Sorry Spidey

Julie Taymor's big-concept, bigger-budget musical Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark is running into some significant misadventure. Michael Riedel reports that the musical, currently budgeted at a whopping $45 million, is "in chaos," of both the financial and managerial variety. The center of the problem seems to be failure of leadership on the part of producer David Garfinkle, who may be ousted by Sony and Marvel as soon as this weekend. Riedel has the whole saga of how Garfinkle, with little previous experience as a theatre producer, came to preside over what may turn out to be Broadway's most expensive musical ever. Oh and Bono and The Edge are pissed, too. You can read all the dirt here.

Now let me just say that I love a big, glitzy musical full of technical effects. Razzle-dazzle could be my middle name. But in spite of my appreciation of the flashy stuff, there's something about the idea of a 45-million dollar superhero musical that reminds me of a dude driving around hard-times Wall Street in his brand-new Maserati. It's gross. What's happened to us as theatergoers that we require this incredible level of spending to entertain us in a theater? What can you possibly put on a stage that costs 45 million, even if you're Julie Taymor? The current Broadway revival of HAIR cost an initial investment of 5.76 million, allowing it to recoup in about 6 months. It would seem that Spiderman would require years and years to break even, unless producers plan to supersize ticket prices.

I'd love to see what Taymor is plotting. But I hope she has the support to do it in a way that makes sense. The last thing we need is another Young Frankenstein, bursting with production and void of substance.

words I never thought I'd read

"Bono mentioned that they first got the idea to do a musical from Andrew Lloyd Webber, and name-dropped Rodgers and Hammerstein in their opening remarks."

That's from Modern Fabulosity, who attended a recent presentation of the Spiderman Musical. Bono and The Edge previewed eight songs, and Julie Taymor presented video demos of sets, costumes, and the web-spinning technology that will allow Spidey to fly over the audience. If all this isn't exciting enough, a new villain has been created who will join the Green Goblin, Lizard, Kraven, and Swarm in a mass effort to take down Spiderman - the new baddy's name is Swiss Miss, and she's described as being "dressed in immaculate white dominatrix gear and multiple knives". Um, yes please!

With great broadway producing power comes great responsibility

This business of a new Spiderman musical sounds kinda... well, awesome. Per Playbill, Julie Taymor will direct a Spiderman musical with music provided by Bono and The Edge of U2. Freakin awesome!! The reading is happening mid-July, and as usual, playbill is getting its news from casting breakdowns. This one says:

Among the roles being sought to fill are the young-man-turned-hero Peter Parker/Spider-Man ("male, late teens to early 20's...[with a] great pop/rock voice") and love-interest Mary Jane ("female, late teens to early 20's...[with a] great pop/rock voice") as well as villain Norman Osborn/Green Goblin and Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson (both call for "male, 50s.")

Green Goblin - does that mean it'll be a musical version of the Spiderman movie? But wait:

Arachne ("female, 20-35 years old, any ethnicity") is described as "a beautiful, boastful young woman turned into a spider for her hubris and lack of respect for the gods. She subsequently appears to Peter Parker and the audience as in turn a powerful spider-woman who comes from another time to inspire Peter; an otherworldly lover; a bride; a terrifying (and sexy) dark goddess of vengeance; a dance partner in a charged and violent spiders dance of death; and, finally, a lonely, fragile young woman."

An otherworldly lover, a bride, a dark goddess of vengance, but underneath it all, a vulnerable, lonely beauty? Hmm...

Dear Casting Team,
For the upcoming Spiderman musical, please consider the following talent for the role of Arachne:


Okay, the "violent spider dance of death" sounds like a risk. But music by Bono and The Edge? I'm psyched.