Teresa Carpio, with whom she has performed on stage as a backup singer. Her mother has also recorded one of her compositions. Her father is Peter Mui, who co-founded Tungtex Co Ltd, a Hong... - J. Jonah JamesonJ. Jonah JamesonJohn Jonah Jameson Junior is a supporting character of Spider-Man in the .Jameson is usually the publisher or editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle, a fictional New York newspaper and now serves as the mayor of New York City...
– Michael MulherenMichael Mulheren- Theatre :Mulheren's Broadway debut was in 1995 in On the Waterfront, after previously appearing in The Fantastickss off-Broadway run in the 1960s. He also appeared in the 1997 production of Broadway's The Titanic. Other Broadway credits include The Boy from Oz and La Cage aux Folles; his... - Uncle Ben – Ken Marks
- Aunt MayAunt MayMay Reilly Parker-Jameson, commonly known as Aunt May, is a supporting character in Marvel Comics' Spider-Man series. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, she first appeared as May Parker in Amazing Fantasy #15...
– Isabel KeatingIsabel Keating-Biography:Keating is widely acclaimed for her portrayal of Judy Garland in the 2003 Broadway theatre production of The Boy From Oz, starring opposite Hugh Jackman, for which she received a Tony Award nomination and for which she won the Drama Desk Award and the Theatre World Award... - MJ's Father – Jeb Brown
- Flash ThompsonFlash ThompsonEugene "Flash" Thompson is a supporting character in Marvel Comics’s Spider-Man series. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 ....
– Matt CaplanMatt Caplan- Career :Caplan has appeared on Broadway in Rent as Mark Cohen, in the revival of South Pacific and in High Fidelity. He has also been featured in the films Across the Universe and Painting Abby Long, and on the television show New Amsterdam.... - Emily Osborn – Laura Beth Wells
- Alternate Peter Parker/Spider-Man – Matthew James ThomasMatthew James ThomasMatthew James Thomas is a British actor, best known for his role in the UK drama/musical show, Britannia High.-Early life:...
Principal Broadway Cast Replacement History
- Rebecca Faulkenberry replaced Jennifer Damiano as Mary Jane Watson on November 10, 2011.
- Christina Sajous replaced T. V. Carpio as Arachne on November 15, 2011.
Early development
According to the New York PostNew York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
, Bono began composing Spider-Man after Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
joked, "I’d like to thank rock musicians for leaving me alone for 25 years – I’ve had the theater all to myself"; Bono and Taymor "decided to give Andrew a little competition".
In August 2002, Marvel announced that Tony Adams
Tony Adams (producer)
Anthony Patrick "Tony" Adams was an Irish film and theatrical producer. He produced numerous films for writer/director Blake Edwards, including six Pink Panther films, 10 and Victor/Victoria, the latter for both stage and screen.-Biography:He was born Anthony Patrick Adams in Derrinturn, Carbury,...
would produce a stage musical based on the Spider-Man comics. Adams approached Bono and The Edge to be involved with the project; in turn, they enlisted Taymor to direct. However, in October 2005, Adams suffered a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
while the creative team was assembled to sign contracts; he died two days later. Patrick Healy in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
described their situation:
Delays and budget overruns
Readings of the musical were held beginning in 2007, but the production was delayed several times. By early 2009, the Broadway production ran $25 million into debt, the New York Post reported, and work on it was suspended. The budget for the project was reported in March 2009 to be a record-setting $52 million. In late 2009, Bono asked Michael CohlMichael Cohl
Michael Cohl is a Canadian concert promoter, theatrical producer and touring impresario. He is the former Chairman of Live Nation, the largest live entertainment company in the world. Cohl now runs S2BN Entertainment, with offices in Miami and Toronto...
to step in as producer, and by May 2010 Cohl had raised the money to proceed with the project, much of it from Jeremiah J. Harris, former Chairman of Live Nation, who is also listed as a producer. Meanwhile, the musical was eventually scheduled to open at the Foxwoods Theatre on February 18, 2010, but the production was delayed again until fundraising could be completed.
