Spider-Man: The Musical, music by U2

and if they do get to Opening Night, they will almost surely be lambasted by Ben Brantley, who isn't quite powerful enough to kill a show with his pen like his predecessors, but well can weaken it significantly nonetheless.

they've made a million a week in previews!

and there's already been attrition and people running to other projects; doesn't seem to have deterred the thing from stumbling on

xpost I know, but that isn't necessarily a predictor of long-term success. Experts are already predicting that Spidy would have to run for years to even begin to make a profit, and that's a tough fate no matter what type of show you are.

Critically panned crap has succeeded before (hello Mamma Mia), but it didn't begin its run with a sea of controversy like this either. Nor did Wicked. I don't think this show could run for years, there's too many x-factors, such as the safety concerns, and the fact that people are pointing out that beyond the spectacle, it's a pretty terrible show that even many Spidy fanboys are trashing.

ie, the general public isn't even liking what they're seeing.

The spokesman, Rick Miramontez, categorically denied a media report that “Spider-Man” had been shut down indefinitely. “Absolutely false,” Mr. Miramontez said shortly after 5 p.m. on Wednesday. “The performance is on for tomorrow night.”

Rick "Several Feet" Miramontez

regarding the attrition, some attrition doesn't hurt because they have understudies, but if a significant number of principals walk at the same time, it could have a devastating effect and might require more cancellations. also worth noting is that they are now in previews, whereas much of the aforementioned attrition happened before that stage.

Surely, though, with most of the money now spent, they'd keep it running as long as they could not to make a profit, but to diminish the losses

But, you know, fuck this show anyway

You know if they keep up this controversy then they can just keep doing disastrous sell out shows to NYC audiences who want to go and see if anything crazy will happen tonight that they can blog about.

two years from now it will be revealed that this was the masterplan all along

The lead with the concussion is reportedly leaving the show

On Sunday, Ms. Mendoza wrote on her Facebook page that she was grateful to be down to two nausea tablets and four painkillers per day to cope with her concussion.

Looks like Taymor cancelled a public interview. Because she's so busy, LOL. At least they're offering refunds to that.

March 15th now.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/nyregion/14spiderman.html?hp

Over a year late!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704803604576077940743813136.html

One key element the show is still hammering out: the ending. Producers intend to replace the $65 million show's temporary finale—a scrim unfurling to reveal an image of Spider-Man—with a more elaborate scene, Mr. Cohl said. "The actual ending that we have planned is still not in the show," he said. "Nobody's seen it—including us, by the way."

How can you say shit like that while charging full price for tickets

cuz it's America 2011?

see New Yorker cover, btw

This may the first Broadway production to make record money during its previews and then flop when it goes live. Assuming they ever land that pesky, elusive ending, that is. Might I suggest lighting the cast on fire? It worked for Metallica.

not really thinking this will ever open

Waiting for Doc Ock

Taymor should try her hand at a musical adaptation of "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" next.

wld be great if it turned out steve ditko was carrying out a phantom-of-the-opera-like vendetta against this

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ESC4bygtp2M/SHxxLB7wVII/AAAAAAAAEE8/cn7ug6kRKdc/s400/Ditko+Mr+A+Laughs+witz4p8pn2.jpg

they should announce new untested scenes every so many weeks, the way other shows have "8 weeks only!" stuntcasting

or combine the two. "Bono to be flung across stage until April 13th!"

U2 must be scrambling to make a new album to release a month after this opens/closes.

lol @forks

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/jan/26/spider-man-musical

against the producers' wishes, all the NY papers have run reviews today...so, it officially stinks.

http://theater.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/theater/reviews/spiderman-review.html?hp

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/02/08/arts/jp-theater/jp-theater-popup.jpg

There is also the Geek Chorus (Gideon Glick, Jonathan Schwartz, Mat Devine, Alice Lee), a quartet of adolescent comic-book devotees, who would appear to be either creating or commenting on the plot, but in any case serve only to obscure it even further. They discuss the heady philosophical implications of Spider-Man’s identity while making jokes in which the notion of free will is confused with the plot of the movie “Free Willy.”

Good for the papers, fuck the producers trying to tell them to wait.

It's not their fault the opening has been delayed so many times...besides, you're charging full price for tickets, fans deserve to have a professional opinion to guide them.

So glad Brantley did this one, he has a knack for insulting duck shows.

Also gates/capacity has been on the decline for Spidy too.

While the NYT doesn't carry the weight it once did with the theatre community, this review will do damage, and to that I say...good.

Give these actors Purple Hearts, a hefty severance package, and free them from career suicide...save that for the production team!

My guess would be that the critics community didn't care for the way this idiot enterprise was becoming the face of Broadway, and after the endless postponements they united to hasten its demise. LIKE SUPERHEROES!

Be great if they updated their marquee with the one rave review they've received so far...from Glenn Beck.

Loved that Ben Brantley review, particularly this Luther Ingram moment:

Because only when things go wrong in this production does it feel remotely right

"The songs by Bono and the Edge ... blur into a sustained electronic twang of varying volume, increasing and decreasing in intensity, like a persistent headache."

So how is that different from... oh, never mind.

Sounds like the best stuff they've done in years

A roundup:

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/spider-man-turns-off-the-critics/?ref=arts

Backhanded disclaimer:

The choreography took some thumps, and the flying sequences did not particularly wow the critics (all of whom, it’s perhaps worth noting, are adults).

Yeah, what about the child reviewers? and the idiots? why don't we let the idiots review this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNkYQvV5w6g&feature=player_embedded#

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/8910/image0gq.jpg
Who do I shot to get out of this production?

Same guy:

http://www.youtube.com/user/petermmarino#p/a/u/0/dPH7vZ3Rev8

^hilarious review quotes in less than a minute.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/whats-not-to-love-jackie-mason-waits-for-spider-man-to-break-his-dubious-record/

This damn show was simply using up all of Broadway's oxygen.

Now, maybe people will start talking about The Book of Mormon, which may be great or may suck, but at least won't be an overproduced fiasco.