Spiderman News - Part 2

[mama cass]

oh my god i can't watch - B should've punched the guy!!!

 

[deep]

Opening of Spider-Man musical delayed until MARCH

 

[mama cass]

Opening of Spider-Man musical delayed until MARCH

with running costs of $1 million a week, are they still going to keep up these previews til March?

i think it would make sense to shut down the previews for a while - no point in rehashing the same old performance every night while the actors have new scenes to learn etc. - that would be a logistical nightmare surely especially if major changes are being made... shutting down the previews temporarily would give them so much more tweaking/rehearsal time for a start...

 

[medley]

As we reported last week, that cast album is expected to be released in the "next few months."

I can't wait for that . So what do you guys think about... you know... the songs. I'm surprised that since we have good recordings of the show thanks to Stargift there are not more discussions about them. I want U2 versions of No More, Rise Above, If The World Should End, BFFTS of course and maybe Walk Away at the very least. They certainly have the potential to be big hits and even maybe to become new U2 classics.

 

[U2FanPeter]

with running costs of $1 million a week, are they still going to keep up these previews til March?

How is the production that high in a single venue? How do you spend upwards of $200k a show?

That's almost as much as it cost to have Popmart traverse the globe.

 

[mama cass]

How is the production that high in a single venue? How do you spend upwards of $200k a show?

i have no idea... insurance premiums?

 

[Drowningman]

So the latest 2 month delay in the musical basically put the nail in the coffin for any new U2 material coming out early this year.

I was hoping that we would have a new album before they start the US leg of their tour but, that hope is dimming fast

I'm starting to hate this musical

 

[corianderstem]

We have no reason to believe Spidey is delaying anything in U2 land.

 

[powerhour24]

Unfortunately we also have no evidence not to believe that, come on U2 camp and say something!!

 

[corianderstem]

So then why not lean towards optimism?

Even if the damn album doesn't come out in May, I'm not going to blame Spiderman unless there's an interview in which they say "we were working towards May, but Spiderman got in the way."

And if I'm wrong, so what? I'll be bummed, but whatever. I'll get over it and get excited about seeing them this summer.

 

[VintagePunk]

Unfortunately we also have no evidence not to believe that, come on U2 camp and say something!!

I think the way that Bono and Edge seemed to be lollygagging till after the new year before appearing in NYC, and then spending Spider-Man off hours just chilling and hanging out (the Edge pic in the bar, the pics of Bono meeting with celebs backstage, etc) indicates that even before the most recent postponement, they weren't exactly in U2 album desperate-to-finish recording mode, anyway.

So, if there's a delay in the album release, I'll find it hard to believe it's due to Spider-Man.

Personally, I think the album's done, and in post-production mode.

 

[Drowningman]

So then why not lean towards optimism?

Even if the damn album doesn't come out in May, I'm not going to blame Spiderman unless there's an interview in which they say "we were working towards May, but Spiderman got in the way."

And if I'm wrong, so what? I'll be bummed, but whatever. I'll get over it and get excited about seeing them this summer.

I agree, its better to look at the glass half full but, this musical keeps drilling holes in the bottom of the glass.

Don't get me wrong, I'm as excited to see them this summer. After all I've been holding onto these damn tickets for a whole year.

All I know, from previous U2 album releases, is that it usually takes all 4 band members working through the nights, usually till the brink of a deadline because they are constantly tweaking things.

and no matter how much they try to do both, right now Bono and The Edge are occupied by their side project.

 

[corianderstem]

... this musical keeps drilling holes in the bottom of the glass.

But how do you know?

That's the thing, we don't know either way. Which is what I'm saying - I'm taking the news (or almost-news) we have on the album to base my optimism on.

People are making assumptions that Bono & Edge staying in NY to work on the musical is keeping them from something else, but there has been no additional info to support that.

 

[BVS]

I agree, its better to look at the glass half full but, this musical keeps drilling holes in the bottom of the glass.

Don't get me wrong, I'm as excited to see them this summer. After all I've been holding onto these damn tickets for a whole year.

All I know, from previous U2 album releases, is that it usually takes all 4 band members working through the nights, usually till the brink of a deadline because they are constantly tweaking things.

and no matter how much they try to do both, right now Bono and The Edge are occupied by their side project.

But what if it's done, like the last little nugget of information we received leads us to believe?

 

[Drowningman]

If its done then, I'll be the happiest U2 fan out there

 

[Drowningman]

But how do you know?

That's the thing, we don't know either way. Which is what I'm saying - I'm taking the news (or almost-news) we have on the album to base my optimism on.

People are making assumptions that Bono & Edge staying in NY to work on the musical is keeping them from something else, but there has been no additional info to support that.

you're right nobody knows, at least not anyone who's not directly involved with the making of the album.

I'm making an assumption because this musical, which should have already opened and been running a long time ago, has forced Bono and Edge to work on or re-work spiderman material. Something which they obviously had not planned on doing at this time. Their direct involvment in the musical should have ended months ago.