By November 2010, the production was estimated to cost $65 million. In addition, the show's unusually high running costs were reported to be about $1 million per week. Meanwhile, a new opening night of December 21, 2010 was scheduled, but this was delayed until January 2011, reportedly due to "a tremendous amount of creative commotion behind the scenes" as more time for rehearsals were needed. In December 2010, the official opening was again pushed back, to February 2011, "to provide more time for the creators to stage a new final numbers, make further rewrites to the dialogue and consider adding and cutting scenes and perhaps inserting new music. ... Ms. Taymor and the producers have concluded that Act II has storytelling problems that need to be fixed." A "final postponement" was made once again, pushing the opening to March 15, 2011, in order to "allow Taymor to fine-tune the production and instate a new ending".
The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reported that the show's opening would be delayed for the sixth time, until summer 2011. This latest delay included a shutdown of previews. The shutdown lasted from April 19 to May 11, 2011, in order for the new creative team to implement changes; preview performances resumed May 12. In March, Cohl and Harris said they shut down previews because they felt "the story needed some work, the songs needed some work, and the sound needed some work", and that they "were going to concentrate on those three areas over the next three and a half weeks." They also announced that injured Spider-Man stunt performer Christopher Tierney would be rejoining the show. By April 2011, also, the budget was reported to have grown to $70 million, and as of the opening, it was reported as $75 million.
Cast and creative team replacements
Evan Rachel WoodEvan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood is an American actress and singer. She began her acting career in the late 1990s, appearing in several television series, including American Gothic and Once and Again...
and Alan Cumming
Alan Cumming
Alan Cumming, OBE is a Scottish stage, television and film actor, singer, writer, director, producer and author. His roles have included the Emcee in Cabaret, Boris Grishenko in GoldenEye, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United, Mr. Elton in Emma, and Fegan Floop in the Spy Kids trilogy...
were cast as Mary Jane Watson and the Green Goblin, respectively, in June 2009, but Wood left in March 2010 and Cumming the following month when the show was delayed. The new original cast was announced on August 16, 2010. During early previews Mat Devine
Mat Devine
Mat Devine is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actor and author. He is most well known for creating and fronting the alternative rock band Kill Hannah...
, Gideon Glick
Gideon Glick
Gideon Glick, born June 6, 1988 is an American stage performer and movie actor. His Broadway work includes the role of Ernst in the musical Spring Awakening.-Biography:Glick graduated from Lower Merion High School.Glick is Jewish, and openly gay...
, Alice Lee and Jonathan Schwartz played a group of characters known as the "Geek Chorus
Greek chorus
A Greek chorus is a homogenous, non-individualised group of performers in the plays of classical Greece, who comment with a collective voice on the dramatic action....
". After revisions, the characters were cut from the show.
In February 2011, playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is an American playwright, screenwriter and comic-book writer best known for his work for Marvel Comics and for the HBO drama series Big Love.-Biography:...
was asked by the producers "to help rewrite the script". He had written several stories for Spider-Man comic books and had revised the book for a production of It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman
It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman
It's A Bird... It's A Plane... It's Superman is a musical with music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Lee Adams, with a book by David Newman and Robert Benton. It is based on the comic book character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and published by DC Comics.-Synopsis:The plot...
. On February 21, 2011, Paul Bogaev (a 2004 nominee for a Tony Award for Best Orchestrations
Tony Award for Best Orchestrations
-1990s:1997*Jonathan Tunick – Titanic**Michael Gibson - Steel Pier**Luther Henderson - Play On!**Don Sebesky and Harold Wheeler - The Life1998*William David Brohn – Ragtime**Robert Elhai, David Metzger and Bruce Fowler - The Lion King...
) was hired "as a consultant to help improve the performance, vocal and orchestration arrangements, and sound quality of the songs and numbers."
In early March 2011, Playbill
Playbill
Playbill is a monthly U.S. magazine for theatregoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most Playbills are printed for particular shows to be distributed at the door...
and The New York Times reported that the producers had considered whether to "work with an expanded creative team" or have Taymor leave the production. Soon thereafter, Taymor left the production. Philip William McKinley joined the show as "consultant", and Chase Brock joined as co-choreographer.
