Revamped ‘Spider-Man’ Musical Opens on Broadway

After taking a three-week hiatus for significant retooling, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark resumes previews this week, with producers promising that the troubled $70 million Broadway musical will now stick closer to the character’s comic book roots following the departure of previous director Julie Taymor, The New York Times reports.

Says Taymor’s replacement, Philip William McKinley, the show’s lighter tone aims to appease the “8-to-88-year-old market,” with an additional $5 million going toward five new flying sequences, new and rewritten songs by Bono and The Edge and expanded roles for Aunt May, Uncle Ben and Mary Jane Watson.

According to the article, the bizarre character of Arachne—previously a villainous goddess—has been scaled back and altered drastically, becoming, in the Times’ words, Peter Parker’s “guardian angel figure.”

“In Turn Off the Dark 2.0, the myth of Arachne does not overpower the reason people are there,” Bono told the newspaper via email, “to discover what makes Peter Parker a superhero, which in the end turns out not to be his spider senses, but his personal integrity and especially his humility—something something I hope all of us in this process have learned from.”

That sounds all well and good—especially that last bit about humility in light of the show’s disastrous history—but this shiny and new iteration of Turn Off the Dark evidently features a musical number in which the Green Goblin makes fun of voicemail.

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No, I don’t think it’s fixed yet.

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Has Julie Taymor Left ‘Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark?’

Tony Award-winning director Julie Taymor has evidently exited Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark as producers plan to shut down the seemingly cursed musical for drastic retooling, the New York Daily News reports.

“Taymor is out. She’s left the building” an anonymous source told the newspaper. At this time, it’s not yet clear whether she quit or was fired. In any event, she’ll finally have the free time to read some of those Spider-Man comic books she’s heard so much about.

While the show was scheduled to open on March 15, its producers’ plan to overhaul the $65 million production will push the opening back yet again to June.

It looks like the people behind Turn Off the Dark are determined to salvage whatever they can. But is this Broadway debacle really worth saving? After all of the cast injuries, technical issues and brutal critical thrashings, does anyone honestly think there is anything remotely redeeming about this show save for its increasingly abundant trainwreck appeal?

By my estimation, attempting to resurrect this disaster doesn’t make a lick of Spidey sense.

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'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark' Gets a Rewrite, Another Delay

Oof. There are troubled productions and then there’s Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, which has experienced a crippling combination of financial difficulties, on-set disasters and critical maulings since it began previews late last year. Now, Deadline.com is reporting that the producers have hired Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa to rewrite the book penned by director Julie Taymor and Glen Berger. Extensive rewrites will likely result in a sixth opening night delay for the $65 million production, as there’s no way this bizarre take on the Webslinger can be wrangled into coherence by March 15. Hell, from what I hear, the play features a supervillain fashion show and a Mary Jane-sung song about shoes. Thanks, Bono and The Edge!

But there is a flicker of hope in hiring Aguirre-Sacasa, who actually wrote several issues of The Sensational Spider-Man back in 2006-2007. Unfortunately, the playwright’s credits also include a recent reworking of the questionable 1960s Man of Steel musical, It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s Superman. Don’t expect much.

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'Spider-Man' Musical a Spider Short

After suffering a concussion during the first preview performance of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark on Nov. 28, actress Natalie Mendoza is officially leaving the production, The New York Times reports. She played Arachne, a villainess that plays a key role in Spider-Man’s origin story.

To be more specific, Arachne—an original creation by Lion King director Julie Taymor—is the spider that bites Peter Parker and gives him super powers. And she sings!

Spider-Man was to be the Broadway debut of Mendoza, 30, a film and theater actress and musician who is perhaps best known for her lead role in 2005 horror flick The Descent.

“Thank goodness I had such a brilliant neurologist who made sure I recovered properly,” she wrote on her Facebook page. “Nice to be almost back to normal … almost anyway haha! Thanking God for peace, real friends, love and health and healing.”

Chris Tierney—a Spider-Man stuntman who fell roughly 20 feet to the stage during a performance last Tuesday—is still recovering from multiple injuries, including a hairline fracture in his skull, four broken ribs, a bruised lung and three fractured vertebrae. Two other actors have suffered serious injuries due to the show’s complex (and clearly unsafe) stuntwork and effects.

The show’s opening night was recently pushed back four weeks to Feb. 7 to give Taymor, the producers and composers Bono and The Edge time to streamline the show before critics review it.

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OSHA, Department of Labor Could Squash 'Spider-Man'

Enough is enough, Julie Taymor.

Following yet another serious performer injury—this brings the total to four for everyone keeping track— the Lion King director’s $65 million Broadway catastrophe Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is under investigation by both the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the New York State Department of Labor, The Wall Street Journal reports. The show’s producers have agreed to enact more rigorous safety precautions in light of the string of on-set accidents.

Additionally, the Actors’ Equity Association “is working to ensure that performances will not resume until back-up safety measures are in place,” as noted in a statement released by union representatives. This is the first good news about this show I’ve heard since its inception.

According to the article, Spidey stuntman Christopher Tierney, 31, fell more than 20 feet off a platform during the final 10 minutes of Monday night’s preview performance. Reportedly, “someone missed their cue” and forgot to anchor a tether to Tierney’s harness.

As reported by BroadwayWorld, Tierney has suffered several broken ribs and bleeding, and is hospitalized in serious but stable condition.

So let’s recap: This is the most expensive show in Broadway history, the cast (and the audience) is clearly in danger due to an apparent inability to pull off the show’s complex stunts and, based on early reviews, the music sucks (thanks Bono!). Is Turn Off the Dark really worth all of the damage its caused thus far? Do the show’s producers actually need an actor to die onstage before they realize this thing is a bad idea? How about an audience member getting mortally wounded when a stunt goes awry?

The show’s official opening date was already pushed back to Feb. 7 before this latest accident, but these persistent safety issues could push that start date back even further.

Spider-Man Musical Delayed Yet Again!

Give it up, Webslinger. This is getting embarrassing.

The Associated Press has reported that the long-delayed Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has postponed its debut yet again, with previews now beginning on Nov. 28 for a Jan. 11 opening. The show was originally set to open just four days before Christmas, with previews beginning before the lucrative Thanksgiving holiday.

The latest in a long line of delays for Turn Off the Dark is tied to the $60 million production’s complicated Cirque du Soleil stunts and various technical issues.

“I’m not surprised that Spider-Man is delayed,” an unnamed theater producer not connected with the production told the AP. “They are building a musical that costs three times as much as the biggest musical we’ve seen previously.”

The previous titleholder for most expensive show on Broadway was the $25 million Shrek the Musical, which failed to earn a profit for its investors.

The Spidey musical, helmed by the Tony Award-winning director of The Lion King, Julie Taymor, was originally set to open in February, 2010. The timing issues have been exacerbated by two on-set accidents that injured actors—including one who broke both of his wrists during an aerial stunt—and the New York State’s Department of Labor’s failure to complete a safety review when producers said they were unprepared to show all of the aerial theatrics in a single day.

The show also features music by U2’s Bono and The Edge, which is another problem entirely.

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