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Ouch! Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark 2.0 reviews NOT coming up roses for Spidey
Meryl:
--- Quote from: Penthesilea on December 22, 2010, 05:38:12 pm ---You're going back to Alaska, directing another play! Whoo-hoo, how hot is that. 8)
Congratulations, Meryl! You're the best, I would hire you, too. :-*
--- End quote ---
Excellent, Chrissi! I've always wanted to work in Germany. Got any connections in Bayreuth? ;D
--- Quote from: Sason on December 22, 2010, 05:41:26 pm ---Not hot at all. More likely very, very cold. 8)
--- End quote ---
You can say that twice and mean it! ;)
Aloysius J. Gleek:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/23/theater/23spider.html?hp
‘Spider-Man’ Shows Canceled
to Test a Safety Plan
By PATRICK HEALY
Published: December 22, 2010
Customers lined up in the box office on Wednesday after the 8 p.m. performance of "Spider-Man:
Turn Off the Dark" was canceled.
A scene from the musical.
The Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” canceled its two Wednesday performances to test a new safety plan for the show’s 38 aerial and stage maneuvers, which involve actors hoisted or tethered in harnesses, including the maneuver that failed at Monday night’s performance when a stunt actor fell more than 20 feet and broke his ribs.
By canceling the performances at a cost of roughly $400,000 in ticket sales, and by adopting safety measures recommended by state and federal officials, the producers of “Spider-Man” sought to project a sense of urgency and understanding that action was needed to make the show safer. While the producers said that Thursday night’s performance would go on, they also committed, according to state safety officials, not to hold performances until the new measures were in place. The state officials said the plan could be tested successfully by Thursday night.
Under the plan, one offstage crew member will attach the harness and related cables, wires or tethers to the actors, and a second stagehand will verify that the attachments are made. That second stagehand will then verbally notify a stage manager that they are safely connected. The actor will also verify that the attachment is made. Previously, there was no second stagehand to verify or communicate with the stage manager, and the actor was not required to check his harness.
The producers and creators moved on other fronts Tuesday and Wednesday to gain a stronger footing for the show. While publicity about Monday’s accident and a backstage one on Nov. 28 has stirred interest in the show, the buzz has also left some actors and stagehands feeling demoralized, as well as protective of fellow company members.
The producers and creators held a private meeting with the entire company for more than two hours on Tuesday, two people who attended said. Some cast and crew members vented frustrations to the director, Julie Taymor, and the lead producer, Michael Cohl, about their decision-making — including whether the show had had enough time this fall to rehearse before performances began. The show had more than two months of technical rehearsals inside the Foxwoods Theater, far more than most musicals. Yet “Spider-Man,” with its two dozen aerial sequences and dozens of pieces of enormous moving scenery, is the most technically complex show ever on Broadway as well as the most expensive by far, at $65 million, more than twice the cost of the previous record-holder, “Shrek the Musical.”
A few company members also questioned Ms. Taymor — and in some cases challenged her — about whether the show was as safe as it could be and whether crew members had had enough time to absorb technical changes, and actors enough time to run through them. Two actors were injured this fall doing aerial stunts before preview performances began; during the first preview, one of the lead actresses suffered a concussion while in the wings just offstage, and, on Monday, the stunt actor, Christopher Tierney, fell from a platform when the tether attached to his harness was not properly affixed.
By all accounts, Ms. Taymor responded calmly to the questions and emphasized that safety was her foremost concern. Her representative did not respond to a request to interview Ms. Taymor on Wednesday.
Mr. Cohl first canceled Wednesday’s matinee (one of the most lucrative of the year, given the Christmas week tourist market) to spend time on the safety measures and to prepare other actors to step in for Mr. Tierney, who performed some of the most complex stunts in the show. As rehearsals continued Wednesday, Mr. Cohl, joined by Ms. Taymor, met with the safety inspectors to walk through the new redundancies, and — according to state officials — the two concurred that performances should not be held until those plans were fully tested. (Mr. Tierney remained in serious condition at Bellevue Hospital Center on Wednesday.)
Maureen Cox, director of safety and health for the New York State Department of Labor, which oversees the state inspectors, said on Wednesday that the producers assured her team that “Spider-Man” would be performed only with the safety measures in place, and that the show’s actors would be empowered to stop performances if they did not feel safely strapped in. Ms. Cox added that no cast or crew members had approached the state inspectors this week to express concerns about safety.
The show’s spokesman, Rick Miramontez, said all involved believed that the safety measures would be in place and tested by Thursday night’s show. He added that the producers did not believe more crew members needed to be hired to carry out the plan, but they would be if necessary. The show already has one of the largest work forces on Broadway.
Assemblyman Rory I. Lancman, a Democrat of Queens and the chairman of the New York State Assembly’s subcommittee on workplace safety, sent a letter to Mr. Cohl on Wednesday expressing concern about the current state of the production. Mr. Lancman said he would hold a news conference on safety issues and “Spider-Man” on Thursday outside the theater.
Aloysius J. Gleek:
http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/70311/
Nascar for Gleeks
Whatever finally becomes of the show itself, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
has succeeded at creating a new kind of New York entertainment.
