By Don M. Ventura
It isn’t fair to judge something that you haven’t experienced yet. But I won’t let that stop me.
In two months the massively over-budget Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, directed by Julie Taymor with music by Bono and the Edge, will finally open at the Foxwoods Theater for theatergoers interested in viewing it and buying drinks during its intermission.
From the start, nothing seemed appealing about the idea of a Spider-Man musical. Then came the first pictures of the Green Goblin and the latest to villain terrorize New York City: Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark… I mean, Swiss Miss. Now my opinion has been cemented.
Director Julie Taymor explains her passion in bringing Spidey to the Great White Way:
“I did my due diligence and read hundreds of comic books and thought about the idea of how do you bring Spider-Man, which is 40 years of extraordinary comic books, one villain after another after another after another after another… exploits that take him all over the world and into different galaxies of the mind… the real world, the astral plane, the dream world and I really was trying to think… how do we take this and bring it into a two or two and a half hour evening and try to encompass these forty years of comic books.”
I don’t share her enthusiasm about bringing our world-traveling, astral plane-swinging, wall-crawling crime fighter to the stage. Which issues did Marvel send her?
Think about it this way: Broadway is simply turning out another musical that fans of comic books have no interest in.
For more information about Spider-Man: Turn Out the Dark go to:
http://spidermanonbroadway.marvel.com/app/webroot/theatre/?gclid=CLKVhdTOiKQCFSFVgwod6E3ZIA
Or call Ticketmaster at (877) 250-2929.
Excelsior!
In two months the massively over-budget Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, directed by Julie Taymor with music by Bono and the Edge, will finally open at the Foxwoods Theater for theatergoers interested in viewing it and buying drinks during its intermission.
From the start, nothing seemed appealing about the idea of a Spider-Man musical. Then came the first pictures of the Green Goblin and the latest to villain terrorize New York City: Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark… I mean, Swiss Miss. Now my opinion has been cemented.
Director Julie Taymor explains her passion in bringing Spidey to the Great White Way:
“I did my due diligence and read hundreds of comic books and thought about the idea of how do you bring Spider-Man, which is 40 years of extraordinary comic books, one villain after another after another after another after another… exploits that take him all over the world and into different galaxies of the mind… the real world, the astral plane, the dream world and I really was trying to think… how do we take this and bring it into a two or two and a half hour evening and try to encompass these forty years of comic books.”
I don’t share her enthusiasm about bringing our world-traveling, astral plane-swinging, wall-crawling crime fighter to the stage. Which issues did Marvel send her?
Think about it this way: Broadway is simply turning out another musical that fans of comic books have no interest in.
For more information about Spider-Man: Turn Out the Dark go to:
http://spidermanonbroadway.marvel.com/app/webroot/theatre/?gclid=CLKVhdTOiKQCFSFVgwod6E3ZIA
Or call Ticketmaster at (877) 250-2929.
Excelsior!
5 comments:
What about a musical about a deaf dumb and blind kid who's good at pinball, scored by The Who? Cause that sounds pretty stupid too. Or what about a musical with singing lions and a baboon? Cause that won't sell any tickets either, will it. Seriously, you were onto something in your first sentence--don't judge it yet, lest you become like everyone else on the internet--refusing to let ignorance get in the way of spouting off.
For what it's worth, I was concerned about coming off like another negative internet troll who hates everything. Since the few posts I've written have not had a negative slant, I was okay with posting my initial thoughts on this new show. I actually both a comic book and musical theatre enthusiast and this show appeals to me on neither level. Anyway. Thanks for reading and sorry to offend.
Not offended, just intermittently weary of cynicism. I honestly didn't think I'd be interested in The Lion King, but there were a couple stunning moments in it that reminded me of the potential of theatre. Taymor's a real artist (who's managed to sell a lot of tickets) so it bugs me when people conveniently forget to factor that into any preliminary assessment...
I have to agree with Cape Town.
I am all for finding a creative way to bring theater to the masses, but Spiderman is not really the first Super Hero I think of when I think STAGE.
If you wanted a colorful hero with odd ball villains that would translate well, why not Dick Tracy...
But that’s just an opinion on super heroes going on stage...other than that the look of this play/musical is pretty awful.
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