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The Spider-Man musical is becoming more of a legend by the day. If it wasn’t epic cost overruns and cast changes, it was a stage setup so ambitious and dangerous that people were breaking bones. Safety concerns have led the Dept. of Labor to inspect the set after a stunt player broke both wrists in a horrifying accident

Aubin, one of several actors in Spider-Man costumes who catapult throughout the theater, was crouching at the back of the stage. Suddenly, he shot up into the air and came crashing down at the lip of the stage with such force, some audience members heard his wrists snap. “It was a thrilling effect, but you knew something was wrong because he hit the stage so hard,” says a source. “He maintained his Spider-Man pose, but you could see he was wincing.”


This in turn has led to yet more delays, with the opening moved from November to January:

It’s supposed to be the biggest, costliest, splashiest show of the Broadway season, but so far it’s just the most troubled. Executives with “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” said Thursday that the opening of the oft-delayed, $60 million musical would be set back once again, this time by three weeks, meaning it will miss lucrative Thanksgiving week, forgo an attention-getting bow over Christmas, and open during the box office doldrums of January.


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Director Julie Taymor maintains that the show will be worth the wait and chides the naysayers:

“There are no changes coming to the actual show,” Taymor told me. “All the changes have to do with technical things. The flying, of course. But also all the wires, and the changes between scenes. We may need a little bit of an underscore to cover a move, or a small transition that needs to be smoothed. These are the things that you would work out on the road. We’re doing them here.” Taymor is not naive, but she’s surprised by the venom being spewed toward the show. “This is a time of terrible unemployment. We have around 200 people involved in this, being paid every week. Do we really want to see them lose their jobs? It’s unbelievable.”


And NOW, Vogue magazine has given us the first real look at how the costumes will look. Although Mary Jane (Jennifer Damiano) is clad in designer frocks, here at last are the musical Spidey, Carnage and Green Goblin. Says Taymor of the Carnage/MJ (in Marchesa black-and-white hand-painted crinoline ball gown) confrontation:

“I saw the inherent theatricality in it, and I couldn’t resist.”


Reeve Carney is Spider-Man, while Emmanuel Brown is his stunt double. Patrick Page is the Green Goblin.

Sign us up. This looks amazing. We want those 200 folks to have their jobs.

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1 COMMENT

  1. Funny that the first “related stories” link at the bottom of the article is “What we’ll be thinking about in 2008” (written in 2007); a stark reminder that this thing has been in development for nearly 3 years, if not longer.

    Does it even have a chance of being financially successful at this point? Can it even hope to break even? Can’t recall the source, but an examination of the play’s financials from earlier this year made it sound as if it would take a miracle then, and that was before the latest round of delays.

    I’m all for chasing dreams and sticking to one’s guns, but at some point you have to stand back, take a deep breath, and remember the lessons of Moby-Dick…

  2. Just followed links from Wikipedia and saw Swiss Miss was created for this. The show will also have a Geek Chorus which is a better name than Internet Commentors.

    Also thought this line from the Plot Summary was interesting, “Maligned by the media, buffeted by financial woes, and stretched thin by the expectations of the world-at-large, Peter now must struggle to navigate the demands of being a web-slinging superhero.” Sounds like it could be applied the the production as a whole.

  3. Mini-marshmallows are no match for a tungsten steel breastplate and confidential financial transactions.

    Well, on a gloomy day, maybe.

  4. The Vogue article is titled “KA-POW!” … sighhh. And here I thought we were past that. Haha, foolish me. Well, at least it didn’t say something like, “Holy Sondheim, Batman!”

  5. I think all headlines everywhere should start with “KA-POW!” Like the New York Times:
    “KA-POW! Weaker Dollar Seen as Unlikely to Cure Unemployment”

  6. i don’t know but is Bono or even the edge into hum hum Comics ?? did not know bono was into trading so and see waht that brought in ??

  7. Wow, that Carnage costume looks really amateurish. When Comic-Con fans have better home made costumes that a multi-million dollar musical, you know you have a problem.

  8. Patrick Page as the Goblin? Hope they don’t keep in the mask the whole time. He did, by far, the best Iago I’ve ever seen (at the Shakespeare Theatre in DC opposite Avery Brooks in the lead). Of course, Willem Defoe’s a great actor, too, but he can’t act through a helmet either.

  9. Let’s see. First I had preview tickets for January 2010, then I had tix for 11/26. Now my incredible box seats for January 2011 are kaput also?!

  10. Swiss Miss is kind of bland.

    I like Hershey’s Hot Chocolate best. They come with marshmellows AND teeny, tiny Hershey kisses that sink to the bottom of the cup, which you can then spoon out of the cup after you finish your HC. And they really, really do melt in your mouth… delish!

    The musical pics are kind of dynamic and exciting. I read somewhere in an interview with Julie Taymor that they’re really trying hard with this show, which employs and pays their staff during a time when unemployment is at an all time high and that is really cool.

    I hear tickets are running about $150, which seems kind of high. Is that expensive for this kind of a show? Because I couldn’t afford it in this economic climate.

    I do wish the cast and show luck though.

  11. “When Comic-Con fans have better home made costumes that a multi-million dollar musical, you know you have a problem.”

    I think the great costume designer Eiko Ishioka (Coppola’s DRACULA) is after a totally different goal – it exudes a Skottie Young or Bill Sienkiewicz energy vibe than a costume for a con. Made to complement gesture, sound and fixed visual points. Only the theater goer will experience the context it was meant to be.

  12. Am I the only one who thinks Schumacher Batman when I look at these costumes?! Maybe they’ll work better in a musical setting, but WOW this seems wrong on so many levels… Trying hard to keep an open mind…