Spider-Man: 1st preview blighted by problems

The first preview of the much anticipated Broadway musical Spider-Man, Turn Off The Dark took place on 28 Nov 2010. Unfortunately the show was blighted by technical problems which meant the show's running time was 3 and a half hours.

The show was stopped four times during its first act, with actors left dangling on wires over the head of the audiance while stage hands struggled to bring them down.

At the end of the first act Spider-Man is to swing across the stage, rescuing his love interest, Mary Jane, from the top of the Chrysler Building. However, things did not go to plan: part of the prop for the Chrysler building was missing; Mary Jane, who is meant to be stranded on its peak, was missing; and Spider-man was left dangling in the air - with stage hands having to jump up and down to grab his feet and pull him back down to earth.

This was only one of four stoppages in the musical's first act, with the second act suffering from further delays. In the show's final 10 minutes, procedures stopped for five minutes as further problems were resolved with the musical's special effects.

Michael Riedel of the New York Post reports that some in the audience were growing increasingly restless, with one member of the audience shouting out "I don't know about the rest of you, but I feel like a guinea pig tonight!"

Hopefully, these teething problems will quickly be resolved. Theatre audiences may be prepared to cut the production some slack at this early stage, however a few more evenings like this could prove detrimental to the long-running health of the show.

Spider-Man, Turn Off The Dark, which is estimated to have cost $65 million to produce and to have a weekly running cost of $1 million, has suffered set-backs on its journey to its first preview.

The musical, which was originally set to open on Broadway in Feb 2010, had to delay its premiere due to difficulties in raising the necessary finance. Furthermore, during recent rehearsals two actors suffered serious injuries: one broke both his wrists and another broke both his feet - further delaying the show's opening.

The musical is currently set to open at the Foxwoods Theatre on the 11 Jan 2011.

Drawing from more than 40 years of Marvel comic books for inspiration, Spider-Man, Turn Off The Dark follows the story of teenager Peter Parker, whose unremarkable life is turned upside-down—literally — when he's bitten by a genetically altered spider and wakes up the next morning clinging to his bedroom ceiling. This bullied science-geek—suddenly endowed with astonishing powers — soon learns, however, that with great power comes great responsibility as villains test not only his physical strength but also his strength of character.

Spider-Man, Turn Off The Dark features music and lyrics by 22-time Grammy Award-winners Bono and The Edge of U2 with direction by Tony Award-winner Julie Taymor ('The Tempest,' 'Across The Universe,' 'The Lion King') and a book by Julie Taymor and Glen Berger ('Underneath The Lintel').

A press release for the show reads "Spider-Man, Turn Off The Dark represents the consummate collaboration of cultures by joining the theatrical and cinematic vision of Julie Taymor with the thrilling musicality of Bono and The Edge, and the iconic Spider-Man brand. This project has allowed these artists to create a work specifically designed for a theater environment, one that can't be produced as a stadium show, and is the natural evolution of three remarkable careers. Spider-Man, Turn Off The Dark promises to be the most ambitious production ever undertaken on Broadway.

Spider-Man, Turn Off The Dark stars Reeve Carney as 'Peter Parker/Spider-Man,' Tony Award-nominee Jennifer Damiano as 'Mary Jane Watson' and Patrick Page as 'Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin.'

The cast also features Natalie Mendoza, Michael Mulheren, Ken Marks, Isabel Keating, Jeb Brown, T.V. Carpio, Mat Devine, Gideon Glick, Jonathan Schwartz, Matthew James Thomas, Laura Beth Wells, Matt Caplan, Dwayne Clark, Luther Creek, Gerald Avery, Collin Baja, Marcus Bellamy, Emmanuel Brown, Erin Elliott, Craig Henningsen, Dana Marie Ingraham, Ayo Janeen Jackson, Heather Lang, Ari Loeb, Natalie Lomonte, Kevin Loomis, Kristin Martin, Jodi McFadden, Kristen Oei, America Olivo, Jennifer Perry, Kyle Post, Brandon Rubendall, Sean Samuels, Dollar Tan and Christopher Tierney.

The creative team includes Daniel Ezralow (Choreography), George Tsypin (Scenic Design), Academy Award-winner Eiko Ishioka (Costume Design), Tony Award-winner Donald Holder (Lighting Design), Jonathan Deans (Sound Design), Kyle Cooper (Projection Design) and Julie Taymor (Mask Design).

Spider-Man, Turn Off The Dark is being produced on Broadway by Michael Cohl, Jeremiah J. Harris, Land Line Productions, Hello Entertainment/David Garfinkle, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Billy and Fernando Rovzar Diez Barroso, Jeffrey B. Hecktman, Omneity Entertainment/Richard G. Weinberg, Nederlander Organization/James L. Nederlander, Terry Allen Kramer, S2BN Entertainment, Jam Theatricals, the Mayerson/Gould/Hauser/Tysoe Group, and Patricia Lambrecht, by association with Marvel Entertainment.