Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark – Superhero Epic or Super Epic Failure?

I’m very Whiskey Tango Foxtrot about this whole Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Broadway musical thing. First, I’m not a fan of musical theater to begin with, I do dig the Cirque du Soleil shows, and Blue Man Group is very cool but, you won’t ever catch me going to see Cats, Rent, or even being a comic book geek, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.

Quite frankly, I think the whole notion of turning a legendary comic book hero’s story into a singing, dancing, wire-work extravaganza is both a bastardization of the webslinger himself, and the innovative aerial work that Cirque du Soleil has been at the forefront of for so long.

Just a few days ago, the most expensive production in history, Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark held it’s first preview at the Foxwoods Theater on Broadway. Below are some quotes from around the web from people who attended that preview.

From The NYPost:

“Stunned audience members were left scratching their heads over the confusing plot — when they weren’t ducking for cover from falling equipment and dangling actors.

At various points, overhead stage wires dropped on the audience, scenery appeared on stage missing pieces — and the show’s star was even left swaying helplessly over them midair during what was supposed to be the climatic end to the first act.”

From The Today Show:

“In the show, many of the action scenes take place overhead, with actors dangling from cords, which turned out to be a source of trouble. “One of the chords fell and grazed the audience,” said the source. During another stop, a character suspended from a cocoon about 20 feet above the stage was “stuck dangling for a good five or six minutes.”

“Beyond that, the show just made no sense. The plot has serious problems,” said the source, “But the music (by U2’s Bono and The Edge) is really good.”

You can check out a couple of TV spots, and a featurette that the CBS network did on 60 minutes about the show below.

TV Spot: Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark