Spiderman News - Part 2

[coolian2]

well, at least the music wasn't directly slammed in that one.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Bono and edge are subjecting peter parker to cruel and unusual punishment. A lady in a cloud once told me that was wrong.

 

[Catman]

Save your money and see something else. This play blows.

Did you always think this? I could've sworn you had a slightly more positive opinion after you first saw it Or was it one of those situations where you try to convince yourself it's not as bad as it really is? I was given tickets to see the show as a gift and will probably share a similar reaction

 

[medley]

it's fine "pushing boundaries and being a brilliant fuck off to artistic conventions", but surely it has to at least be decent in order to fly (scuse the pun)... and i don't know if it's really pushing any boundaries - it's all been done by Cirque, theme parks (lol), etc. before, with less hype and less money for a start!

Cirque du Soleil is the evolution of circus but this has much more elements than that obviously.

Whatever how professional it is from all those critics to review a show still in preview. But of course those guys certainly know better than actual artists when a show is ready to be seen . Perhaps this show is indeed terrible, it is very ambitious, so perhaps that's just too much but not waiting for the final product says a lot about those "professionals"...

 

[medley]

You can tell me what you want about how bad this musical is but the amount of hate it is getting is totally irrational : all those critics releasing their hyperbolic reviews the same day based on a preview is just plain disgusting.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

There are some u2 fans that would worship bono's poop if he popped a squat on their coffee table.

 

[medley]

^missed that. HIAS has so much worthwhile thing to say to explain his opinion. With such interesting comments he probably could even become a respected critic.

 

[mama cass]

what i want to know is why the fuck did they ever let Taymor attempt to write the book? i mean! she is not a blinking writer! who's idea was that?

the trouble with Taymor's work, both film and stage, is that she constantly regurgitates the same stock movements, postures and formulas that she took from French physical theatre master, Jacques Lecoq whom she studied with for a year, and who used these movements as the basis for his method to develop his actors' stage presence and awareness of theatre space - i also studied with him in person and studied his methods in-depth, and it's all out there in her work, so plain to see! his theory was meant to be a springboard, a basis, to be taken further into new creativity, but no, she just takes it literally and DUMPS it into her performances and turns it all into a big fucking gimmick! it wasn't so bad the first time, but she goes and uses the same formulas over and over again, and it gets very dull - it has no depth to it, she just focuses on the superficial and it has no soul!

it makes me so mad and nauseous - i can see it in every single effing photo, the postures, the chorus, the fight scenes, the s l o w fucking running (that is literally just one of the key physical exercises all Lecoq students had to learn - we also had to learn how to mime weight-lifting, gondola-rowing, ice-skating, climbing a wall and many other useful things LOL), the masks - those fucking masks are Jacques Lecoq masks NOT Julie Taymor masks but who gets the credit?!
there, i got it off my chest now, sorry LOL

if B-man wanted an awesome creative and physical theatre director for his Spider-Man (as it was he who got Taymor on board to direct apparently*), he should have thought about the brilliant Simon McBurney from Theatre de Complicite - now he IS a theatrical genius, although he might well have told B to fuck off LOL

*The following Christmas, Bono was on holiday with Julie Taymor and suggested she direct it.

from:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/feb/06/spiderman-musical-bono-broadway-preview

 

[mirrorballman12]

You can tell me what you want about how bad this musical is but the amount of hate it is getting is totally irrational : all those critics releasing their hyperbolic reviews the same day based on a preview is just plain disgusting.

