Spider-Man: The Musical, music by U2

Okay WHAT the hell:

Throughout the script -- credited to Taymor and playwright Glen Berger, stamped "Confidential" on its cover and dated from this summer -- stage directions call for action sequences that at first glance seem almost impossible to stage, let alone transfer to another theater for possible touring productions.

The opening bridge scene is followed closely by the arrival of a giant web woven by Arachne, a temptress who is the musical's central invention. "A giant loom is revealed -- seven actors swing on vertical silks to form a tapestry," the stage directions read. At another point, Spider-Man is so busy battling bank robbers and muggers that he multiplies into five different crime-fighting superheroes. One of the duplicate spiders swings over the audience, landing on the balcony.

For all of the theatrical pyrotechnics, the musical's core story is comparatively old-fashioned, following the basic plot of the first "Spider-Man" movie while adding some new characters and back stories.

The central romance between high school students Peter Parker and neighbor Mary Jane Watson remains intact. Parker is still bullied by his classmates and moonlights as a photographer for a New York newspaper; moreover, he's torn over his unexpected transformation into a web-slinger. As in the movie, the play's central villain, Green Goblin, is the genetically mutated form of scientist Norman Osborn. The biggest departure from the movie is the musical's femme fatale, Arachne.

A figure cut from Greek mythology and sometimes accompanied by her own Furies, she stalks and tempts Spider-Man throughout the story as any god does a mortal. "We're linked by instinct, but you think a spider can wait? She exterminates deficient mates!" she tells Spider-Man at one point.

The music marks a departure for U2 as well. Famous for their soaring, sometimes political rock anthems, such as "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "Pride (in the Name of Love)," Bono and Edge have crafted "Spider-Man" songs that are driven more by choral harmonies than lashing guitars. Because U2 does not play in the show (the performers are accompanied instead by a band and an orchestra), the songs are written for different voices (including women) with non-U2 arrangements.

Bono described his and Edge's compositions as varying from "giant, big pop songs to noisy rock 'n' roll to ethereal shivers"

who's in for a "This Is Not Spider-Man: The Musical by U2" comp?

Good luck there:

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/taymor-says-spider-man-needs-to-be-a-huge-hit-to-cover-costs/

And we have a song!

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/from-u2-a-song-for-spidey/

The rock band Carney on Tuesday unveiled a new song by U2, “Boy Falls from the Sky,” an emo-like mix of ballad and hard, aching energy that is intended as a major number in Act II of the coming Broadway mega-musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.” Bono and the Edge wrote “Boy” and a dozen more songs for the show, their first Broadway musical, which has suffered production delays because of financial problems but is expected to begin performances in New York this fall.

Reeve Carney, the singer-frontman of the band that bears his name, is set to play Peter Parker and Spider-Man on Broadway, though he did not act in character while performing “Boy” at a luncheon honoring the musical’s director, Julie Taymor. It was the first time that Mr. Carney had performed a U2 song from “Spider-Man” before several hundred Broadway artists and producers; his singing voice sounded both younger and sharper-edged than Bono’s.

In the musical, Peter Parker sings the number after his love interest, Mary Jane, has been abducted and his superpowers are gone. The song was by turns romantic and introspective, with lyrics like “you can change your mind/you can’t change your heart” and “I did not have to move so far/to find myself alone.”

Reeve Carney of the rock band Carney.

If they were smart, they would make this 3-D, like "Avatar."

Opening date set. Plus:

Tickets for "Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark" are set to go on sale to the general public in September, but no specific date was given.

Organizers also announced new cast members for the blockbuster production. Tony nominee Jennifer Damiano will play the role of Mary Jane Watson, taking over from Evan Rachel Wood, and Patrick Page will play the Green Goblin, a role that was previously going to be played by Alan Cumming.

Damiano received a Tony nomination last year for her supporting role in the musical "Next to Normal."

Reeve Carney is still on board to play the lead role of Peter Parker.

The cast is scheduled to begin full rehearsals on Aug. 16.

