This LJ writer got a sneak peak at the upcoming Spider-Man musical, which is directed by Julie Taymor with music by Bono and The Edge. We’ve heard a few whisperings ourselves, but this sounds like a must-see:

It’s fairly well-documented that Julie Taymor is a genius, but I was dubious when I first heard about this project. It’s Peter Parker plus Arachne (you know, from the myths about spiders) and it’s Green Goblin and Mary Jane and a greek chorus of geeks (geek chorus, snort snort) and, of course, J.J. Jameson. Glen was kind enough to show us all of the set design sketches and they are amazing – stylish and graphic with forced perspective and vertigo-inducing angles. Lots of LED stuff, also. We also got to see test footage from the swinging and flying and a short video of the team figuring out how to shoot webs. As Glen said, obviously there are going to be a lot of wires in this show. If it bothers you to see them, this is not the show for you.

We also got to hear some music from the workshop they did recently and, you know, it rocks. It’s undeniably U2 in the very best way. There’s a beautiful duet between Peter and MJ that I’m sure we’ll all see at the 2010 Tonys.

1 COMMENT

  4. Oh my. Theatre is my profession and even I’m not excited about this. Does no one remember It’s a Bird! It’s Plane! It’s Superman!? haha.

    Should be inteersting.

  6. i’ve heard some pretty amazing stuff about the flying systems. it’s a foy-like system (might possibly even be foy) that has spiderman on a three point rig and the green goblin on a five point, allowing the two to swing and manuver around each other in mid air

  8. Sounds like a musical that will work. Is this coming to New York City? That would be awesome and I would go see it!

  10. I heard some of the songs on a demo (which I assume was THIS Spider-Man musical – there can’t be two surely) and they were pretty dire – and i love musical theatre…

    I hope i heard the wrong songs.

  12. Hey, at least Al Hirschfeld illustrated “It’s A Bird…” for the New York Times!

    I would love to see “The MAD Comic Opera” on stage! Dick Tracy! Dagwood Bumstead! Tarzan! Or “Keep on Trekkin'”! Or “South Chicago”! Or “The Ring and I”!

    Oooohh…. how about a concert series at NYCC? Royalties would have to be worked out…

  15. U2 and musicals would both rank pretty highly on a list of Stuff I Have No Interest In, but I am up for this like you wouldn’t believe.

  17. Whoever said the demo was pretty dire, heard the wrong songs.
    I heard songs recorded form the workshop and they were…wow! The duet between Evan Rachel Wood and Jim Sturgess was truly amazing, and I agree it will be at the Tonys. I just hope it will still have Wood and Sturgess singing it!

  18. I was thrilled when I heard that Jim Sturgess would be playing Spidey on B’way. I believe he is a huge talent and will draw a lot of folks to the show. Broadway needs new blood and to keep up with the Technology wave that this country is in you’ve gotta start producing flashier stuff if they want to keep attracting new crowds.
    PS I thought he was amazing in Across the Universe and it definitely revived the Beatles music.

  19. I was thrilled when I heard that Jim Sturgess would be playing Spidey on B’way. I believe he is a huge talent and will draw a lot of folks to the show. Broadway needs new blood and to keep up with the Technology wave that this country is in you’ve gotta start producing flashier stuff if they want to keep attracting new crowds.
    PS I thought he was amazing in Across the Universe and it definitely revived the Beatles music.