U2's Spiderman off to shaky start on Broadway

Technical glitches and a mixed audience reaction greeted U2’s Spiderman, as their new $65m musical got off to a shaky start on in New York Sunday night.  The first preview of Spiderman: Turn off the Dark was halted as least five times while problems with the wiring for the show’s spectacular aerial stunts were ironed out.  On one occasion, Spiderman was left dangling from the wires above the heads of the audience for several minutes while stage-hands tried to bring him down safely.

Some theatre-goers said the show was “amazing” and “wonderful”, but others told me as they left the theatre, that producers had a lot of work to do if the production was to be a success. Worryingly, many said the problems lay not just in the technical issues, but in the areas of plot cohesion and with the music.

The show, which is the most expensive in Broadway history, opens officially on January 11^th at the Foxwoods Theatre, off Times Square. It’s not uncommon for major productions to experience problems during early previews, which are in effect, considered rehearsals, with an audience present. Producers now have six weeks to fix any issues that arise before New York’s tough theatre critics get to give their verdicts. But the early buzz has not been promising.

One critic writing in Monday’s New York Post called it “an epic flop”, saying “not even Spiderman could avert this disaster”. Director Julie Taymor tried to caution the public not to expect a perfect show in advance of Sunday’s debut. In one interview, she expressed the hope that audiences would “enjoy the art of making theatre, as well as the magic of it”. Reports suggested that the cast did not have the opportunity to do a full dress rehearsal in advance of Sunday’s performance.

Many audience members, some of whom had paid $140 for tickets to the preview, were frustrated by constant delays to the proceedings. The show had been due to start at 6.30pm, but was delayed until almost 7.00pm while the 1,900-strong audience took their seats. The performance was interrupted at least four times in Act 1, some momentary, others for between 10-15 minutes, as problems were sorted out. The intermission lasted 45 minutes, meaning it was after 9.00pm before the second Act began.

Rosemary and Tom Long, from eastern Pennsylvania, left the show before the second Act started, in order to catch a bus home. “We couldn’t wait to see it,” said Rosemary, “We come to shows at least once a month on Broadway. It was terrible. It was all delays. They have a lot of work to do get it going. We go to previews a lot and I’ve never seen anything like this.” The couple were given tickets for a show in the future, and plan to return. “It they can work out the kinks, it’s going to be a terrific show”.

Another couple who left the show early said their tickets had been “the worst investment ever”. “I’m really sorry. I wanted it to be a success. I wanted it to be great. But we couldn’t stay one more minute,” said Yeron and Elisa, from Israel. “We like Julie Taymor. I mean, we loved the Lion King. And U2 as well – but even the music is so boring. I hate to be negative... It was just a bitter disappointment”

But most of the audience did stay until the end, leaving the theatre at around 10.15pm, three and three-quarter hours after they had taken their seats. “I thought it was an interesting show,” said Tom Harbinson of Shelby, Conneticut , “I’m a U2 fan and I was looking forward to the music. Some of the songs did stand out, but writing rock music is a lot different than writing theatre music. I think they succeeded on a couple of songs but a couple of them left a little to be desired. Overall, it’s not a show like a pop Wicked-type thing that will take off. It’s the kind of show that will really have to grow on audiences. It’s going to challenge an audience to artistically swallow it.” He said that the delays did not bother him, as he had expected them and had actually been looking for that to be part of his experience.

Jay Starr from Boston agreed: “I thought it was actually really good. The actors were amazing, their voices were really good, on key. There were delays but it was the first show, so it’s really not that big of a deal.” His friend Gerry, a huge Spiderman fan, was not as impressed.  “It was alright. But I don’t think there was much of a real plot going on,” he said, “I think they were going for more of a wow factor – which there was with the effects and stuff - but other than that, I was a little bit disappointed.”

Margaret McLoughlin, a tourist from Glasgow, thought it was “absolutely fabulous”. “I mean obviously they had a few teething problems. But the special effects were out of this world. Spiderman just comes flying through the crowds. Great! I’m not a big Spiderman fan, more a U2 fan.  The music was a bit weird. Definitely you can hear U2’s influence in some songs more than others".