Among the casualties of the show is its original publicity team, Boneau/Bryan-Brown, which resigned from the account in July. The show's PR is now being handled by O&M Co.

Entertainment.

"Turn Off The Dark" always makes me laugh ... why are they bothering with a subtitle? Shouldn't it just be "Spider-man: The Musical"?

Oh dear:

http://twitpic.com/2n06pk

Enjoy!

http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2010/10/05/video-u2-performs-spider-man-song-for-the-first-time/

No way this is as good as the 70's Spider-Man rock opera performed by Crack the Sky:

http://www.amazon.com/Spider-man-Reflections-Superhero-Stan-Lee/dp/B00004TQXY

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519TGRT5JZL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

BEHOLD

You'd think Annie Liebowitz would be a little more skilled with the Photoshop

fuckin what?!? the fuck is that?

It...it is what it is.

I love the fact that, should I ever find myself in some hypothetical connect-the-dots game at at bad party, I'll be able to connect the author of Against Interpretation with stone-cold killer Cletus Kassady.

COME TO THINK OF IT: does this mean we'll get SECRET WARS on stage???? Or will they cop out like SPIDEY 3?

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.comicsalliance.com/media/2010/11/spiderman.jpg

ice to see you

http://images.nymag.com/arts/theater/features/spiderman101129_3_250.jpg

The score is rich in angsty ballads and nervous riffs, with impressionistic lyrics like “There’s no time for sorrow when there’s no such thing as time.” Taymor says, “You don’t even know what that means exactly, but you know it’s right.” A song called “A Freak Like Me Needs Company,” for the eight-stilettoed Arachne and her Furies to sing near the end of the show, was apparently less right. “I thought, and still do, that it would be a hit,” says Bono. “A percussive eighties Paradise Garage dance piece with a fantastic hook. Julie was like, ‘No … ’ And I said, ‘Julie, isn’t this what you call a ten o’clock number?’ And she goes, ‘Who cares what time it is?’ ”

http://nymag.com/arts/theater/features/69680/index2.html

The thought of Bono & Edge writing a Paradise Garage-y "number" is just wOOow

dunno, their last tribute to a discotheque wasn't so hot

It could not, therefore, have come as a surprise to her parents that, when she was 15, she insisted on traveling to Sri Lanka—then Ceylon—and that at 16 she was off to Paris for a year on her own to study mime with Jacques Lecoq. “Other mothers would say to me, ‘Well, Betty, how can you let her go?’ ” her mother recalls. “But Julie’s not the kind of person you ‘let.’ ”

I can totally relate, for when i was 15 I insisted on going to Wal-Mart to buy a Super Nintendo game.

xpost - yeah I meant that I don't believe they could pull it off.

Interesting post by Mark Evanier, a writer who knows his comics and his musicals:

http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2010_11_24.html#019808

First preview yesterday... five pauses.

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/11/28/spider-man-turn-off-the-dark-spurs-broadway-blogging/

http://www.newsfromme.com/spider-manbroadway.jpg

Why are they trying to make Spider-man into Batman?

Batman made more money?

So...will this kill or just maim people?

They should open a "Batman" musical across the street, and have the two leads fight suspended midair in the middle of NYC. (Twice a day on weekends.)

They are.

It's been done
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd_AZuBjEIw

It's a shame nobody's posted the first song from this movie. It's a training montage to the tune of "Surfin' Safari" that goes

Oh my god, Batman & Robin
Oh my god, Batman & Robin
Praise the lord, Batman & Robin
Shoot man shoot, Batman & Robin
Let's go Bruce Wayne now, and Dick Grayson now
They are a part of meeeeeee!

There's always this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAlfr7wsqcM

And, of course:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebI8H5nq5L4

Curses.

