Image Credit: Jacob Cohl; Henry S. Dziekan III/Getty ImagesTwo days after a new action-packed ending was added to Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, actress T.V. Carpio tells EW exclusively that there are still significant changes being made to the musical in preparation for its opening on March 15. Carpio, who took over the role of Arachne after Natalie Mendoza was injured, says that director Julie Taymor is in the process of implementing “major changes in the second act, which will make things more clear and better,” specifically targeting the climactic battle between the arch-villainess Arachne and Peter Parker.
This comes just a few weeks after some early reviewers criticized the show’s second act, which deviates from Spider-Man’s comic canon by focusing on Arachne, a character invented by Taymor. According to producer Michael Cohl, Taymor reconvened with writer Glen Berger and composers Bono and The Edge this month to tweak the show, which is now set to open on March 15 after a series of delays.
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They need to just accept that the entire thing is cursed and a loss, suck it up and move on before they blow anymore money or anyone else gets hurt. This thing is treading on MacBeth territory.
Yeah…it’s only playing at 100% capacity and making over a million a week. What a total loss.
but I wonder how much of that is because of the quality of the play, or if people just want to see a trainwreck? Although at Broadway prices, that might be a stretch…
Yeah, they’re making a million a week now. But how are reviews? What’s driving the audience — is it a love of the musical, or do they want to witness a train wreck? How much have they already sunk into new sets and effects and recasting? Something tells me that it’s a lot more than what they’re making in a week.
it’s only playing at 100% capacity and making over a million a week.
——
Wow, I’m impressed. They’ve only drained, what, $60+ million into it already, and still going? It’d need to play at 100% capacity non-stop for more than a year to even BREAK EVEN on what they’ve already spent, and that’s not even counting what they’re surely yet to spend.
It take 1 million a week just to keep the show running. I have read that it would take six years of sold out performances to just break even at this point.
Stop stepping on cracks and breaking mirrors! Curses are real!! Aaaaah!
In terms of staging, it is shear stupidity that is cursing the show. I just saw Phantom and there are a few scenes where if they were not executed properly, someone could have seriously been injured. If I were staging the show, I’d sit in on both Mary Poppins and Phantom to get an idea of how props and arials should be handled. Secondly, from what I hear even if that issue was fixed, the biggest problem is the script. It is like Taboo. Good songs, bad script.
I don’t think it’s a curse.
I heard that they hired some teen detectives and their pet great Dane to see if there is a curse.
I think they found that bad old man Storck was the culprit who was scaring everybody away from the show.
He was quoting something about “meddling kids”
lol!
“Shag, Scoob, you go with Velma and look for the ghost while Daphne and I go in this closet and have sex-er, look for clues.”
YES!!!
I am in tears! LOL!
Sounds like a better idea for a musical.
They will probably make money on this show no matter what, but it’s hard to believe how badly it was screwed up.
It’ll have to run for years to recoup it’s investment. Even filling the theatre at 100% capacity, it’ll take a long time to recoup $65M!!
Talk about flogging a dead horse.
I actually caught one of the previews, and the character of Arachne COMPLETELY brings the show down. I’ll admit that, bugs (see what I just did – “bugs” – GENIUS!!!) and all, the effects are pretty good – but the story and characters are shallow and fall flat.
It’s kind of like seeing The Star Wars prequels redone as an overblown Broadway musical.
“The Star Wars prequels redone as an overblown Broadway musical.”
That is a very good comparison. Well done, Walrus!
dude, if darth maul bursts out in song i’d die of happiness
Shut up dude, your giving George Lucas idea’s on how else to milk that franchise into the ground.
Note to EW’s Adam Markovitz: the “Spider-man” co-author’s name is Glen, not Eric, Berger.
Saw it. Terrible.
Spiderman, Turn Out The Lights! The music is utterly forgettable. An the book is a mess. Peter Parker spends must of Act II confused and muttering. You never really figure who the heck Arachne is or how she factors into the show, and every other scene a bunch of teenagers run out on stage and have to explain what just happened (and they are the most entertaining thing in the show. Reeve Carnery has a great voice — but zero chemistry with MJ. No one cared whether they got together or not. Ironically she spends half the show talking about how she wants to be a broadway star. Lol! Stunts in search of a story does not make a show!
I have never seen a show get so much criticism before the thing even opens! I think it is only fair that people wait until the show actually opens before grilling it. Then if it’s bad, so be it…let it rip but until then…
I went to see it this past Sunday when poor Peter Parker just hung there as hydraulics messed up. first act was good (songs a bit week) the second act was dreadful What a shame cause it had great potential
Since I’ve seen it and it’s truly dreadful, the only way to save it is to cut out the entire second act. If they need to keep the songs and sets etc, just do a couple of big wow numbers and fold them into the first act. It couldn’t be any worse and at least people would get out of there a little earlier.
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