Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark in London
August 14, 2012
Mega Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark is set to open in London, although date and venue are yet to be confirmed.
One of the most technically challenging and spectacular Broadway musicals of all time is set to come to London, as the producers of Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark look for a venue in London to host the show.
Reeve Carney as Spider-Man on Broadway
The show follows the storyline of the comic book series and the 2002 movie, featuring teenager Peter Parker and his super spider powers, pitted against enemies including the Green Goblin.
Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark has become as famous for its backstage antics as its on-stage spectacle, with a very public falling out between producers and the original director Julie Taymor, and a series of serious accidents that occurred in previews and early shows as the cast got to grips with the technically complex aerial flying.
The show features a score and lyrics by U2′s Bono and the Edge and is directed by Julie Taymor and Phillip William McKinley, with a book by Julie Taymor, Glen Berger and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. It is currently unclear whether the lead of the Broadway show, Reeve Carney, would transfer to London or if the producers will find a home-grown Spider-Man. A UK star has become more likely since British actor Andrew Garfield was cast in the latest movie rebooting of the franchise, The Amazing Spider-Man.
The challenge for the producers in London will be to find a venue big enough to host this giant show. Watch this space.
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VIDEO: New Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark video starring Reeve Carney and U2
August 7, 2011
The official music video has been released for RISE ABOVE 1 from Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark.
The video, starring Spider-Man star Reeve Carney, also features Bono & The Edge from U2. The video also features some spectacular on stage and behind-the-scenes action from the Broadway show.
VIDEO
Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark – New video for Rise Above Pt. 1
LINKS
Book tickets to Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark at the Foxwoods Theatre in New York
VIDEO: Reimagined Spider-Man Turn off the Dark opens on Broadway
May 14, 2011
A new TV commercial has been launched for the “reimagined” Broadway musical Spider-Man Turn off the Dark, starring Reeve Carney and featuring music and lyrics by U2′s Bono and The Edge.
The show, which cost around $70 million – the most expensive Broadway musical ever staged, reopened on Thursday (12 May 2011) after closing for a revamp on 19 April. It has been previewing since November 2010.
Producers of the much-troubled musical parted company with the show’s original director, co-writer and visionary Julie Taymor in March, to be replaced by playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, director Philip William McKinley and choreographer Chase Brock. The new team has cleaned up the story, added more flying sequences, and Bono and The Edge have also reworked a number of the songs.
Reeve Carney stars as Peter Parker in the show. He told CBS News that the changes had been “reinvigorating” and that, “there’s an energy in the company because of having a clear direction, knowing where we’re headed and knowing that it’s going to be to a greater place.”
VIDEO
Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark – New TV Commercial
LINKS
Book tickets to Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark at the Foxwoods Theatre in New York
Spider-Man: critics right to feel aggrieved
February 4, 2011
Why wait to review a show when hundreds of thousands of audience members have seen it before you?
Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark
It appears that theatre critics of some of the major New York and US press are losing their patience with Julie Taymor and Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark.
The show has been delayed countless times since its original opening date of 21 December 2010. Producers recently announced that the new opening night would be set for 15 March 2011, to allow more fine-tuning of the complicated technical aspects of the show, notably the flying sequences, which have caused a number of high-profile injuries during rehearsals and previews.
Julie Taylor, director of The Lion King, has justified the repeated delays by arguing that the extended previews are in lieu of the usual pre-Broadway, out-of-town try-out for big New York musicals.
But New York critics are becoming increasingly angry about not being allowed to review the show, exacerbated by Spider-Man pulling in large audiences at the Foxwoods Theatre, beating Wicked at the box-office and often drawing over $1.5 million a week.
The New York Drama Critics’ Circle, which represents critics at papers such as the New York Post, The New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal and Newsday, met earlier this week and Spider-Man was on the agenda. President of the organisation, Adam Feldman, wrote on his TimeOut New York blog that, “the discussion was spirited but that we did not resolve to stick to any specific course of action as a group on the question of when to review the show, whose preview period has been extended multiple times.”
That said, critics at major New York and US papers are apparently preparing to review the show ahead of the official opening night, despite protests from the show’s producers. Also a number of New York critics have already filed reviews based on preview performances, something which is frowned upon by producers on both sides of the Atlantic. Jeremy Gerard from Bloomberg News and Linda Winer from Newsday have both broken ranks with other critics and written reviews.
