Spider-Man Musical Gets Off to Shaky Start

Posted on Nov 30th 2010 11:30AM by Andrew Kerr
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Sara Krulwich, The New York Times / Redux

The new Spider-Man musical, which features songs by U2 duo Bono and the Edge, got off to a shaky start at Sunday night's preview show in New York.

Despite its record-breaking budget of $65 million (£41.8 million), the production was plagued with glaring technical glitches, the worst of which left Spider-Man -- played by Reeve Carney -- dangling over the crowd as stage hands desperately tried to catch hold of his feet. The set piece had meant to close the first act of 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark' on a dramatic high, but instead drew sniggers from the 1,900 crowd at the Foxwoods Theater.

Carney wasn't the only cast member left hanging, the New York Post reports. The show, directed by Julie Taymor of 'Lion King' fame, opened with a number from new character Arachne, but after finishing the song 'Rise Above', actress Natalie Mendoza found herself stuck above the crowd for the better part of 10 minutes.

In the first half alone, the show had to be stopped four times to address malfunctioning equipment. The hopes of building to a rousing finale were scuppered by further technical issues, which saw the production grind to a halt for five minutes. The end result was a show that stretched out to nearly three and a half hours.

Not surprisingly, reviews and tweets were mixed but possibly the most damning verdict came from film producer Ira Deutchman, who, although impressed by the set-pieces, was far from convinced. He tweeted (via the Guardian), "The music isn't good enough to hold it together. Definitely needs work in the six weeks until it opens. It's incoherent, a pageant of Taymor imagery."

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