Cast injuries and additional replacements
Five people have been injured while working on Spider-Man. After two stunt doubles were injured during various flying sequences in rehearsals, safety inspectors from the New York State Department of LaborGovernment of New York
As in all 50 states, the head of the executive branch of the government of New York is a Governor. The legislative branch is called the Legislature and consists of a Senate and an Assembly. Unlike most states, New York electoral law permits electoral fusion; thus New York ballots tend to show a...
reviewed these scenes in the show and, in February 2011, cited the show for two workplace safety violations. The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Labor. It was created by Congress of the United States under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, signed by President Richard M. Nixon, on December 29, 1970...
fined the show $12,600 in March 2011 for three serious safety violations. The Actors' Equity Association
Actors' Equity Association
The Actors' Equity Association , commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing the world of live theatrical performance, as opposed to film and television performance. However, performers appearing on live stage productions without a book or...
also looked into the incidents. One of the injuries occurred when Spider-Man stunt double
Stunt double
A stunt double is a type of body double, specifically a skilled replacement used for dangerous film or video sequences, in movies and television , and for other sophisticated stunts...
Kevin Aubin broke both wrists. Another actor "had broken [his] feet on the same move a month earlier."
Natalie Mendoza
Natalie Mendoza
Natalie Jackson Mendoza is a Hong Kong-born Australian-British-Filipina classical theatre-trained actress and musician. She is best known for her role as one of the main characters, Jackie Clunes in the British TV drama Hotel Babylon and as tough girl Juno in the acclaimed horror thriller The...
, who was originally cast as Arachne, suffered a concussion during the first preview performance on November 28, 2010, when she was struck in the head by equipment in the wings. She did not report the accident to producers until November 30. She appeared in the second performance against her doctor's advice; the role involves several flying sequences, including one in which she is spun upside-down. Mendoza later felt ill, and America Olivo
America Olivo
America Olivo is an actress and singer most notable for her membership in the Spanish- & English-language band Soluna. Born in Los Angeles, she has multiple citizenships: US, Canadian, and Italian. Born to father Nello Olivo and mother Danica d'Hondt...
, her understudy, played the role during her nearly two-week absence. Mendoza returned to the show for the December 15 evening performance. Following the preview of December 20, 2010, when Spider-Man stunt performer Christopher Tierney was injured and hospitalized, Mendoza suspended her performance. On December 30, she announced her permanent withdrawal from the show and was replaced by T. V. Carpio.
In that December 20 preview, Tierney fell more than 20 feet off a piece of scenery when his harness was not connected to the safety cord, leaving him to freefall through the stage and into the orchestra pit
Orchestra pit
An orchestra pit is the area in a theater in which musicians perform. Orchestral pits are utilized in forms of theatre that require music or in cases when incidental music is required...
. Tierney was hospitalized at Bellevue Hospital Center
Bellevue Hospital Center
Bellevue Hospital Center, most often referred to as "Bellevue", was founded on March 31, 1736 and is the oldest public hospital in the United States. Located on First Avenue in the Kips Bay neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, Bellevue is famous from many literary, film and television...
; he was released for rehabilitation on December 28. The December 20 performance was ended prematurely. After rehearsals for stricter safety procedures involving the harnesses, the show resumed with the evening performance on December 23. Tierney was released from New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
's Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine
Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine
The Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine is the world's first and largest university-affiliated center devoted entirely to inpatient/outpatient care, research and training in rehabilitation medicine. It is part of the NYU Langone Medical Center and operated under the auspices of the...
on January 5, 2011. He returned to the show for rehearsals on April 25, 2011 and performed in the show on opening night. Meanwhile, Carpio was injured during a March 16 performance, reportedly hurting her neck, and left the show for two weeks.
