Spiderman 2.0 hitting the right notes

A new air of positivity surrounds the Spiderman musical on Broadway, after preview performances resumed on Thursday night with no glitches and a more crowd-pleasing storyline. The $75m production, with a score written by Bono and the Edge, had taken a three week break to allow a new creative team to drastically rework the much-maligned musical.

New director Phil McKinley has put an increased emphasis on the love story between Peter Parker and Mary Jane, and on the battle with the villainous Green Goblin. The comic book’s most famous line – “With great power, comes great responsibility” has been included for the first time – its omission from the original version of Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark had shocked fans.  “I’m very glad it’s in there. It’s got to be,” Reeve Carney, who plays Peter Parker/Spiderman, told me after Thursday night’s first preview of what’s being dubbed Spiderman 2.0. He said, after an “intense” few weeks of rehearsals, it was a relief to be back on stage in front of an audience. “I venture to say it was the most positive reaction we’ve had out of all 146 shows,” he said, basing his judgment on the volume of the response, and the laughter from the audience.

The new show adopts a much lighter touch, with many more jokes, some even at its own expense. At one stage the Green Goblin refers to himself as “a $65m circus tragedy” and quickly adds “make that $75m”. Spiderman is the most expensive musical ever staged on Broadway, and has been in previews for longer than any other show.

Patrick Page, the actor who plays the Green Goblin, says the creators of the show have listened to what fans and critics have said, and taken their suggestions on board. “It’s kind of the first Twitter Broadway show,” he said, “where people started saying: well this is what I think, and the creators and producers said okay, well let’s include their opinions.” Page said it had been the “thrill of a lifetime” to work in studio with Bono and the Edge over the past few weeks as they put together a new song “Freak Like Me”, which opens the second act of the show.

TV Carpio, who stars as Arachne, a character that has been transformed from a villain in the original production to a guardian angel for Spiderman in the new version, also paid tribute to the U2 guys. “They’ve been so supportive. It’s a dream come true. They’ve been great mentors and it’s been amazing to watch them work,” she said. Carpio says she’s happy that she continues to have “some of the most beautiful songs” in the show, despite her role being scaled back significantly. “I’m not going to lie and say it doesn’t affect me a little bit,” she conceded, “But it’s a bigger picture, this thing is bigger than my part. If my part has to be sacrificed for this story to be told and people wanting to hear it, I’m for it. I’m a team player.”

Actress Jennifer Damiano who plays Mary Jane, celebrated her 20^th birthday on Thursday, and is confident that they now have a “really solid show”. She was keen to give credit to ousted director Julie Taymor, whose “vision is still at the heart of the show”. Taymor retains a billing as “original director” on literature for the show, with new director McKinley billed as “creative consultant”.

One of the biggest cheers of the night was for stuntman Chris Tierney, who made his return to the Broadway show after suffering horrific injuries in a fall during a performance in December. Tierney, who suffered a fractured skull, fractured shoulder blades, four broken ribs and three broken vertebrae when he fell 20 ft into a pit at the front of the stage, said he felt “stronger now than when I fell”. The new version includes four extra flying sequences, and Tierney says, despite still suffering some soreness and a lack of flexibility in places, he’s got no concerns about taking to the air.  “We are the most safe show on Broadway, I’ll tell you that much. We’ve gone through about 60 new Department of Labor precautions. I’ve got about four people looking after me every time they clip in anything. I think it’s a little too much now, but I guess it’s the best way to go.”

Audience members emerging from Thursday night’s preview seemed to have enjoyed the show, with most saying it had been a lot of fun. “I really liked it,” said Brian Hartlet from Stamford, Connecticut, who had seen the original version three times. “The overall story in this one is much clearer, it flows so much better than the last one. But there are some elements of the first one that I miss.” Critics have been invited back to review the show in early June, and their verdicts are expected to be published to coincide with the musical’s long-awaited official opening on June 14^th. 

Battle to save troubled Spiderman musical with drastic revamp

The lights have gone out on Broadway blockbuster Spiderman: Turn off the Dark, which has taken a three-week break to begin rehearsals on a new version of the show.

The Edge was at the Foxwoods Theater off Times Square on Sunday night to watch the final performance of the original version of the musical which he co-wrote with Bono. The U2 front man is due to join him in New York later this week to work on new songs for the reworked musical.

The $70m production is the most expensive ever staged on Broadway, and despite a record 140 previews it never officially opened. While the doors are closed to the public, cast members were back at rehearsals yesterday (Mon).

“We don’t get a break. The show has shut down but I’m still working,” said Reeve Carney, who plays Spiderman/Peter Parker. “For the past few weeks we have been rehearsing the new show, while performing the old show at night. It’s going to be great to be able to focus on one thing again.”

Producers are still putting the finishing touches to the revised version of the show, which they hope will be more crowd-pleasing and easier to understand than the vision created by director Julie Taymor, who has been replaced. New director Phillip William McKinley is putting more focus on the love story between Peter Parker and Mary Jane, and the battle with the villain Green Goblin. The character of villainous spider-woman Arachne, which had a central role in Taymor’s production, is to be scaled back significantly, and a Greek chorus of four singers who narrated the show is to be dropped altogether.

Cast members held up a handwritten sign saying “Back May 12” during the curtain call at Sunday’s final show, and a special ovation was given to the four young actors who are leaving the show. “It’s so bittersweet because we are saying goodbye to some friends who we’ve worked with that’s become like family,” said TV Carpio, who plays Arachne. The stunning actress displayed no bitterness about the fact that her role was being reduced significantly. “The key thing to know here is that we all want the best show that it can be,” she said, “So whatever that means, at least we have an opportunity to improve.”

Patrick Page, who plays the Green Goblin, said he believed the changes will make it a better show.

“It’s going to be a lot more fun  for me, for the Green Goblin, let me tell you,” he said, “I think fans of the comic book will be very pleased.”

Jennifer Damiano, who plays Mary Jane, said she believed the new version would put “a lighter spin on things”. “They have their reasons for wanting to change things and my job is just to make that work,” she said.

All of the cast members were quick to pay tribute to departing director Julie Taymor, none more so than Reeve Carney, who was plucked from obscurity and cast in the lead role. “She sort of created me,” he said, “I mean I wouldn’t be here without her. So I feel very confident and very good about the fact that it’s not erasing what she’s done, it’s just having a little extra help. It’s great to be able to work with two directors. It’s never happened before on the same project.”

Bono and the Edge are known to be working on at least two new songs for the show, and Carney said he believes one of them has the potential to be an international hit. “All I’ll say is that one of the new songs is one of my favorites and I’m really excited about it,” he said.

It remains to be seen if the reworked version can win over critics who mauled the original production as the biggest flop ever seen on Broadway and beyond repair. Despite this the show was seen by more than 285,000 people and raked in more than $25m at the box office. That’s a lot of money but not enough to break even, and without a credible show, producers won’t be able to proceed with plans to expand productions to London, Las Vegas and international tours in the future.

Previews of the new version begin on May 12, with the official opening now scheduled for Tuesday June 14^th.