This one might work better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxySK01v1os&feature=related

A rousing start:

http://www.deadline.com/2010/12/spider-mans-broadway-bow-delayed-until-february-7/

Concussions! Breaks! Bono behind the troublesome Act II! He and the Edge haven't seen it staged yet! Scenes are being rewritten, added, or cut! And then, of course, it has to pass safety muster once again, since new scenes will have to be vetted by inspectors. So glad I set aside three or four free months in the off chance the show actually starts (the article I saw in the Times not so hopefully cites "sometime in February") and I'm able to jet to New York to watch a "Spider-Man" musical, with songs from U2. Before it closes.

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.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/19/nyregion/spider-man-to-shut-on-broadway.html

Incredible:

The new Australian musical “King Kong” has been considering a move to the Foxwoods after “Spider-Man” closes, but no official plans are in place. The Foxwoods is expected to undergo some renovations before its next tenant moves in.

!?!??!

A great bit:

Like many producers on struggling shows, Mr. Cohl made attempts through the summer and fall to recruit star names in hopes of reviving ticket sales — in the case of “Spider-Man,” talking to the rock musicians Alice Cooper and Gene Simmons about playing the villainous Green Goblin.

“We got fairly far along with Gene, but there just wasn’t time to get him into the show quickly enough to make a difference,” said Mr. Cohl, who knew both musicians from his years as a rock concert promoter.

longest-running $60 million flop ever

(that is 60 in the red)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9zzHnRYxtc

getaway stayaway

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt52nJWik4A

We saw one of the Julie Taymor previews. The crowd was giddy, the show was crazy and carnival-like. A+

can we get an Ant-Man musical now

keep Reed on, make it a crossover with Down With Love

Up with Ant-man?

Up With Giant-Man

i miss when this was all that was going on in the world

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCBjJwjgTgW

Crap. This gets you there:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkLi5F0G0Hw

https://aux.avclub.com/how-youtube-is-keeping-the-memory-of-spider-man-turn-o-1846832894

I still can't believe that this happened

guess we'll never get follow-up musical Hulk Hop Hooray

I mean, I do and I don't want to get lost in that Archive, but shit like this is like Batman & Robin: The Movie, The Musical:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK46JScH2XI

god bless those archivists

i'm sure once his harness failed, he became Brown Goblin

Goblin doing stand-up, then transitioning into a dance-pop tune. never knew I wanted this in my life. well because I didn't. but watch I do

On November 19, 2013, producers announced that the show would close on January 4, 2014, citing falling ticket sales[26] and no longer being able to get injury insurance for the production as reasons for closure.[27]

lmao

It's mentioned once upthread but the Lord of the Rings musical just missed out a bit on this kind of archival coverage -- a couple of years earlier in social media existence and more importantly never did play Broadway, only Toronto and the West End. We had a blast on our podcast talking about it and I think our show notes actually pull together the most documentation about it all around:

https://www.megaphonic.fm/bythebywater/16

But yeah, nothing will top this and I'm with Neanderthal's post for the revive. Admittedly I was having a total blast on this thread.

This is some straight up “Zoo Animals On Wheels” horror.

i regret not seeing that LotR musical in toronto but i figured it would play for more than a few months, ha

there's a 10-min video on that spider man youtube channel just called "all recorded accidents", not sure if i have the nerve to watch it

The archive might as well just be called "all recorded accidents."

They chose that song when they went on Letterman (watch the ending if nothing else)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RgR0-EWuNY

Which inspired this Comedy Bang Bang sketch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZOcPFoT6T8

cant believe they couldnt sneak Grinder Girl onstage in that Letterman clip

lol i used to work next door to this but watching that "bouncing off the walls" video is the first time i've ever heard any of the music.
sounds like what i thought it would sound like

What

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-03/george-santos-produced-broadway-s-spider-man-musical-at-least-he-claims-he-did

Add Broadway producer to the long list of George Santos’s fabrications.

While running for Congress in 2021, Santos told some potential donors he was a producer on the musical Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, according to people familiar with the discussions. That show, which ran from 2011 to 2014, was an ill-fated production that lost tens of millions of dollars and suffered from technical mishaps and actor injuries.

Here’s a guy who thought he knew how to fix the one problem with the scam in The Producers: you gotta raise money on the production *after* it fails