Spider-Man: Heading to Broadway in 2010

[Old Guy]

Los Angeles (E! Online) – Broadway's Spidey senses are tingling.

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, the hyped stage musical directed by Julie Taymor (The Lion King) with music and lyrics courtesy of U2's Bono and The Edge, will kick off what its producers hope will be an amazing run along the Great White Way beginning with previews on Jan. 16, 2010, and a Feb. 18, 2010, opening night.

The $40 million effort, reportedly the most expensive Broadway production ever, will make its debut in the Hilton Theatre, the only venue big enough to allow the superhero room to spin his way around the sprawling skyscraper sets while duking it out with various bad guys.

Spider-Man's book is written by Glen Berger, and Taymor and will follow the classic origin story (nerdy Peter Parker gets bitten by radioactive spider and becomes a crimefighter). No word yet on casting or which villains Spider-Man will face off against.

Initially rehearsals for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, whose name derives from one of its songs, were slated for the spring. But the creative team has now opted instead to workshop the musical in the summer and push back rehearsals until the fall.

[G. Wen]

Damn, you beat me to it.:p Now all we need is a Batman musical a la the one from Batman Beyond.

Criminals are a cowardly, superstitious lot. They plan and scheme but always get caught. Their evil plans all come to naught, because criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot...

[Dukect45]

see what happens when you sell your soul to the devil you get bad Broadway show

[TMC1982]

see what happens when you sell your soul to the devil you get bad Broadway show

It can't be any worse than Spider-Man 3! :anime:

[mookie75]

So that's why they had all those awful musical moments in Spider-Man 3! They wanted to give people a head start on thinking about Spidey and music at the same time! :p

[Old Guy]

Now all we need is a Batman musical

Back in 2002 or 2003, Tim Burton started working on a Batman musical. The project fell apart for some reason.

[Ishtar]

If this was April 1st, I'd think this was an April Fools Day joke. Don't know what to make of it, but the whole idea seems weird. This would be the 1st musical based off a comic super hero, iirc. Who knows, maybe they can make it work and it will somehow be decent?

[Old Guy]

This would be the 1st musical based off a comic super hero, iirc.

It isn't. Superman got one in 1966.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_musical

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d8/Itsabird-tv.jpg

[DisneyBoy]

Criminals are a cowardly, superstitious lot. They plan and scheme but always get caught. Their evil plans all come to naught, because criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot...


Technically, it's:

As we all know, criminals are *sung* a wupersticious, cowardly lot...they plan and plot but they always get caught...their evil schemes all come to naught...a supersticious cowardly lot!

Taymore must have something good up her sleeve. I think Spider-man is strange/funny enough to lend itself well to Broadway.

[DarthGonzo]

Nonsense like this is slowly but surely making a complete mockery of Broadway, and is killing it slowly and painfully.

[jph139]

Nonsense like this is slowly but surely making a complete mockery of Broadway, and is killing it slowly and painfully.

I agree.

And I want tickets. Now. :p

[Old Guy]

Nonsense like this is slowly but surely making a complete mockery of Broadway, and is killing it slowly and painfully.

Or it may actually be good.

[Wonderwall]

So now we have confirmation, I know this had been rumored for quite some time. I can't see any good come of this. I think it would look to stupid even for a Broadway show and music by U2, if its anything like the garbage they've put out in the last couple of years then that hurts it even more.

[Movie06]

I'm not sure what to think. It could go either way.

[Light Lucario]

The idea of a Spider-Man Musical definitely sounds weird. I agree that it could turn out either way, but I find the image of someone swinging and singing at the same time as Spider-Man too funny at the moment.

[Toddman]

Or it may actually be good.

Oh yeah. I'm sure it'll be pure gold listening to the main character try to sing while wearing a full mask that completely covers his mouth.


T:ack:ddman

[Peter Paltridge]

Oh yeah. I'm sure it'll be pure gold listening to the main character try to sing while wearing a full mask that completely covers his mouth.


T:ack:ddman
I would assume he'll lip-synch. Which shouldn't be too hard.

[Old Guy]

Press Release:

SPIDER-MAN
Turn Off the Dark
Broadway
Opening Night: Thursday, February 18, 2010
Preview Performances begin Saturday, January 16, 2010
www.SpidermanOnBroadway.com (http://www.SpidermanOnBroadway.com)
Directed by Julie Taymor
Music and Lyrics by Bono and The Edge
Written by Julie Taymor and Glen Berger

SPIDER-MAN, Turn Off the Dark, will open on Thursday, February 18, 2010 at Broadway's Hilton Theatre, 213 West 42nd Street (preview performances will begin Saturday, January 16, 2010).

Directed by Tony® Award-winner Julie Taymor with 22-time Grammy® Award-winning Bono and The Edge creating new music and lyrics, SPIDER-MAN will be written by Julie Taymor and Glen Berger.