I agree with you. It seems all the critics reviews were pre determines and were going to be scathing no matter what. Ironically, broadway is in need of a new blockbuster considering around 10 shows have closen since early January. SO let the critics have their say; they need the show more.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Did you always think this? I could've sworn you had a slightly more positive opinion after you first saw it Or was it one of those situations where you try to convince yourself it's not as bad as it really is? I was given tickets to see the show as a gift and will probably share a similar reaction

here's the thing... i thought it had some promising points in it, but that it needed a major overhaul... i.e. the fucking arachne scenes which are baffling, confusing and stupid, and the entire second act should have been scrapped and started over from the drawing board. the majority of critics seem to agree. taymor apparently does not.

there IS some potential to the show... if they're willing to completely shut down and rewrite large sections of the script. they don't seem to want to do that. so thus then... yea. this play is sunk.


and yea... i do believe i was hoping for it to be good and tried to convince myself that it wasn't that bad. and i do believe that it could be okay with the above mentioned rewrites... MAJOR rewrites, not small minor tweaks... but they went with small minor tweaks.

spend your money elsewhere. if you really want to go? fine.. go. but i'd hate to see people who might not have a lot of extra cash trying to save up their money because boner and the corner are involved, when there are any number of better options out there.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

^missed that. HIAS has so much worthwhile thing to say to explain his opinion. With such interesting comments he probably could even become a respected critic.

hugs and kisses.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

all the new york papers have made their reviews...


the NY Post

Can 'Spidey' fly?: Dazzling at times and disappointing at others, this giant superhero production is still a tangled web
--Elisabeth Vincentelli

Giving a blank check to Bono, The Edge and Julie Taymor to create a musical seemed like a brilliant idea, once upon a time.
U2’s worldwide success and the director’s track record (“The Lion King,” the Met’s “The Magic Flute”) meant that their “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” could have rebooted Broadway the way “The Dark Knight” galvanized Hollywood’s superhero films.
EDITOR’S NOTE: After nearly 70 previews and five delayed openings, “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” has moved its official opening to March 15. Given the flurry of celebrity endorsements and booming, full-price ticket sales — and the producers’ confirmation that the score and ending are finally in place — The Post believes it’s time our readers know what to expect. And so our chief theater critic is honoring the show’s last official opening date, which was last night.

But then it went awry. A snowballing budget, broken bones, a concussion, multiple delays, rewrites . . . and what do we get? An inconsistent, maddening show that’s equal parts exciting and atrocious.
On one level, the story follows the Marvel Comics canon: Dorky high-schooler Peter Parker (Reeve Carney or Matthew James Thomas, depending on the performance) is bitten by a mutated spider and acquires superpowers. He struggles to win girlfriend Mary Jane Watson (Jennifer Damiano) and battles the wicked Green Goblin (Patrick Page).
To that familiar canvas Taymor and co-author Glen Berger added twists of their own, with varying degrees of success.
Four smart-aleck teens — the Geek Chorus — provide a running commentary that quickly becomes grating.
Another new character is the spidery mythical figure Arachne (T.V. Carpio). Pulled from the depths of Greek mythology, her role is confusing. Is this webslinger real or merely a figment of Peter Parker’s dreams? Why and how does she come back from wherever she was, and why does she leave again? Inquiring minds would want to know, if only they cared.
Then again, Arachne gets the single best number, “Behold and Wonder,” only a few minutes into the show. As a way to recount her origins, five performers swirl in the air, suspended by saffron-colored sashes as strips of fabric are woven up behind them. The effect is both deceptively simple and visually enchanting.
But then it ends, and we’re suddenly thrown into Peter’s high school, with what looks like the cast of a road show of “Grease” executing banal hip-hop choreography.
So this erratic musical goes, constantly seesawing between the galvanizing and the lame.
The first act holds it together because it follows the Marvel mythos, but when Taymor’s id takes over after intermission, the story goes out the window. You won’t soon forget — hard as you may try — a preposterous number featuring Arachne’s spidery minions and their stolen shoes, or the supervillain runway show that introduces another new character — Swiss Miss, the lovechild of Alexander McQueen and a Home Depot.
And so it goes.
A breathtakingly beautiful scene is followed by a laughable one. The flying sequences can be thrilling, as when Spider-Man first takes off over the orchestra; other times, they look barely good enough for Six Flags, the harnesses making the movements clunky.
High-tech CGI projections are juxtaposed with such cheap effects as cardboard cutouts and Spidey shooting off Silly String.
Taymor couldn’t decide what decade it was, so she went for all of them. The Daily Bugle scenes look as if they’re set in the 1940s, the villain’s lab is out of a 1960s sci-fi B movie and there’s talk of the Internet.
Fortunately, the score has its moments. Though Bono and The Edge seemingly recycled a few old lyrics and riffs, they’ve also written some solid pop songs. The best are performed by Peter and Mary Jane, and they soar with U2’s trademark grandiose angst.
The rock-trained Carney — whose brother, Zane, plays guitar on the side of the stage — gives his numbers heartfelt passion; Thomas, the matinee Spidey, is the better actor. Damiano creates an appealingly spunky Mary Jane — and she’s in great voice — while Page is crowd-pleasingly cartoonish as the Green Goblin.
But in any Taymor spectacle, the performances are almost beside the point: It’s all about creating magic and transporting the viewer.
Here, as impressive as the flying is, the wires are all too visible. They’re meant to make the characters soar, but they keep the audience tethered to the ground.

