SPIDERMAN: TURN OFF THE DARK

Last night I went to experience the biggest, most expensive show on Broadway EVER — Spiderman: TURN OFF THE DARK. Even after watching the play, I still don’t really understand what the title is supposed to mean. And unfortunately for the blockbuster Broadway production that will cost $1 million a WEEK just to keep afloat, the title wasn’t the only thing I found disappointing…

Granted, it was only the second preview performance of the show, which features many “high-flying” stunts, and so we were warned by one of the producers before the show began that they might have to stop the show for a little while if a stunt went wrong. Luckily for us, only ONE stunt in the first act went awry, leaving one of the nine stunt doubles for Spidey swaying through the air, trying helplessly to make it back to his launching platform until the stunt director’s voice came over the speakers and said they were going to stop it there. Then we waited about 5 minutes for them to reset. This allowed me ample time to send a text message to my brother with an update of the proceedings, so I guess it worked out well. Besides this one stop, there weren’t too many blatant technical glitches.

But technical glitches weren’t the only thing I found disappointing with the production…here’s my report card of the highs and lows of SPIDERMAN:

STORY -- D
The thing that needs the most work in this production is the plot. Who would have thought? I guess you can’t just take crazy special effects and $10 million sets and automatically have a winner. You actually need a clear, coherent story that people care about. Otherwise it’s just a guy in a funny suit flying around a theater.

I had several main problems with the storyline. First of all, the entire story is “told” through a group of four teenage kids. I’m not sure if this is necessary, since their presence mostly seems to get in the way of the story. But even if it is necessary for development of plot, the kids should not be interacting with the characters in the story (which they begin to do in the 2nd Act).

My other main qualm with the plot was a secondary backstory about “Arachne,” the original “Spiderwoman.” This is introduced right in the beginning of the show, and kind of comes out of nowhere. Then as the play progresses, Arachne scenes pop up here and there and they all seem out of place and kind of drag. If they lost the whole Arachne storyline, or at least didn’t devote so many random scenes to it, we might have more time to care about characters like Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben. If I directed this play, my goal would be to have the entire house sobbing at this pivotal plot point. As it stands now, Uncle Ben’s death is a mere formality that needs to be covered, whereas it could be a real emotional plot point where we see why Spiderman is motivated to do what he does.

And that seems to be the main problem with the story in general. They are trying to do too many things, tell too many stories, that a lot of opportunities to make a richer story get pushed aside, and the audience is often left confused as to what is happening and why.

Hoover Side Note:
Hoov did not appreciate various attempts at humor in the script. Many cheesy jokes were attempted throughout the course of the show, and most of them fell pretty flat. We demand funnier cheesy jokes!

MUSIC -- C+
All the music in this show was written by Bono. Probably to give it a “hard rock” edge, but in reality a lot of the songs just didn’t work that well on the stage. All of the music in the “Arachne” scenes was kind of trippy and honestly a bit weird.

The other music was… kind of forgettable. Nothing really stood out to me as a big show stopping number, and nothing got stuck in my head except one big guitar riff that was played a lot. So while the music wasn’t really bad, it wasn’t something that stood out to me as a strength of the production.

ACTING -- B-
The acting in this was alright, no one really stood out as AMAZING, but I guess it’s hard to act too much when there’s so much other stuff going on around you. The sets and special effects seem to take a front seat to most of the acting in this one.

There were, however, a few places where the actors looked bad, but I might blame the script. When Uncle Ben died, his last line was kind of weird… “I was just trying to help” didn’t really pack much of an emotional PUNCH. Also when the mad scientist’s wifey bit the dust, he holds her and lets out a scream of grief that sounded entirely too much like Tarzan for my liking.

But other than a few weird occasions, the acting was sufficient and kept moving the confusing plot along at a quick pace.

VISUAL EFFECTS -- A+
If you are going to see this play, this should be the reason why. The sets, costumes and choreography in this show are amazing. It’s hard to explain just how this innovative sets work so well, mostly because they seem to use so many tactics that have not been done before.

From HUGE sectional video screens, to moving sets that change to indicate a change of scenery as characters walk onstage, to moving pieces that help replicate falling from a skyscraper, every piece of the set worked perfectly to wow the crowd.

The costumes were equally amazing, with a wide array of amazing comic book villains represented with tricked out suits. Even a trio of bumbling bank robbers were given a bit of comical character by large headed costumes.

Even with technical difficulties and a plot that needs some work, the visuals in this play are very pleasing.

STUNTS -- B+
I am keeping this category separate from Visual Effects. In theory, the stunts in this show should be absolutely breathtaking and innovative. But since we just saw the second preview of the show, there were some snafus here and there that seemed distracting.

The “flying” is quite cool, and there is a scene where an entire fight between Spidey and a certain green hued foe takes place in the air above the audience. Being in the balcony, it was kind of cool to have a lot of action take place in the air, closer to me. But I think if I was in the orchestra I would have been terrified of one of them falling onto me.

There is also one point where a giant spiderwoman launches from the balcony and flies to the stage. While this was kind of cool, it was a bit distracting for everyone in the balcony as they set up for her to be launched, in the middle of another scene.

And I don’t mean to be a curmudgeon, but let’s face it, I am. After awhile, although cool, the flying just got a bit…old. Like, oh…there he goes again. And this is probably just my opinion; I think there could have been a few less flying moments.

There was some other really cool stunt work that did not involve flying though, and that was all executed wonderfully.

So to wrap it up…
SPIDERMAN: TURN OFF THE DARK is a play that definitely needs a bit more work, but it has promise in the form of amazing visuals and some memorable stunts.

All in all…
Go for the spectacle if you wish, but unless they tweak the story, I highly suggest turning off your high expectations.