Performances
On September 10, 2010, Carney and his band performed "Boy Falls from the Sky" on Good Morning AmericaGood Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
. Carney, Bono, and The Edge all performed on the May 25, 2011, final episode of American Idol Season 10
American Idol (season 10)
The tenth season of American Idol premiered on January 19, 2011 and concluded on May 25, 2011, on Fox. The show underwent a number of changes from season nine, including the reduction of the judging panel to its original number of just three judges , a returning executive producer, a new music...
at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, singing "Rise Above." Carney and Damiano performed "If The World Should End" on the 65th Tony Awards
65th Tony Awards
The 65th Annual Tony Awards was held on June 12, 2011 to recognize achievement in Broadway productions during the 2010–2011 season. They were held at the Beacon Theatre, ending a fourteen-year tradition of holding the ceremony at Radio City Music Hall. The Awards ceremony was broadcast live on CBS...
telecast in June 2011.
The show has twice appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman. In March 2011, the cast performed Rise Above. On July 18, 2011, the cast, led by Patrick Page, performed A Freak Like Me Needs Company.
Television
SyfySyfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
is Turn Off the Darks lead media partner, offering tickets to the show as prizes and airing commercials for the production. CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
' 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
aired a feature on the production on November 28, 2010, the production's first preview performance, in which Lesley Stahl
Lesley Stahl
Lesley Rene Stahl is an American television journalist. Since 1991, she has reported for CBS on 60 Minutes.-Personal life:...
chronicled the creation of the musical.
Press coverage and critical response
The show's first performance, on November 28, 2010, "garnered what was most likely the most press coverage of a first preview in history." Reactions to the first preview described the musical as "visually stunning," despite technical glitches that resulted in several stops and starts during the performance. By January 18, 2011, a reviewer reported that there were no delays during the preview he saw. He praised the stunts and ballads "that evoke the yearning grandeur of U2 – though their more upbeat material tended to be nondescript" but felt that the "plot of the second act twisted into tangled knots." Radio and TV talkshow host Glenn BeckGlenn Beck
Glenn Edward Lee Beck is an American conservative radio host, vlogger, author, entrepreneur, political commentator and former television host. He hosts the Glenn Beck Program, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks...
championed the production after attending the preview showings several times.
Most of the major theater critics published their reviews of the first version on February 7, 2011; nearly all of them were strongly negative in tone. Although reviews during the preview period are unusual, the critics decided that the ever-expanding preview period was so long, and ticket prices were so high, that they should not wait for the official opening. An analysis in The New York Review of Books
The New York Review of Books
The New York Review of Books is a fortnightly magazine with articles on literature, culture and current affairs. Published in New York City, it takes as its point of departure that the discussion of important books is itself an indispensable literary activity...
by classics scholar Daniel Mendelsohn
Daniel Mendelsohn
-Life and career:Mendelsohn was born on Long Island. He graduated with a B. A. in Classics from the University of Virginia, which he attended from 1978 to 1982 as an Echols Scholar, and received his M. A. and Ph. D. in Classics from Princeton University, where he was a Mellon Fellow in the...
followed up the complaints of other critics that Taymor's attempt to graft the classical myth of Arachne
Arachne
In Greco-Roman mythology, Arachne was a great mortal weaver who boasted that her skill was greater than that of Minerva, the Latin parallel of Pallas Athena, goddess of wisdom and crafts. Arachne refused to acknowledge that her knowledge came, in part at least, from the goddess. The offended...
onto the comic book story turned the show into "a grotesque hybrid" and overloaded the plot with two unrelated main villains in Arachne and Green Goblin.
In a scathing review of the first version, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
critic Ben Brantley
Ben Brantley
Benjamin D. "Ben" Brantley is an American journalist and the chief theater critic of The New York Times.-Life and career:...
had said that Spider-Man may "rank among the worst" Broadway musicals. In his review of the revised version, Brantley wrote, "So is this ascent from jaw-dropping badness to mere mediocrity a step upward? Well, until last weekend ... I would have recommended Spider-Man only to carrion-feasting theater vultures. Now, if I knew a less-than-precocious child of 10 or so, and had several hundred dollars to throw away, I would consider taking him or her to the new and improved Spider-Man."