the NY Daily News

'Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark': Aerial scenes thrill, sets soar but songs and dialogue are dull

BY JOE DZIEMIANOWICZ

The show must go on - but what about opening night?

This was supposed to be a review of "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" following a gala opening at the Foxwoods Theater on 42nd St.

But producers postponed the official opening until March 15. After more than 60 preview performances, "Spidey" is still a work in progress, they say.

It'll be different when we open, they vow. It'll be better, they mean.

But between now and then, thousands of people will pay $140 a pop to see the still-under-construction musical.

Last Wednesday night, I did, too - without an invitation. I skirted Broadway protocol; after all, as the production team keeps saying, "Spider-Man" is a special case.

What I saw is a big production going in too many directions and in need of a lot of work to make it entertaining, satisfying and understandable.

Director Julie Taymor, who co-wrote "Spider-Man" with Glen Berger, calls the show a "circus-rock-'n'-roll-drama."

There's ambition in that, but her disjointed hybrid jerks along when it should flow.

Except for the anthem "Rise Above," songs by Broadway rookies Bono and The Edge of U2 lack hooks to make them stand out. As if written in invisible ink, tunes are there and then slip from your mind.

On the fun meter, "Spider-Man" rates a 5 out of 10. Its moments of thrill come in the flying sequences staged by Daniel Ezralow, including a wild midair battle between Spidey and the villainous Green Goblin.

Taymor, who did "The Lion King," is famous for vivid and colorful stage pictures. George Tsypin's soaring sets push perspective while conjuring gleaming cutouts of the Chrysler Building and tidy Queens rowhouses that flip open like pages in a book.

The show reportedly cost $65 million and that's clearly gone into mechanics, hydraulics and aerial rigging. It seems only 10 cents has gone into the confusing story and humorless dialogue.

Nerdy teen Peter Parker's transformation into a web-slinging wonder has been co-opted by Taymor's mythical concoction Arachne, an evil Spiderwoman who steals the second act right out from under the hero's nose.

Reeve Carney does a fine job in the title role, channeling Bono's rasp when he sings. Jennifer Damiano's sweet voice works well as his girlfriend Mary Jane. Patrick Page brings mad menace as the Green Goblin, while T.V. Carpio sounds Enya-like as Arachne. Michael Mulheren's nonstop barking as a crusty editor gets old quick.

