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Ouch! Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark 2.0 reviews NOT coming up roses for Spidey
Meryl:
They did a piece on "60 Minutes" tonight about "Spiderman." The set looks fab, the music sounds promising, and the flying is pretty high class entertainment. 8)
Aloysius J. Gleek:
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/11/no_one_killed_at_first_spider-.html
Actors Left Hanging
at First Spider-Man Preview
By: Lane Brown
11/29/10 at 09:45 AM
Success! Broadway's $65 million, actor-fracturing Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark made it through its first preview last night without any major casualties. The Bono-scored, Taymor-directed musical was, however, interrupted five times for technical difficulties, some of which left actors dangling above the audience as stagehands worked to ground them. But even after three hours and forty minutes, nobody had broken any wrists or feet.
So what did go wrong?
• The show started "24 minutes late" and included "few of the [planned] special effects." [NYT]
• It opened with a song, "Rise Above," from the show's eight-legged female character Arachne (Natalie Mendoza), but when she finished, "an apparent wire malfunction left her stopped in midair — where she remained for an embarrassing seven or eight minutes as stagehands worked feverishly to figure out the problem." [NYP]
• "Overhead stage wires dropped on the audience [and] scenery appeared on stage missing pieces." [NYP]
• A scene began in Peter Parker’s bedroom, but was "halted two minutes later ... apparently to free the lead actor, Reeve Carney, from an aerial harness." [NYT]
• At one point, Mary Jane was supposed to be rescued from the top of the Chrysler Building, "but part of the building was missing, and Mary Jane was nowhere in sight." [NYP]
• The night's biggest screw-up: At the end of Act I, Spider-Man was supposed to fly off dramatically over the heads of audience members. Instead, he was left dangling a few feet above theatergoers while stagehands leaped into the air, trying to grab his feet. "When they finally caught him, the stage manager announced intermission, and the house lights came on." [NYP, NYT]
• "A fifth stop an hour into Act II caused some theatergoers to walk out." [NYDN]
• Green Goblin–portraying Patrick Page's big number, which he performed on a piano, went "on ... and on ... as stage workers openly rushed around to fix faulty equipment." [NYP]
• Also, there were hecklers: "I don't know about the rest of you, but I feel like a guinea pig tonight!" "I feel this was a dress rehearsal!" [NYP]
All in all, not too bad!
‘Spider-Man’ Takes Off, With Some Bumps [NYT]
After many delays, 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark' nets first Broadway preview to excited audiences [NYDN]
First 'Spider-Man' preview filled with problems [NYP]
.
serious crayons:
Wow, somebody must have said "good luck" instead of "break a leg" or called it "Macbeth" instead of "the Scottish play." :laugh:
Aloysius J. Gleek:
--- Quote from: crayonlicious on November 29, 2010, 01:49:39 pm ---
Wow, somebody must have said "good luck" instead of "break a leg" or called it "Macbeth" instead of "the Scottish play." :laugh:
--- End quote ---
Oh, gosh, it was me, Katherine, I'm to blame--I said 'Good luck' above within this very thread--sorry guys! (drops head in shame)
You know, Patrick Stewart says ( Macbeth ) rather than 'the Scottish play,' and IN the theatre too (!) but despite his name, he is a Yorkshire man, so I don't know.
Maybe actors should now call the production (at the Foxwoods Theater) the 'Arachnid play' :o!
Aloysius J. Gleek:
--- Quote from: Meryl on November 29, 2010, 12:40:40 am ---They did a piece on "60 Minutes" tonight about "Spiderman." The set looks fab, the music sounds promising, and the flying is pretty high class entertainment. 8)
--- End quote ---
Here it is, Meryl--
Really good piece
with Lesley Stahl:
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1fLZ-P0ZOo[/youtube]
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