In the show's first incarnation, the average rating from critics was "F+", while the revision garnered an average score of "C+". In a roundup of the reviews, Linda Buchwald commented, "critics actually miss some of Julie Taymor's ambition, crazy as they may have thought it at the time. Critics agree that the show is improved in that it makes much more sense, however, now they mostly find it a bore. Bono and the Edge's score is almost universally panned while Patrick Page's Green Goblin and stunning visuals remain for most critics the best reasons to see the show."
Box office
Despite poor reviews and bad publicity, Spider-Man has been very successful at the box office. Ticket sales the day after the first preview on November 28, 2010, were more than one million dollars. During the first full week of 2011, Spider-Man had the highest box-office gross on Broadway, with a total of $1,588,514.The New York Times Patrick Healy stated that Spider-Man had become "a national object of pop culture fascination—more so, perhaps, than any show in Broadway history" due to media coverage and late-night comedians' monologues on the musical's many delays, injuries, and creative issues. He speculated that the musical would not have staying power through repeat viewings like other hit musicals, after "tourists and parents with children" watched it for "bragging rights at dinner parties or on the playground". The New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
columnist Michael Riedel stated that the musical would be short-lived: "Depending on how much more money its backers are willing to lose, my hunch is that 'Spider-Man' will stagger through the spring, pick up with the tourist traffic in the summer and then collapse in the fall. It should be gone by September [2011]."
In popular culture
During the 2010 Tony Awards64th Tony Awards
The 64th Annual Tony Awards took place on Sunday, June 13, 2010, held again at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The host was Sean Hayes. These awards recognize Broadway productions during the 2009–2010 season. The cut off-date for Tony eligibility was April 29, 2010, and the nominations...
, host Sean Hayes
Sean Hayes (actor)
Sean Patrick Hayes is an American actor and comedian. He is widely known for his role as Jack McFarland in the NBC sitcom Will & Grace, for which he won an Emmy Award, four SAG Awards, one American Comedy Award, and six Golden Globes nominations.He also portrayed comedian Jerry Lewis in the...
ran on stage dressed as Spider-Man, struggling comically to sing through the mask. After the first preview performance, Conan O'Brien
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....
featured his own "preview" of the show, demonstrating how the show could have been more inexpensively produced, in ways that included using Silly String
Silly String
Silly String is a children's toy of flexible, sometimes brightly-coloured, plastic string propelled as a stream of liquid from an aerosol can. The solvent in the string quickly evaporates in mid-air, creating a continuous strand. Silly String is often used during weddings, birthday parties,...
for web-slinging stunts. The cover of the January 17, 2011 The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
featured a cartoon showing multiple actors dressed as Spider-Man wearing casts or a head brace or in rehab, parodying the cast injuries in the show.
The musical has been parodied several times on Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
. On the December 4, 2010 episode, Andy Samberg
Andy Samberg
David Andrew "Andy" Samberg is an American actor, comedian, rapper and writer best known as a member of the comedy group The Lonely Island and as a cast member on Saturday Night Live...
played an understudy playing Spider-Man due to injuries, hanging upside-down from the ceiling and failing to flip over, saying, "You'll flip for it!" The February 12, 2011 episode had a commercial parody for a law firm
Law firm
A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other...
called Gublin and Green
Green Goblin
The Green Goblin is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #14 ....
specializing in lawsuits related to Turn Off the Dark, with a lawyer portrayed by Fred Armisen
Fred Armisen
Fred Armisen is an American actor, comedian and musician best known for his work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, and portraying off-color foreigners in various comedy films such as EuroTrip, Anchorman and Cop Out...
. While none of the defendants receive cash, they do receive free tickets to a future showing of the musical. One of the testimonials in the advertisement comes from Bono, as played by Andy Samberg
Andy Samberg
David Andrew "Andy" Samberg is an American actor, comedian, rapper and writer best known as a member of the comedy group The Lonely Island and as a cast member on Saturday Night Live...