So again, I'm assuming that because they are occupied with "A", they can't focus totally on "B"

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I'm optimistic that they decided to change the ending

 

[corianderstem]

So again, I'm assuming that because they are occupied with "A", they can't focus totally on "B"

Well sure, but the info we have on "B" leads me to believe that those two don't need to be focusing on "B" right now, because their work on "B" is more or less done.

 

[Drowningman]

Well sure, but the info we have on "B" leads me to believe that those two don't need to be focusing on "B" right now, because their work on "B" is more or less done.

I'm hoping for "More" than "Less"

 

[corianderstem]

Hey, now we're on the same page!

 

[Drowningman]

but the conspiracy theorist in me won't let go of my earlier assumptions.

So prove me worng U2 and release the new material NOW

 

[garciaricky0019]

I can't wait for that . So what do you guys think about... you know... the songs. I'm surprised that since we have good recordings of the show thanks to Stargift there are not more discussions about them. I want U2 versions of No More, Rise Above, If The World Should End, BFFTS of course and maybe Walk Away at the very least. They certainly have the potential to be big hits and even maybe to become new U2 classics.

Any link to any of these new songs?

 

[VintagePunk]

A lot of interesting bits of news in this one:


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/15/theater/15spider.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&src=twr

‘Spider-Man’ Producers Say Delay Is Justified
By PATRICK HEALY
Published: January 14, 2011

The producers and director of “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” defended on Friday their decision to postpone the musical’s opening by another five weeks, saying that a show of this unprecedented complexity could not unfold according to Broadway tradition. New productions usually have four weeks of preview performances to work out kinks and not the record-setting 15 of “Spider-Man” before critics review it.

But several veteran producers were quite critical of the move, saying “Spider-Man” was setting a bad precedent by having audience members pay $140 to $275 for the best seats at a show that is still undergoing script, music, sound and lighting work, and that still lacks a big closing number. Some, breaking the customary silence that producers tend to extend to their colleagues, also charged that the delay was a ploy to make more money before critics offered their judgments.

As it stands, “Spider-Man” will have had roughly 110 preview performances before its new March 15 opening. The record for a musical was 71, set in 1991 by “Nick & Nora,” and the record for a play was 97, set in 1969 by “A Teaspoon Every Four Hours.” (That play, starring Jackie Mason, closed immediately after its opening night.) By its March 15 opening, if that holds, “Spider-Man” will have run longer in previews than some Broadway musicals have run in their entirety this season, like “The Scottsboro Boys” (94 total performances) and “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” (99).

Michael Cohl, the lead producer of the $65 million “Spider-Man,” the most expensive musical in Broadway history, said the creators were still working on a splashy ending, including a major new flying sequence that was tested on Friday for state safety inspectors. He said the show’s composers, Bono and the Edge, of the band U2, were reworking music and lyrics. (Bono, however, has left New York; his return date is unclear.) And Mr. Cohl disputed the accusation that the opening-night delay — the fifth — was a tactic to gin up more publicity and sell more tickets. Despite bad press, “Spider-Man” was last week’s highest-grossing Broadway show.

“The best idea to market the show would be to open,” Mr. Cohl said in a telephone interview. “Our view is the same as Ernest and Julio Gallo: ‘It’s simply, no opening before its time.’” (A similar phrase was made famous by the winemaker Paul Masson.)

“Listen, this is a very different kind of Broadway show: a rock ’n’ roll circus drama, a piece of action theater,” he continued. Referring to the show’s Tony Award-winning director, Julie Taymor, he added: “A lot of theater people thought Julie was nuts when they heard what she was doing with ‘The Lion King,’ before anyone saw the final product. We’re not bound by old expectations of when to open or not to open. We’ll open when the show is ready to open.”

Mr. Cohl and the show’s other lead producer, Jeremiah Harris, said they had not seriously considered more drastic moves like putting the show on hiatus; Mr. Cohl estimated the creators needed about 90 hours of more work and rehearsals, much of which would be on the ending. Mr. Harris said that the creators needed audience members seeing the show to gauge laughter, applause and silences — and then make fixes accordingly — while Mr. Cohl said that the show was selling extremely well and that audience members were enjoying themselves over all.

“Our sales are strong, they continue to be strong, and that’s the best news of all,” Mr. Cohl said. “I think that says something about what’s happening in the theater every night. We want the show to be great, and we believe we can get to that point while we continue to hold performances.”

Ms. Taymor, in a separate phone interview, said that she was “finessing and finishing off some major elements of the story” and clarifying parts of Act II, which some audience members have criticized on theater blogs, Twitter and Facebook.

“I’m not changing the story, I’m trying to make it better,” Ms. Taymor said. She added that characters like the spider villainess, Arachne, and the so-called Geek Chorus of narrators, as well as a number entitled “Deeply Furious” that involves several female spiders dancing in high heels, would remain in the show with refinements, despite much drubbing by the public.