Patrick McGinnis from New York thinks the show needs a lot of work between now and January.  “I really wanted to like it because I like U2 a lot. I think they spent a lot of money but the basic plot elements were lacking cohesion. The aerial stunts were very impressive, actually. Although once you’ve seen it four or five times, it gets less impressive, like everything else. I think the first five times I saw it I was very impressed and then I thought to myself ‘this is great but if it’s going to hold up the entire production, is it really worth it?’

One key demographic seemed to be universal in their praise – children. 12-year old Amanda Felitti, from Long Island, came to the show dressed head-to-toe in a Spiderman costume. “I thought it was really cool,” she said, “I really loved it. The effects were cool - they were flying over each other and attacking each other as they were flying – it was really amazing.”

10 Reasons We’re Still Proud to be Irish

It’s been a tough week to be Irish – with the shame of being forced to go cap in hand to the EU and IMF, effectively handing over our economic sovereignty for the next few years. But there are some things that the IMF money-men can’t touch. And as Vincent Murphy reports, there are still plenty of reasons to stay positive.

The Irish Landscape

Long after Ajai Chopra and his friends from the IMF are gone home, and long after the loans they give us are repaid, the Cliffs of Moher will still be standing tall on the coast of County Clare. Just as they always have done. The beautiful Killarney lakes will still nestle in the Kerry Mountains.  The Giant’s Causeway will continue to inspire wonder among those who travel to the Antrim coastline. And the rugged beauty of Connemara will still provide sanctuary. Regardless of the tough times ahead, or what fiscal parameters are put in place, Ireland will remain one of the most beautiful patches of land on the entire planet.  With rugged coastlines, forty shades of green, and picture postcard vistas throughout the land, who could fail to be proud of belonging to such a country.

Peace

Ireland is at peace. Sometimes it’s easy to forget the enormity of the Northern Irish peace process. Not long ago, when Ireland hit the international headlines, it was because of murder, bombs and war. Now, it’s because of bond yields, sovereign debt and bank capitalisation. Which one would you prefer to be reading about? The IRA has not only ceased fire, it has decommissioned all its weapons. The Good Friday Agreement in 1998 remains an inspiration to others trying to negotiate peace around the world. And despite the continued threat from dissidents, a power-sharing government in Belfast, where Gerry Adams’ Sinn Fein and Ian Paisley’s DUP form a coalition, deals with the regular political issues with which every other normal government grapples. The tit-for-tat killings are part of history. If Ireland can get through the Troubles, we can survive some economic difficulties.

Our Sporting Heroes

For such a small population, Ireland punches above its weight in the world of sport. And no-one punches better than Katie Taylor (pictured) from Bray in Co Wicklow. She is a three-time World boxing champion, five-time European champion, and has twice been named by her peers as World Female Boxer of the year. And she is still only 24. Oh, and she plays international soccer for Ireland too. Taylor is just one of hundreds of sports stars who provide inspiration and hope for Ireland in the toughest of times.  We have some of the world’s top golfers: Graham McDowell, US Open champion 2010 and the man who clinched the Ryder Cup for Europe, Rory McIllroy, and Padraig Harrington. We have top quality soccer players in the English Premier League:  Shay Given, Kevin Doyle, Robbie Keane and young Seamus Coleman, whose breakthrough at Everton has been one of Irish sports stories of the year. There is the inspirational force that is Munster Rugby, the genius of Leinster and Irish centre Brian O’Driscoll, one of the world’s greatest players. There is the magic of the All Ireland Hurling and Football championships and the indescribable contribution the amateur GAA makes in every community around the country. There’s athlete Derval O’Rourke, cyclist Nicholas Roche, jockey Tony McCoy and... well ,this list could go on for pages. These are just the sports men and women who have inspired the country this year, and they provide hope and promise for years to come.

