Sony
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark loses a lead actress
Natalie Mendoza
The troubled Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark received another blow this morning as word emerged that actress Natalie Mendoza, who suffered a concussion during the show’s problem-filled first preview, is leaving the Broadway musical.
Citing anonymous sources, The New York Times reports that representatives for Mendoza, lawyers and producers of the show “have been hammering out an exit agreement for days” and “fine-tuning the language” to explain the actress’ departure. An official announcement is expected later today.
Mendoza starred as Arachne, a villain created by director Julie Taymor who plays a major role in the revised origin of Spider-Man and later becomes obsessed with the superhero. The newspaper notes that Taymor worked closely with Mendoza to develop the character’s look and mannerisms.
The 30-year-old actress, who was injured on Nov. 28 when a rope struck her in the head while she was standing offstage, hasn’t performed since Dec. 20, when her friend and castmate Christopher Tierney was seriously injured in a fall. According to The Times, she has been on vocal rest, under doctors’ orders. Mendoza’s understudy America Olivo, who filled in for her during her two-week recovery from the concussion, is expected to step into the role of Arachne.
The loss of a lead actress this close to Spider-Man‘s scheduled Feb. 7 opening would be enough of a sting on its own. But it’s particularly embarrassing following nearly a year of delays — the show was to debut in March 2010 at one point — money problems, the departures of the original Mary Jane and Green Goblin, four injuries — two of them major — and mounting criticism.
- December 28, 2010 @ 08:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
The Spider-Man musical’s problems explained, using CGI animation
Confused by all the twist and turns involving the delay- and injury-plagued Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark? Don’t worry, Taiwan’s Next Media Animation has your covered, explaining the latest developments in its customary CGI-animated, and somewhat-humorous, style.
- December 23, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | Spider-Man resumes tonight, One Piece creator makes $24M
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Broadway | The Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark canceled both Wednesday performances to test new safety measures following the Monday-night fall that left a stuntman hospitalized with broken ribs and internal bleeding. The cancellation of the sold-out evening show was announced just three hours before showtime at the Foxwoods Theatre. Tonight’s performance is expected to go on as planned.
Producers and creators met privately on Tuesday with the entire company to address safety concerns about the $65-million musical, the most expensive and technically complex in Broadway history. Although accidents in theater productions aren’t uncommon, it’s unusual for there to be four injuries before a show has officially opened. MTV offers some context. [The New York Times, The Associated Press]
- December 23, 2010 @ 08:19 AM by Kevin Melrose
Labor union to stop performances of Spider-Man musical following injury [Updated]
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
In the wake of last night’s accident that sent a stuntman to the hospital, Actors’ Equity Association has announced it will halt performances of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark until better safety measures are instituted.
“Actors’ Equity Association is working with management and the Department of Labor to ensure that performances will not resume until back-up safety measures are in place,” the labor union, which represents live theatrical performances, said this morning in a statement released to Broadway World. Update: Broadway.com now reports that “additional safety protocols” will be enacted immediately, resulting in the postponement of Wednesday’s matinee. However, Wednesday evening’s performance, and all subsequent ones, will proceed as scheduled.
As we reported earlier, aerialist Christopher Tierney, who doubles for Spider-Man and two villains, fell about 30 feet when the cable to his harness snapped during the closing minutes of Monday night’s performance. (The New York Times has amateur video of the mishap.) He was taken by ambulance to Bellevue Hospital, where he’s reported to be in stable condition. According to Showbiz 411, Tierney suffered broken ribs and is being monitored because he was bleeding after the fall.
Inspectors from the New York State Department of Labor are visiting the Foxwoods Theatre today to conduct their own investigation. “We’ll be talking to the production team, checking the harnesses, cables, and other equipment, and trying to determine what happened, and we’ll have more information after that,” a department spokesman told The Times.
- December 21, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
The grim economics of the $65-million Spider-Man musical
From the "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" video
It will take the troubled Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark four years to recoup its initial $65-million original investment, according to number-crunching by The New York Times.