Critics are right in feeling frustrated. The gentleman’s agreement between critics and producers to wait until the official opening night before filing a review should work both ways. Continually preventing the press from expressing an opinion on a major show, whilst audiences swell in, makes a mockery of their profession.
In an age of blogging, when amateur critics feel no compunction to honour these kinds of agreements and happily post reviews during previews, producers should respect the work of professional theatre critics.
Andrew Lloyd Webber, who encountered vocal bloggers during previews of his new Adelphi show Love Never Dies, must be watching Spider-Man events with interest. Lloyd-Webber was particularly perturbed by the bloggers, but must be wishing that he, too, had risked lengthening the preview period to iron out some of its creases.
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Since posting this, Mark Shenton of the Stage and Charles Spencer of the Telegraph have both filed reviews of the show. And they are not good. Both have lost patience and personally bought tickets to review the show. Would they have done this if it was in London? Hard to say, and would be interesting to know.
LINKS
Watch a video of the new TV commercial for Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark
Book tickets to Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark at the Foxwoods Theatre in New York
Spider-Man No.1 on Broadway
January 12, 2011
The world’s most expensive musical, Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark, has knocked Wicked off the Number One slot at the box-office on Broadway.
Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark, which starts previews on Broadway tonight
The new show, directed by The Lion King’s Julie Taymor and previewing at the Foxwoods Theatre in New York, pulled in $1,588,514 at the box-office last week.
The show was originally slated to open on 11 January. However, a number of set-backs have led the costly show to put back its official opening to 7 February.
Such has been the intense interest around the musical that a number of New York critics have filed reviews based on preview performances, something which is frowned upon by producers on both sides of the Atlantic.
Jeremy Gerard from Bloomberg News and Linda Winer from Newsday have both broken ranks with other critics and written reviews, joining the wave of on-line bloggers who have been posting about the show.
The production has suffered a series of cast injuries during its rehearsals and previews as a result of the ambitious flying sequences staged throughout the show. The most serious incident was stunt man Christopher Tierney, who suffered from four broken ribs and three cracked vertebrae after falling 30 feet into the orchestra pit. He hopes to return to the show once he recovers.
Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark features music and lyrics by U2′s Bono and The Edge and stars Reeve Carney as the Marvel comic book hero Peter Parker who is bitten by a spider and finds he has super powers.
Watch a video of the new TV commercial for Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark
Book tickets to Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark at the Foxwoods Theatre in New York
Spider-Man starts on Broadway
November 28, 2010
The world’s most expensive musical, Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark, starts previews tonight, Sunday 29 November, on Broadway.
Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark, which starts previews on Broadway tonight
The major new show directed by The Lion King’s Julie Taymor and featuring music and lyrics by U2′s Bono and The Edge, starts previews tonight, Sunday 28 November 2010, at the Foxwoods Theatre on Broadway.
A new TV commercial for Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark has been released to publicise the show, which formally opens at the venue on 11 January 2011, after technical delays prevented it opening before Christmas as previously scheduled.
The show features direction by Taymor (The Tempest, Across The Universe, The Lion King), music and lyrics by 22-time Grammy® Award-winners Bono and The Edge, and a book co-written by Taymor and Glen Berger (Underneath The Lintel).
Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark is widely seen as the most ambitious production ever undertaken on Broadway, and stars Reeve Carney as the Marvel comic book hero Peter Parker who is bitten by a spider and finds he has super powers.
The $50 million show has suffered a number of financial and funding problems, with delays causing original cast members Evan Rachel Wood and Alan Cumming to drop out of the production. The star of the show, Reeve Carney, is a member of rock band CARNEY, alongside his brother Zane. His acting credits include Ferdinand in Taymor’s forthcoming movie The Tempest, alongside Helen Mirren as a female Prospero, Ben Whishaw as Ariel and Djimon Hounsou as Caliban.
Watch a video of the new TV commercial for Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark
Book tickets to Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark at the Foxwoods Theatre in New York
VIDEO: Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark
November 28, 2010
TV commercial for major new Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark, starring Reeve Carney and directed by The Lion King’s Julie Taymor and featuring music and lyrics by U2′s Bono and The Edge.
VIDEO
Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark – TV Commercial
Book tickets to Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark at the Foxwoods Theatre in New York
Spider-Man: Turn off the jibes
September 20, 2010
There is nothing easier than talking down a show before it has even opened – which is what The Independent’s feature this Sunday, “Spider-Man, world’s most expensive musical, set to fall on its £40m face”, was all about.