"Spider-Man" may improve before the Ides of March. Surprises do happen on Broadway. Let's hope they get the tangles out, for the sake of Taymor and company - and for theatergoers shelling out all that dough.

and Newsday

Review: 'Spider-Man' still a tangled mess
by Linda Winer

It is time - I'm afraid past time - to turn the lights on "Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark."
The $65-million musical has been a magnet for headlines, punch lines and, most important, box-office lines since its first calamity-filled preview on Nov. 28. Even when director Julie Taymor and U2's Bono and The Edge kept asking for more time to make their ambitious experiment perfect before opening to professional reviews, most who admired their track record were predisposed to trust that, in fact, major improvements were still being made.
It is hard to believe, but as of Saturday night, virtually nothing has been fixed.
If the creators had not delayed their official opening for the fifth time, Monday would have finally been the day when critics were allowed to weigh in on the show that tens of thousands of full-fare customers (not to mention Glenn Beck and Joan Rivers) had been talking and tweeting about for months.
So in the spirit of enough's enough, we decided to break tradition, and offer an interim review of the show. We intend to review again March 15, the next promised opening date.
When I saw the show in December, the story was scattered, the music shockingly mediocre. But Taymor's stage pictures were amazing, and the flying was fun in a dumb, circus-y way. With the composers due back from their tour and safety issues more or less solved, it seemed likely that the show could be pulled together into an unusual, if not important, entertainment hybrid Taymor calls a "rock and roll circus drama."
Yet, the show I saw Saturday night was the same bloated, muddled, often beautiful mess it was before all this supposed "work." If anything, the piece feels more stretched and confused. The muddy sound system is better, and the new safety protocols are apparently working. A Spidey stunt double fumbled his landing Saturday, and the machines all stopped, leaving Green Goblin hanging belly-side down to joke with the audience below.
Taymor remains better at spinning a web than a coherent tale. More dispiriting is the music. It was hoped that Bono and The Edge would transform the old-fashioned conventional musical. Instead, perhaps intimidated by the challenge, they transformed their sound into stock Broadway schlock pop - sentimental wailing from the early Andrew Lloyd Webber playbook, winceable lyrics and the kind of thumpa-thumpa music that passes for suspense in action flicks. Most baffling of all, the song list is unchanged since December.
The first act is the best part, even if technical glitches at the performance I saw wiped out the exciting overhead fight between Spider-Man and Green Goblin. The plot follows much of the first Spider-Man movie, except that Taymor and co-writer Glen Berger add the Greek myth of Arachne (T.V. Carpio), a tragic siren with an Eartha Kitt vibrato who bites Peter Parker (Reeve Carney) to make him hers.
The goddess-versus-mortal triangle with girl-next-door Mary Jane (Jennifer Damiano) adds a little erotic tension. But Taymor overwhelms the charm of the cartoon story with ponderous imponderables about fate versus free will. Four annoying young people, the Geek Chorus, periodically halt everything to explain and argue about what's going on. Don't help us, please.
The second act is still a disaster, flabby with scenes of overproduced filler. There is a much-needed new ending, a modest scene in which Peter himself, not a double, flies around looking a bit scared. And there are many villains, but none has a personality. We really miss the vanquished Green Goblin/mad scientist, deliciously played by Patrick Page, the only showman in a generic cast.
Peter is torn between mortals and superheroes. The show is torn between human storytelling and cheap thrills. But the mortals are puny compared to the stunts. And, really, the title makes no sense at all.

seems to me like perhaps the arachne story line blows.

 

[cleazer]

Have they made any changes yet?

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

apparently their big second half script change was a new ending... but they didn't address the biggest problem in the entire set.. that the arachne story line is a confusing mess.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I think I'd rather see Mary Poppins

If they come out with a Spiderman soundtrack CD I'd like to listen to the music, but as far as spending the $$$ to go to NYC plus the cost of the play..I think I'd much rather see a touring show. Supposedly they do have plans to tour it, but I don't know if that will happen now.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

the biggest shame of this entire spiderman fiasco is that they wasted A Boy Falls From The Sky

 

[Irvine511]

the new album better be really good.

 

[medley]

Don't worry the new album SMTOTD is already leaked and is indeed quite amazing... imo.

the biggest shame of this entire spiderman fiasco is that they wasted A Boy Falls From The Sky

Yeah it's a shame for you I guess... At least it won't be wasted for everyone .

 

[mama cass]

Don't worry the new album SMTOTD is already leaked and is indeed quite amazing... imo.