Writing on the newspaper’s Economix blog, economics editor Catherine Rampell cautions that’s just a rough estimate that excludes merchandising sales — those can be lucrative for hit shows on the scale of The Lion King or Wicked — but somewhat generously assumes that 96 percent of the Foxwoods Theatre’s 1,932 available seats will be sold each week.
So, yes, Rampell’s calculations require some educated guesswork, but they make it clear that, even with the repeated delays, injuries and a problem-filled preview seemingly behind them, the producers of Spider-Man still have a difficult row to hoe. The combination of an established property with a visionary creative team might seem like a formula for success, but as Rampell notes, for every Lion King or Wicked there’s a Little Mermaid or Shrek the Musical. The latter, which cost an estimated $24 million — until Spider-Man came along, it was the most expensive production in Broadway history — ran for slightly more than a year, before closing in January.
- December 14, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Kevin Melrose
Spider-Man musical’s first performance caught in web of mishaps
From the "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" video
The good news for producers and hopeful fans of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is that the delay-plagued $65-million musical finally previewed Sunday night on Broadway. The bad, if not unexpected, news is … things didn’t go well.
Sure, nobody died, as Vulture so helpfully points out. But the ambitious, technically complex production began 24 minutes late, and then went downhill from there. According to The New York Times, Act I was paused four times — the first coming a half-hour into the show to allow the crew to free star Reeve Carney from an aerial harness. The act’s final pause, described as “the worst glitch of the night by far,” came when Spider-Man was left dangling over the audience before the stage manager abruptly called for intermission.
New York Post critic Michael Riedel, who has gleefully chronicled Spider-Man‘s misfortunes, reports that a scene in which Mary Jane (Jennifer Damiano) was supposed to be rescued from atop the Chrysler Building faltered as part of the building came up missing, and Mary Jane never materialized.
The performance crawled on for 3 1/2 hours, during which time some audience members walked out, one person yelled, “I don’t know how everyone else feels, but I feel like a guinea pig today — I feel like it’s a dress rehearsal,” and Green Goblin (Patrick Page) was forced to stall for time while crew members “openly rushed around to fix faulty equipment.”
Still, though, it could’ve gone worse. Right?
After the break you can watch the segment on the making of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark that aired last night on CBS’s 60 Minutes.
- November 29, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Kevin Melrose
A glimpse inside Spider-Man, ‘Broadway’s most expensive musical ever’
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, by Annie Leibovitz
As the delay-plagued Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark finally prepares to begin previews — Sunday, if nothing else goes wrong — New York magazine takes us “Inside Broadway’s Most Expensive Musical Ever.”
The longish cover story serves as both a profile of Julie Taymor, the visionary director who’s been a lightning rod for criticism, and a chronicle of a production troubled by a financial shortfall, a ballooning budget, the loss of two stars, and technical difficulties that have thrust the musical into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
Here are some of the more interesting tidbits:
• The widely reported budget estimates, which range anywhere from $50 million to $65 million, apparently are “fantasies.” Says the show’s lead producer Michael Cohl: “They are like asking my dog ‘How much is the budget?’ and counting how many times he barks.” New York writer Jesse Green suggests the actual figure is even higher, “in the vicinity” of $70 million.
• Taymor wonders why writers even care how much the production costs: This is a drama–rock-and-roll–circus, or a circus–rock-and-roll–drama; there’s no word for it. And what do they want? Two-character, one-set musicals? How is that helping the theater?” She likes that “rock-and-roll-circus” description.
- November 23, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
First look behind the scenes of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
From the "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" video
A video posted today on the Facebook page of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark provides the first peek, costume sketches and stylized photos aside, at what the $60-million musical will actually look like.
Set to the tune of the show’s anthem “Boy Falls From the Sky,” the video features some of the flying sequences — the source of the production’s most recent problems — as well as footage of stars Reeve Carney, Jennifer Damiano and Patrick Page in rehearsal, and clips of interviews with composers Bono and the Edge. Front and center, though, is director Julie Taymor’s pitch: “We can’t really tell you what this is, but it has rock and roll, it has drama, and it has circus. [...] Yes, we have the spectacle, but the spectacle is at the service of a good story.”
If all goes as planned — let’s face it, very little with this production has gone according to plan — Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark will begin previews Nov. 28 and open on Jan. 11.
(via The New York Times)
- November 22, 2010 @ 05:08 PM by Kevin Melrose
Safety inspectors to examine more Spider-Man flying sequences
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark (by Annie Leibovitz)
State safety inspectors return today to New York City’s Foxwoods Theatre to continue an assessment of the complicated flying sequences for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, the $60-million musical that’s been plagued by setbacks.
According to The New York Times, inspectors were shown just 13 of the show’s 27 aerial sequences during their visit two weeks ago, leading to another delay that moves previews from Nov. 14 to Nov. 28 and the opening from Dec. 21 to Jan. 11. Inspectors must sign off on all of the sequences before they can be used in public performances.
The Julie Taymor-directed musical will be the most expensive in Broadway history — it will cost about $1 million a week to produce — and the most technically complex, with aerial maneuvers that send actors out above the audience and catapult them across the stage. Two actors have been injured during rehearsals of the flying techniques, triggering separate investigations by the New York State Department of Labor and Actors’ Equity.
As we reported on Tuesday, the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man is so physically demanding that producers are considering a second cast member to fill in for star Reeve Carney for as many as two performances a week.
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, which features a score by Bono and the Edge, also stars Jennifer Damiano as Mary Jane Watson and Patrick Page as Green Goblin.
- November 17, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
The Spider-Man musical’s very own clone saga?
Matthew James Thomas
Producers of the frequently delayed Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark plan to select a second actor to play Peter Parker because of the physical demands of the role.
The New York Times reports that cast member Matthew James Thomas, best known for the British musical drama Britannia High, is being considered to fill in for star Reeve Carney for as many as two performances a week after the show opens in January.
The $60-million production isn’t just the most expensive show in Broadway history, but also the most technically complex, with two dozen aerial maneuvers that send actors out above the audience and catapult them across the stage. Two performers, at least one of whom doubles as Spider-Man, have been injured during rehearsals, triggering separate investigations by the New York State Department of Labor and Actors’ Equity.
Producers earlier this month were unable to demonstrate all of the flying stunts during a routine safety inspection, forcing another delay that moves previews from Nov. 14 to Nov. 28 and the opening from Dec. 21 to Jan. 11.
Directed by Julie Taymor and featuring a score by Bono and the Edge, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark also stars Jennifer Damiano as Mary Jane Watson and Patrick Page as Green Goblin.
- November 16, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Kevin Melrose
Director of Spider-Man musical addresses delays
Julie Taymor
The director of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is defending the troubled production, whose opening has been postponed yet again, this time because a safety inspection could not be completed.
“There are no changes coming to the actual show,” Julie Taymor told Showbiz411′s Roger Friedman, a longtime friend. “All the changes have to do with technical things. The flying, of course. But also all the wires, and the changes between scenes. We may need a little bit of an underscore to cover a move, or a small transition that needs to be smoothed. These are the things that you would work out on the road. We’re doing them here.”
Those “technical things” involve some two dozen aerial maneuvers that have come under scrutiny following recent injuries to two performers, most notably an actor who broke both wrists in a failed stunt. Inspectors with the New York State Department of Labor couldn’t sign off on the production this week because producers were unable to present them with all of the flying sequences.
As The New York Times reports, the latest delays move previews from Nov. 14 to Nov. 28 and the opening from Dec. 21 to “the box office doldrums of January,” which means the $60-million musical — Taymor says $55 million — misses both Thanksgiving week and Christmas. The director, however, calls the Jan. 11 opening “the perfect date.”
The musical, which is destined to the most expensive and most technically complex show is Broadway history, initially was scheduled to begin performances in February. However, “cash-flow obstacles” in August 2009 triggered delays that eventually led to the loss of original co-stars Evan Rachel Wood (Mary Jane) and Alan Cumming (Green Goblin).
- November 5, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by Kevin Melrose
Opening of Spider-Man musical delayed again
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
The delay-plagued Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark will open in January instead of Dec. 21 because more work is needed on the $60-million musical, The New York Times reports.