Usually such details are not part of the cultural conversation beyond Broadway insiders, but “Spider-Man” has broken wide across the public, largely because of the popularity of the comic-book hero at its center, the involvement of Bono and Edge and the recent injuries to four of the show’s performers. Ms. Taymor, for her part, said she was trying to block out all of the public and news media attention on “Spider-Man,” which has become a staple of late-night comedy and was discussed excitedly this week by Glenn Beck on his radio program and on “Morning Joe” on MSNBC.

But for all the enthusiasm that those radio and television hosts have exhibited toward “Spider-Man,” some veterans of Broadway show making expressed bewilderment over the delays.

“What the ‘Spider-Man’ people are doing is completely cynical,” said Jeffrey Seller, the Tony Award-winning producer of “In the Heights” and “Rent.” “It’s an end run around an actual opening night that would shine a tremendous amount of negative light on their superhero, while instead they’re riding on all the nonreview press the show is receiving because of its delays.

“With eight performances a week, you can only rehearse on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays for four hours each because of union rules and crew work, unless you want to pay overtime,” Mr. Seller continued. “If you want to write a new three-minute number, stage it, orchestrate it and tech it, the whole process takes at least a week. If they were serious about improving the show, they would shut down and do the work. But that would cost money.”

Emanuel Azenberg, another Tony-winning producer, has mounted shows for decades that had long preview periods and short ones. But he said “Spider-Man” had become a watershed.

“The producers are getting endless free publicity out of these delays,” Mr. Azenberg said.

Ms. Taymor justified the delays by saying that the work being done was the same that most shows do during out-of-town runs, which “Spider-Man” did not have. “In a way,” she said, “we’re still out of town, and we’re coming in for our five weeks of previews starting on February 7,” formerly opening night.

Some theatergoers also expressed exasperation on Friday. “This is the second time I thought I had tickets to see a frozen production, only to learn that I’m only going to see another preview,” said Steve Loucks, who writes about theater on his blog, SteveonBroadway. “They need to reconsider what they’re charging for preview tickets.” Years ago, Broadway previews cost less.

Several New York theater critics said on Friday that they were chagrined to have a musical running for 15 weeks of previews but that they have been unable to offer reviews that might inform potential theatergoers before they spend money. A few critics have published reviews, though; the “Spider-Man” team has said that critics should not review until invited to the production.

Joe Dziemianowicz, the theater critic of The Daily News, wrote a column on Friday that asked, in the headline, if audiences and critics were “being played for suckers” by the producers, though he added in an interview that he was not sure when he would review the show.

“One concern I have is that I can see having reviews come out by dribs and drabs, which just dissipates the impact of a critical consensus,” Mr. Dziemianowicz said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if the producers want that.”

The Associated Press theater critic said he would wait until invited to review; The Village Voice critic said he was inclined to wait; and The New York Post’s critic said she would be conferring with her editors.

Asked if The New York Times would review “Spider-Man” before press performances in March, Jonathan Landman, the paper’s culture editor, said: “We’re thinking about it. When a show seems comfortable with endless previews, then you have no choice but to think seriously about when to review it.”

 

[cleazer]

Despite bad press, “Spider-Man” was last week’s highest-grossing Broadway show.

So I guess the good news is at least this show won't close before I get a chance to see it. It certainly could be far worse.

However, it doesn't take the world's biggest cynic to put 2 and 2 together and say that as long as they're raking in the dough, there's less impetus for them to actually sit down and change/fix/finalize the show. If they were playing to half empty houses most nights, I bet they'd make these changes a lot faster.

 

[powerhour24]

So then why not lean towards optimism?

Oh I am, I was just pointing out that for once I can understand those who aren't.

 

[medley]

Any link to any of these new songs?

Sure. Here you are :
MP3s of the main songs:
http://www.u2interference.com/forums/f189/spiderman-news-part-2-a-208720-12.html#post7067538

Flac files of the complete show:
http://www.u2interference.com/forums/f189/spiderman-news-part-2-a-208720-16.html#post7075171

I hope the links still work and I assume it's ok to post them as the posts haven't been deleted. I think I'm going to make a thread about that, I can't believe there isn't one already.

 

[powerhour24]

We tend to keep request threads in the Music on the Internet forum, and there is one for Spidey.

 

[Canadiens1131]

SpiderMan: Turn off the Dark (Beta)

 

[greety]

I don't know if it is mentioned here (I haven't really followed this thread), and I don't know what exactly he's doing, but Steve Lillywhite is now involved in this production.

He tweeted this on the 14th: Well, word is out.. I am now a member of the biggest production in Broadway history !

and today: To my Australian friends... Its Spider-Man the musical.. Google it !

 

[gvox]

Anybody else think they should have just done the music without all the association to U2 and hoop-la...maybe just a little credit line at the bottom of the poster?

"Music and arrangement by David Evans and Paul Hewson"