. In the March 12, 2011 episode, Taymor, who had just left the production, was satirized by Kristen Wiig
Kristen Wiig
Kristen Carroll Wiig is an American film and television actress who currently appears as a cast member on Saturday Night Live. Wiig was a member of improvisational comedy troupe The Groundlings, and has appeared in several films and television series, including Bridesmaids, MacGruber, Flight of...
.
The May 23, 2011 episode of the satirical animated series Mad
Mad (TV series)
MAD is an American animated sketch comedy series created by Kevin Shinick and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Based upon the magazine of the same name, each episode is a collection of short animated parodies of television shows, movies, games, celebrities and other media using various types of...
involved Taymor approaching the Smallville
Smallville (TV series)
Smallville is an American television series developed by writers/producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar based on the DC Comics character Superman, originally created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The television series was initially broadcast by The WB Television Network , premiering on October...
TV-series version of Clark Kent
Clark Kent
Clark Kent is a fictional character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Appearing regularly in stories published by DC Comics, he debuted in Action Comics #1 and serves as the civilian and secret identity of the superhero Superman....
to cast him and the rest of the characters in Smallville: Turn Off The Clark. At the 2011 Tony Awards
65th Tony Awards
The 65th Annual Tony Awards was held on June 12, 2011 to recognize achievement in Broadway productions during the 2010–2011 season. They were held at the Beacon Theatre, ending a fourteen-year tradition of holding the ceremony at Radio City Music Hall. The Awards ceremony was broadcast live on CBS...
, host Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris is an American actor, singer, director, and magician.Prominent roles of his career include the title role in Doogie Howser, M.D., Colonel Carl Jenkins in Starship Troopers, the womanizing Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother, a fictionalized version of himself in the Harold...
tried but failed to confine himself to as many jokes about Spider-Man as he could complete in 30 seconds, focusing mainly on the accidents plaguing the show.
On June 13, 2011, Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
posted a segment online parodying the musical, featuring Grover
Grover
Grover is a Muppet character on the popular television show Sesame Street. Self-described as lovable, cute and furry, he is a monster who almost never uses contractions when speaking or singing....
as the accident-prone "SpiderMonster".
The June 19, 2011 episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Criminal Intent is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it was also primarily produced. Created and produced by Dick Wolf and René Balcer, the series premiered on September 30, 2001, as the second spin-off of Wolf's successful crime drama...
concerned a high-flying Broadway musical named Icarus
Icarus
-Space and astronomy:* Icarus , on the Moon* Icarus , a planetary science journal* 1566 Icarus, an asteroid* IKAROS, a interplanetary unmanned spacecraft...
, where events similar to the events in the production history of Spider-Man turn tragic, leading to an actor's death. In Icarus, the creative team includes a high-strung director and a secretly bisexual rock-star composer.
Recordings
A Broadway concept album, produced by Steve LillywhiteSteve Lillywhite
Steve Lillywhite is an English Grammy Award winning record producer. Since he began his career in 1977, Lillywhite has been credited for working on over 500 records and has collaborated with a variety of musicians including XTC, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Dave Matthews Band, U2, Peter Gabriel,...
, was released on June 14, 2011. On May 25, 2011, a single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
version of "Rise Above", titled Rise Above 1: Reeve Carney Featuring Bono and The Edge, was released digitally.
The music video was released on July 28, 2011 and for the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
chart week of August 13, 2011 the single debuted on the Adult Top 40 chart at position 40, and peaked at position 34.
Jon Dolan for Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
gave the album a three stars rating out of five commenting: "Amid the all many disasters that beset the Broadway version of Spider-Man, Bono and the Edge's songs emerge pretty much unscathed by critics. Now that the show has been revised and restaged, this centerpiece anthem of struggle over adversity may become a metaphor for its slog towards redemption. "Rise Above" is a trademark soaring U2 ballad, with the elegant grandeur cranked up to Andrew Lloyd Weber levels. But show tunes need big voices too, and, singing next to Bono on this version from the forthcoming cast recording album, leading man Reeve Carney sounds like a nervous understudy."
External links
- Spider-Man On Broadway
- Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark at Broadway.com