The news comes a day after inspectors from the New York State Department of Labor visited the Foxwoods Theatre in Manhattan to examine the flying and safety devices for the production, the most expensive and most technically complex show in Broadway history. According to a department spokesman, the producers were unable to present all of the two dozen aerial maneuvers for the inspectors, requiring them to return before performances an begin. Previews had been set to start on Nov. 14.
Although the inspection had been scheduled for months, it occurred just two weeks after a performer broke two wrists during a failed aerial stunt, bringing to light concerns about the show’s safety. The Times reports that the Department of Labor and Actors’ Equity have opened investigations into the maneuver, which reportedly has injured two actors.
Spider-Man initially was scheduled to begin performances in February, but “cash-flow obstacles” in August 2009 triggered delays that eventually led to the loss of original co-stars Evan Rachel Ward (Mary Jane) and Alan Cumming (Green Goblin). The budget has ballooned from $35 million to $50 million to what’s now reported to be between $60 million and $65 million.
Directed by Julie Taymor and featuring a score by Bono and the Edge, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark stars Reeve Carney, Jennifer Damiano and Patrick Page.
- November 4, 2010 @ 08:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
State inspectors review flying safety of Spider-Man musical
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Inspectors from the New York State Department of Labor are visiting the Foxwood Theatre in Manhattan today to examine the flying and safety devices for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.
Although the inspection has been planned for months, it comes just two weeks after a performer was injured during a rehearsal of one of the show’s complex aerial stunts, breaking both wrists when he was catapulted onto the lip of the stage.
Spider-Man won’t be permitted to begin previews on Nov. 14 until state inspectors approve the show’s special effects. Findings are usually issued a few days after the inspection. “The flying in this musical is unprecedented for Broadway,” Department of Labor spokesman Leo Rosales told The New York Times, “and we’re going to urge the producers to make sure everything is as safe as possible.”
Directed by Julie Taymor and featuring music by Bono and the Edge, the $60-million Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark will be the most expensive, and most likely the most technically complex, show in Broadway history. It stars Reeve Carney, Jennifer Damiano and Patrick Page.
- November 3, 2010 @ 11:07 AM by Kevin Melrose
Actor in Spider-Man musical breaks wrists during failed stunt
Kevin Aubin, displaying his casts on a photo from his Facebook page
Just as the long-troubled musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark appeared back on track, an accident has raised concerns about the safety of the big-budget Broadway production.
The New York Post reports that last week dancer Kevin Aubin, one of several performers who doubles as Spider-Man, broke both of his wrists when he was catapulted through the air to the lip of the stage, where he landed with bone-snapping force. The New York Times notes that on his Facebook page, now set to private, Aubin wrote: “well i dont know what im allowed to say. but something went wrong and i fell on my hands from a high distance. It happens, no one to blame. I’m alive and ok.”
Producer Michael Cohl issued a statement saying, “With a show as complex as this, safety is the top priority for everyone at Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.”
Showbiz411′s Roger Friedman voiced reservations more than two weeks ago about the safety of the complicated aerial extravaganza: “Apparently the actors will be flying over the audience’s heads and all over the theater. This isn’t Peter Pan with a little onstage aerial. And the people who are flying are not from Cirque du Soleil or trained acrobats. ‘They’re muscular actors who got flying training and are into it,’ says a source.”
- October 29, 2010 @ 10:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
U2 performs anthem from Spider-Man musical
When Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark star Reeve Carney debuted the song “Boy Falls From the Sky” last month on Good Morning America, it was virtually impossible not to imagine what the anthem might sound like performed by U2. After all, Bono and the Edge wrote that number, as well as the rest of the score, for director Julie Taymor’s $52-million musical — and it has all of the hallmarks of a U2 song (some even compared it to “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me,” the band’s contribution to the Batman Forever soundtrack).
Well, now you no longer have to imagine, as U2 offered its rendition of “Boy Falls From the Sky” on Sunday at a concert in Portugal. And as the audience was filled with cellphone users, multiple videos are available on YouTube.
- October 5, 2010 @ 09:30 AM by Kevin Melrose