Yeah it's a shame for you I guess... At least it won't be wasted for everyone .

B-man? Is that you sugar?

 

[MikeyJB]

Dunno if this has been reported here yet but its been said that the opening night has been delayed AGAIN till March 15th! I'm visiting New York this July and was hoping to be able to catch Spiderman whilst I'm there. With all these delays it makes me wonder whether it will actually be running in time for my visit?!?

 

[mama cass]

That's really old news MikeyJB - that's what the whole hoo haa has been about lately with these critics' reviews as the show was meant to have officially opened by now but got delayed yet again...

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Don't worry the new album SMTOTD is already leaked and is indeed quite amazing... imo.



Yeah it's a shame for you I guess... At least it won't be wasted for everyone .

There are some u2 fans that would worship bono's poop if he popped a squat on their coffee table. But the overall consensus is that its no good.

if you thought it was good, i'm glad. at least somebody did.

just about every major critic around gave it at most 2 stars. most gave it less. of the people who've seen it and posted in here, the same issues regarding specific spots in the story keep coming up over and over and over again. these same spots are specifically mentioned in the major reviews.

but sure... somebody must think it's good.

 

[deep]

but sure... somebody must think it's good.

Worst Reviews Ever? Spider-Man Musical Gets Slammed - TIME NewsFeed

at this point
I will take a pass

 

[medley]

if you thought it was good, i'm glad. at least somebody did.

just about every major critic around gave it at most 2 stars. most gave it less. of the people who've seen it and posted in here, the same issues regarding specific spots in the story keep coming up over and over and over again. these same spots are specifically mentioned in the major reviews.

but sure... somebody must think it's good.

I respect your opinion but that would be great if you could do the same by not calling people, who have different ones, fanboys. I don't care how many people are going to say that they don't like the show or the score (the only think I can really comment because I haven't seen the show), I only care about their arguments because that's what really matters not how often someone will keep repeating that the show is a mess, or waste or whatever. One of your latest post was very interesting in this matter but still the fact that you have seen it and even wanted to like it doesn't mean that your point of view is more than just an opinion among others, not a fact. Few pages ago other people said that they in fact really liked it. So I think it would be great also not to act as if their opinions don't count. Just my 2-cents and no sorry I'm not the B-Man Mama... well that's what I'm going to pretend at least .

 

[MikeyJB]

That's really old news MikeyJB - that's what the whole hoo haa has been about lately with these critics' reviews as the show was meant to have officially opened by now but got delayed yet again...

Oh really? Haha, I guess I'm not keeping up enough with the twists and turns of this show.

 

[powerhour24]

Seems they should have hired Taymor as a designer/producer, not director/writer.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I respect your opinion but that would be great if you could do the same by not calling people, who have different ones, fanboys. I don't care how many people are going to say that they don't like the show or the score (the only think I can really comment because I haven't seen the show), I only care about their arguments because that's what really matters not how often someone will keep repeating that the show is a mess, or waste or whatever. One of your latest post was very interesting in this matter but still the fact that you have seen it and even wanted to like it doesn't mean that your point of view is more than just an opinion among others, not a fact. Few pages ago other people said that they in fact really liked it. So I think it would be great also not to act as if their opinions don't count. Just my 2-cents and no sorry I'm not the B-Man Mama... well that's what I'm going to pretend at least .

Im sure there are people who think its great. Im sure some of those people would think it was good even if u2 wasn't involved at all.

Just saying that those cases? Not the majority. And that's fine. To each his/her own.

If someone really wants to go see it, go ahead. In my opinion you're wasting your money when there's so much more to see. But its your money. Do with it as you please.

 

[purpleoscar]

For music I like Rise Above and TBFFTS but otherwise nothing else.

 

[mama cass]

Just my 2-cents and no sorry I'm not the B-Man Mama... well that's what I'm going to pretend at least .

Julie......?

 

[mama cass]

it's getting a right pounding on Broadway World... what a train wreck!