Spider-Man: The Musical, music by U2

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/spider-man-opening-delayed-again/?hpw

Comments are deadly.

yea it's had a pretty dreadful opening, yet people are rushing to defend it, saying "it's only previews". Yea, previews generally means a few minor flubs, script/score tweaking, and possibly a hold or two in extreme circumstances. not like five stoppages.

i've had theatre brethren scream at people saying "don't root against people, we don't need more people losing money in this economy". ??????

The funniest thing is the weakest part of the show is supposed to be the score/book, otherwise known as 75% OF TEH SHOW.

My friends' six-year-old daughter reviewed it.

It was awesome because he acted like he hated Spider-Man, but the actor actually likes Spider-Man quite a bit because why would he ask to be in the musical if he really hates Spider-Man?

indeed, why would someone who hates spider man make a spider man musical?

indeed.

Batman is very rich, but he has had a very sad life, and his parents died, and he hates Christmas because his parents died on Christmas.

Is this true? Batman hates Christmas?

I loved that review!

At one point the entire audience right wings were exposed because the two stage-left LCD video panels just sort of... floated off... toward the center... seemingly bored with their duties as directed.
-

:D

Rumor fueled by Twitter: "Ambulances Called, Show Stopped After 'Big Accident' in Spider-Man Musical."

Supposedly Spider-Man took a two-story fall without a harness, into the pit. Hope he's OK, but my spider senses tell me ..

http://sayanythingblog.com/files/2010/11/money-toilet.jpg

this shit is gonna make Capeman look like Cats

I feel like they could have made a fine musical without making this super dangerous for all the actors

Performing performer injured during performance of 'Spider-Man' musical performance, reports the performing New York Performing Times performance.

from the nyt comments:

When I saw "Spiderman", my chin wasn't all covered with good, meaty, Broadway juices which I then sopped up with a soft, warm, almost painfully delicious soft bun. I was not rolling my eyes in satisfied delight and belching up the Bono tunes as a gastronomical tribute to the chefs.

But were I a swine so inclined, I'd sure as hell smell truffles.

that dude's Yelp reviews are all about mise en scene

Steven Tartick, an audience member, said the accident occurred during a scene when Spider-Man is rescuing his love interest, Mary Jane, as she dangles from a rope attached to a bridge.

Mr. Tartick said he saw the actor playing Spider-Man appear to trip and fall from the bridge, into an open pit at the end of the stage.

“You heard screams,” Mr. Tartick said. “You heard a woman screaming and sobbing.”

Mr. Tartick said there was a blackout, and then the house lights in the theater were restored. An announcement made in the theater first said there would be a delay in the performance. The announcement was then updated to say the show was over.

...A press representative for “Spider-Man” said in an email message: “An actor sustained an injury at tonight’s performance of ‘Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.’ He fell several feet from a platform approximately seven minutes before the end of the performance, and the show was stopped. All signs were good as he was taken to the hospital for observation. We will have more news shortly.”

Since he sounds relatively okay, I feel like I can make the joke about maybe the stage hands should make sure to "Turn Off the Dark" too, amirite?

I'm sure the Cirque du Soleil folks are just shaking their heads at this whole thing.

hahaha

Hey peeps there is a lunar eclipse going on right now.

My friends' six-year-old daughter reviewed it.

― would like a calmer set (Eazy), Sunday, December 19, 2010 3:44 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

That were good that

Look, of course it is sad when someone is injured, but this is the price you have to pay if you want to create great theater. Everyone knows that great theater is about launching people across stages using slingshots. It is what Ibsen did, it is what Shakespeare did, it is what made Sondheim famous.

To all the haters posting here, how do you expect to be enlightened at the theater if you can't see shows that launch actors into the air using slingshots? Mark my words, in one hundred years High School's will require their students to read Hamlet and to construct slingshots with which to launch each other. That obviously justifies these injuries.

reports of a little man seen laughing in the rafters, wearing a WoW giantstalker's helmet and muttering something about how he would have used The Vulture. verify?

If the guy didn't land on Bono, I don't care.

That would have been poetic justice.

not to be a killjoy but dude was in a neck brace and on a stretcher

i'm pretty sure you meant to be a killjoy there

yah, i suppose i did.

Neck brace and stretcher does not mean he sustained injuries to his neck or spine. It's standard procedure, in case he did sustain injuries, which will be determined once he reaches the hospital. Small solace, sure, but don't assume the worst (though video of that tumble looked, er, bad).

It seems like so little thought was given to safety precautions for this production, which seems insane given the amount of wirework involved.

So apparently this will need to run for at least four years just to recoup costs? What will the death toll be by then?

As with any misfortune in the 2010s, I read the instant zings and think oh no not funny not funny, but then:

@Reddingwb: I hear now that during the next U2 tour they will do a tribute scrolling the names of people injured during The Spiderman broadway show.

How to fix the Spider-Man musical: cast Jerry Lewis in the lead role. Change title to The Nutty Spider. You're welcome.

To tell the truth, I've yet to hear anything about this and not immediately think of "Stop The Planet Of The Apes. I Want To Get Off!" Though I'd much rather see "Stop The Planet Of The Apes. I Want To Get Off!"

"Equity to Halt Performances; Investigation Underway"

Several broken ribs.

Very lucky man, I should add.

Curious if Julie Taymor's going to follow her "when did we start caring about money?" quotes with "when did we start caring about cast injuries?"

Internal bleeding, too. And he fell 30 feet, not the initially reported 8-10.

well given the pic/video, there's no way that was 8-10 feet

this is basically done, right

after the cash they've dropped, it feels like it would take an actual fatality for them to just give up

when is the emperor's no clothes moment gonna happen? apart from the injuries this was just a stupid idea to begin with.

I believe that moment happened around the time this project was announced.

Hard to believe they've been working on this shit for nearly a decade.

Spider Man: Polish The Turd

nearly a decade to come up with this:

http://leagueofcomicgeeks.com/media/library/images/spider-man-turn-off-the-dark-costumes-5.jpg

oh my God, I didn't realize he was supposed to be catching Mary Jane

this is horrible but I am super glad dude is okay because it makes me feel like less of an ass for laughing at the absurdity of this

holy shit I just watched the video, that makes this decidedly less funny

You know, the Cirque de Soleil comment above made me realize that if the rightsholders had just approached *them* to do a production based on all this and they just had it run in Vegas, there might have been some eyerolling but the damn thing would have made a mint and be chugging along without a worry.

Instead there's Bono blathering, Julie Taymor biting off more than she can chew and near-death.

The Gawker piece calling for them to close down for good and cut their losses basically says that even if all the technical elements we were pulled off perfectly, the terrible book and songs and basics would make it one of the most boring, bad Broadway productions in history.

This would have made a great Vegas Cirque de Soleil stunt thing, no doubt, U2 songs and all.

the terrible book and songs and basics would make it one of the most boring, bad Broadway productions in history.

If the 60 minutes piece on the play was anything to go by, the songs were really weak even by current U2 standards.

oh my God, I didn't realize he was supposed to be catching Mary Jane

he wasn't supposed to catch her - he was supposed to rush to the edge and appear to jump as the lights went back, with the cord keeping him from actually going over. And it didn't.