By Adam Sternbergh
Published Dec 23, 2010
L ike Spider-Man swinging from building to building across the New York skyline, his namesake musical, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, has lurched from headline to ominous headline. Broken bones. An SNL parody. Preview performances marred by glitches and catcalls. In the fourth and most serious accident, a cast member was injured after a twenty-foot-plus plummet. Spider-Man has gone from a $65 million punch-line-in-waiting to a kind of malevolent machine that runs on cash and spews out tabloid fodder. It’s now less a Broadway show than an amusement-park thrill ride: See the clattering catastrophe! You never know what will go wrong next!
All of which is no doubt terrifying to its producers, who have pushed back its official opening (yet again) to February 7 and spent the days before Christmas batting down a rumor that the show had gone on indefinite hiatus. Yet there’s a perverse upside to these continuing calamities. Spider-Man has become a hot ticket for rubberneckers. Tamron Hall, guest-hosting on Today, blurted, “I’d love to see the show,” after a segment on last week’s incident, and she’s not alone. “I hope no one else gets hurt,” a theatergoer told the Post, “but it is part of the allure of going.” Told prior to the performance that it might be halted by technical problems, audiences have cheered, then applauded stoppages (when they didn’t involve falling bodies). It’s sort of what they came to see, after all.
Along the way, the whole Spider-Man saga has evolved into something new and fascinating: a hyperentertaining reality show about a Broadway fiasco, playing to a wide and rapt audience and unfolding, 24/7, in real time. Until recently, this brand of metaspectacle would not have been possible or even conceivable. But reality TV has given us a template for this experience, and technology has given us the means to collectively construct it. The former, as a genre, is expertly built around carefully orchestrated disasters, whether composed of desert-island deprivation or contrived dustups between combustible housemates. As for technology, who wasn’t drawn in by the tweet from the show’s star, Natalie Mendoza (who has herself sustained a concussion), after the most recent accident? “Please pray with me for my friend Chris … A light in my heart went dim tonight.” This was followed up by angry online protests from various Broadway actors, including one from Adam Pascal on Facebook that denounced the show as a “steaming pile of actor crippling shit.”
Meanwhile, we speculate feverishly as to the saga’s eventual climax. Can director Julie Taymor and her team make the safety fixes regulators are ordering without dulling an already muddy plot? Will, heaven forbid, some darker tragedy strike? Or will it somehow finally premiere to raves and record attendance, a redemptive tale, à la Avatar, of hubristic persistence and artistic bravado?
Barring a miracle, the show seems unlikely to recoup its costs (its technical requirements and safety considerations will make touring the show a whole other headache). The way things have been going, by the time you read this, it may have been announced that it will never officially open. But even so, its creators can take some solace in the fact that they have already mounted the most fantastic show of the season. Whether or not you actually get the chance to see Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, it’s still been more gripping than any Broadway production in years.
Aloysius J. Gleek:
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHFc_sO4VyA&feature[/youtube]
AssociatedPress | December 21, 2010
Two theatergoers from Houston, who saw the accident happen Monday night during a performance of the Broadway musical, talk about the experience.
Aloysius J. Gleek:
http://www.popeater.com/2010/12/24/spider-man-resumes-performances/
Amazing! 'Spider-Man'
Swings Back into Action
with Accident-Free Show
By Elizabeth Townsend
Posted Dec 24th 2010 07:30AM
Reeve Carney at right after the performance.
Broadway's much-troubled 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark' musical resumed performances on Thursday night with new safety protocols in place following Monday night's accident when a stunt performer plunged 30 feet when a cable snapped during an aerial stunt -- the musical's fourth accident since October.
The good news? No accidents or major delays in the show. The cast and crew was ecstatic.
"It's a safer show now, show star Reeve Carney said as he signed autographs after the performance. "It was always safe, but now it's safer. It was beautiful to see everyone come together tonight." Producer Michael Cohl was a bit more blunt in his assessment for the AP. "If you weren't nervous tonight, you'd have to be an idiot," he said.
The 'Spider-Man' company met earlier in the week with federal and state investigators from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the New York State Labor Department and Actors' Equity to discuss "additional safety protocols," 'Spider-Man' spokesperson Rick Miramontez said Tuesday in a statement. "It was agreed that these measures would be enacted immediately."
Those new measures, focusing on a three-step process to ensure proper harnessing before each stunt, were announced Wednesday by Maureen Cox of the New York Dept. of Labor. Before continuing with the show on Thursday night, the producers had to confirm with the Department of Labor that all of the safety measures were in place.
How does it work during the show? The operator or stagehand will fix the latch to the harness of the performer. Then, another stagehand nearby will verify that it's attached properly. That second person will then be in contact with the stage manager to verify the measures have been completed.
The show canceled its matinee performance on Wednesday in order to rehearse the new protocols. Around 5 PM a sign was posted outside Foxwoods Theatre announcing that the evening performance would also be postponed.
The show's director and co-writer, Julie Taymor, says that Christopher Tierney, the actor recovering from his injuries after his scary fall this week, gets the credit with inspiring the cast to rise above recent troubles.
"We all got together before the show tonight and talked about Chris," Taymor told the AP after the show. "Chris gave us the spirit tonight."
Despite the controversy swirling around the show, ticket sales are "hotter than ever," according to the AP.
"People are coming because they love Spider-Man, U2 or because of morbid curiosity," one theater insider tells PopEater. (U2's Bono and The Edge wrote the show's music and lyrics.)
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