SPIDER-MAN is produced by Hello Entertainment/David Garfinkle, Martin McCallum, Marvel Entertainment/David Maisel, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Jeremiah Harris.

SPIDER-MAN is produced in association with Omneity Entertainment/Richard Weinberg, the Mayerson/Gould/Hauser/Tysoe Group, Patricia Lambrecht and Jam Theatricals/S2BN.

Julie Taymor is best known as director of one of the most successful musicals in Broadway history, Disney's The Lion King and the film Across The Universe. Bono and The Edge are half of one of the most popular rock bands of all time, U2, who will be making their Broadway debut with SPIDER-MAN.

Drawing from over forty years of Marvel comic books for inspiration, SPIDER-MAN spins a new take on the mythic tale of a young man propelled from a modest rowhouse in Queens to the sky-scraping spire of the Chrysler Building, the bustling offices of the Daily Bugle, through the dizzying canyons of Manhattan, to new vistas never before seen. The musical follows the story of teenager Peter Parker, whose unremarkable life is turned upside-down—literally—when he's bitten by a genetically altered spider and wakes up the next morning clinging to his bedroom ceiling. This bullied science-geek—suddenly endowed with astonishing powers—soon learns, however, that with great power comes great responsibility as villains test not only his physical strength but also his strength of character. Spider-Man's battles will hurtle the audience through an origin story both recognizable and unexpected--yielding new characters as well as familiar faces--until a final surprising confrontation casts a startling new light on this hero's journey.

The principal creative and design team for SPIDER-MAN includes Daniel Ezralow, Choreographer (Across the Universe, The Green Bird); George Tsypin, Sets (The Magic Flute, The Little Mermaid); Eiko Ishioka, Costumes (Academy Award® for Bram Stoker's Dracula, Tony Award® nomination for M. Butterfly, the opening ceremonies for the Beijing Olympics); Donald Holder, Lighting (Tony® Awards for The Lion King, South Pacific); Jonathan Deans, Sound (Fosse, The Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil, Young Frankenstein, Ragtime); and Teese Gohl, Musical Supervisor (Across the Universe, Frida). Additional members of the SPIDER-MAN creative team will be announced at a later date.

Casting for SPIDER-MAN will be announced soon.

Group tickets now on sale. Single tickets will go on sale June, 2009. For more information about group tickets, visit the Spider-Man website at www.SpidermanOnBroadway.com (http://www.SpidermanOnBroadway.com) or by calling 1-800-Broadway.

MARVEL, Spider-Man and all related characters and elements are Trademarks of and ©2009 Marvel Entertainment, Inc. and its subsidiaries. www.marvel.com (http://www.marvel.com). All rights reserved.

[Cabel]

The idea of a Spider-Man Musical definitely sounds weird. I agree that it could turn out either way, but I find the image of someone swinging and singing at the same time as Spider-Man too funny at the moment.


No weirder than a musical based on a Roger Corman movie that features a giant talking plant or a musical based on a Jon "Pink Flamingos" Waters movie.

[Old Guy]

It's official: Evan Rachel Wood and Alan Cumming will star in the upcoming Broadway mega-spectacle "Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark."

Deals were wrapped up late in the week for both thesps, who have been expected to confirm their stints in the show for a while now.

Performance dates for the technically complicated tuner also have been pushed back. Previously skedded to open Feb. 18, the musical now won't begin previews until Feb. 25.

Wood will play Spidey's paramour Mary Jane Watson, while Cumming will portray bad guy Norman Osborn, a.k.a. the Green Goblin.

Julie Taymor ("The Lion King"), who helms the tuner and co-pens the book, has worked with both actors previously. Wood starred in Taymor's movie-musical "Across the Universe," while Cumming appeared in Taymor pics "Titus" and "The Tempest."

The actor donning the tights of the wall-crawler himself remains unannounced; open auditions for the role were held earlier this year. Wood's co-star in "Across the Universe," Jim Sturgess, has also been mentioned as a possibility for the part.

Delay of performances at the Hilton Theater likely gives the show's creators more time to sort out construction elements, which are said to be moving slower than anticipated.

[Silly McGooses]

It isn't. Superman got one in 1966.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_musical

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d8/Itsabird-tv.jpg

It's sad that people always associate the unbelievably terrible cheapo TV movie with the show, and use photos from it when talking about the Broadway production. They really could not be more different. It has a really charming score and the original production had tremendously creative staging. Unlike that TV version, which also ruined the score.

As for Spider-Man, we'll wait and see. I am hugely skeptical of Julie Taymour: her over-rated work on The Lion King's Broadway production resulted in a pretty, bloated mess that dragged on forever. Across The Universe was even worse.

If they really have to do this, you gotta admit, Alan Cumming is a great choice for the old-school Green Goblin.