However, we do sense a slight panic from Team Spidey, in a show that has suffered a bumpy road of delays, cast dropouts and refinancing on its way to opening at the Foxwoods Theatre in New York on 14 November 2010.
Illustration of a set from Spider-Man
And we also felt a bit sorry for the show’s director Julie Taymor recently as she appeared on Good Morning America. The acclaimed director, who scored such a hit with The Lion King, was made to (slightly hysterically) hold up flash cards to reveal some of the Spidey sets. We can’t quite imagine Sam Mendes or Trevor Nunn going on BBC Breakfast to do this – particularly as the sets looked, well, very 2D (see the image, right).
Plus the show’s composers, Bono and The Edge from U2, were thrown in to the mix live via satellite from Nice (France) to add some star power, but looking a tad exhausted and incoherent.
All that said, Reeve Carney did a passable impression of COOL as he sang one of the songs from the show, Boy Falls From The Sky, alongside his equally cool band.
We are still hoping for a big hit here and have everything crossed.
WATCH the videos of Spider-Man on Good Morning America
Book tickets to Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark on Broadway
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VIDEO: Spider-Man on Good Morning America
September 20, 2010
Fans of forthcoming big-budget Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark were treated to a sneak preview of the show on Good Morning America last week.
U2′s Bono and The Edge, and the show’s director Julie Taymor, discussed the epic new musical, and star of the show Reeve Carney sang a song from the show.
Book tickets to Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark on Broadway
VIDEO
Bono and The Edge from U2 and director Julie Taymor interviewed on Good Morning America
VIDEO
Reeve Carney sings Boy Falls From The Sky, from new musical Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark
Broadway: Spiderman to finally swing in
August 12, 2010
Broadway News: Big-budget Bono musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark confirms its long-awaited opening, plus a new take on Alice in Wonderland comes to New York
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Bono and Julie Taylor
Julie Taymor’s Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark finally begins rehearsals in New York next week, 16 August, and has gone on pre-sale. The show will start at the Foxwoods Theatre on Broadway, previously called the Hilton, on 14 November 2010, with an opening night set for 21 December.
Rehearsal for choreography and aerial flying lessons started last month for the new musical starring Reeve Carney as Peter Parker.
The $50 million show has suffered a number of financial and funding problems, with delays causing original cast members Evan Rachel Wood and Alan Cumming to drop out of the production.
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark features songs by U2′s Bono and the Edge, and will be directed by The Lion King’s Julie Taymor, who wrote the book for the show alongside Glen Berger.
Reeve Carney
The Edge has previously described the Spider-Man musical, based on the Marvel comic book hero, as a blend of genres including opera and rock ‘n’ roll: “there are some real character-driven songs as well, very unusual song types for us. It is much more like opera than a straight musical. We’re actually not calling it a musical for that reason because we don’t want to put people off.”
Reeve Carney is a member of rock band CARNEY, alongside his brother Zane. His acting credits include Ferdinand in Taymor’s forthcoming movie The Tempest, alongside Helen Mirren as a female Prospero, Ben Whishaw as Ariel and Djimon Hounsou as Caliban. The film will close this year’s Venice Film Festival.
Reeve is currently in intensive pre-rehearsals, including working on his vocals with celebrated voice-coach Valerie Morehouse.
Other casting includes Patrick Page (The Lion King, A Christmas Carol) as The Green Goblin / Norman Obsorn and Jennifer Damiano (Spring Awakening, Next to Normal) as Mary Jane Watson.
Wonderland
A new musical inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is slated to come to Broadway in Spring next year.
Wonderland is the story of Alice, a woman who is having a rough time as she finds her career in jeopardy, and she is estranged from her husband and alienated from her daughter.
She then suddenly finds herself in Wonderland, where she encounters characters from Lewis Carroll’s classic tale, helping her to rediscover the wonder in her life while searching for her daughter.
The musical follows the success of Disney’s hit film Alice in Wonderland 3D and mirrors the reimagining and extending of classic tales such as The Wizard of Oz-inspired musical Wicked.
The show has been conceived by Broadway veteran Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll & Hyde, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Civil War, Dracula: The Musical), with Gregory Boyd directing and a book co-written with Wildhorn and Jack Murphy.
Wonderland will try out in Tampa, Florida before starting previews on Broadway on 21 March for an opening of 17 April. The cast will be announced soon.
The show had its world premiere, as “Wonderland: Alice’s New Musical Adventure” at the Alley Theatre in Houston and a concept recording of the show is available.
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