The Rest of our Economy

What do Google, Facebook, Linkedin, Dell, and Intel have in common? They all have their European headquarters in Ireland. The country is not just a hub for some of the world’s biggest IT companies, it also plays host to some of the planet’s biggest pharmaceutical (eg Pfizer and Wyeth)and medical device companies (nine of the top 10 global medical device companies have a manufacturing base in Ireland).  Take away the disaster zone of our banks and construction sector, and all things considered, the rest of our economy is not doing too badly.  Exports in September were 4% higher than last year.  In 1990 our exports were worth €18 billion. Today they are worth €84 billion. If you read the international papers right now, you might get the impression that everyone is packing their bags to emigrate. And, of course, unemployment is unacceptably high at 14%. But there are still 1.85 million people who go out to work every day in Ireland.  That workforce is young, educated and entrepreneurial.  Things are tough, but we’ll roll up our sleeves and get on with it.

Irish Music

U2 are probably still the biggest rock band in the world (their taxes may be Dutch, but Bono and the lads are still unmistakably Irish!). Enya has sold more than 70 million records over the past two decades. There are new pretenders like The Script and Snow Patrol. And there are few countries where you will not hear Sinead O’Connor, Van Morrison, Westlife or The Cranberries on the jukebox. Irish artists, from pop to rock, from trad to folk have made their mark on the world stage, and will continue to do so.

The Irish Pub

What are you having yourself? A creamy pint of Guinness or a small dram of Irish whiskey? Ok, we Irish might have a reputation for being a bit boozy (even our Taoiseach made headlines around the world recently for doing a radio interview with a hangover). But the truth is, when the craic is good, there is nowhere in the world quite like an Irish pub. And there is nowhere in the world you won’t find one.  There’s “Irish Pub” in Kathmandu, and “Connemara Pub” in Bordeaux. From Paddy O’Shea’s in Beijing to Kilkenny’s in Buenos Aires, an Irish bar is a by-word for a good time. Of course there are none better than the ones in Ireland itself – with impromptu trad sessions or late night sing-songs.  Cheer up, have a pint.

Storytelling

Ireland is a powerhouse of literature, theatre, poetry and cinema. Our ability to tell a story and engage an audience is legendary and for a country our size, disproportionately influential. From classics like James Joyce’s Ulysses, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Jonathon Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels to modern award winners like Frank McCourt, Colum McCann, Joseph O’Neill, Roddy Doyle and Colm Toibin, Irish authors are respected internationally. In theatre, we have a strong tradition from Oscar Wilde, to Samuel Beckett, to Brian Friel and Martin McDonagh.  Our poets from William Butler Yeats to Seamus Heaney have captured the age they live in. And our modern filmmakers like Oscar winners Jim Sheridan and Neil Jordan, have brought Irish tales to a global audience.  We’re the country who produced Maureen O’Hara, Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Liam Neeson and Gabriel Byrne.  Our storytellers, in all art forms, will continue to provide escapism, inspiration and a mirror to ourselves.

Our ability to Laugh

Sometimes all you can do is laugh. On the day the IMF arrived in Dublin last week, the jokes were already circulating on the internet. One showed a fake property listing with the entire country up for sale.  “€900bn o.n.o” it says, “In need of some refurbishing.” It said to contact Brian Cowen. Another was a newspaper death notice for Ireland. “Eire 1922-2010 (after a terminal illness bravely borne) predeceased by her founding fathers Arthur (Griffith) and Michael (Collins), survived by her grieving 4.3m children. Removal from Cowen and Lenihan’s funeral home to the Church of the IMF.”  The one thing you can always count on from the Irish – we will try to see the funny side of it all. Last week, a festival was held in Kilkenny called Kilkenomics. It was jointly organised by economist David McWilliams and comedy festival organiser Richard Cooke. It featured a mix of comedians and economists debating Ireland’s plight, and how it all went wrong. It was a sell-out smash.  “Ireland needs a new credit rating agency. Moody and Poor”, said one comedian Colm O’Regan.  The day we lose the ability to laugh in the face of adversity, is the day to start worrying.

Our Simple Pleasures

There are some things you need to be Irish to fully appreciate or understand. Tayto crisps or Red Lemonade, for example. Why there is nothing tastier first thing in the morning than the full Irish breakfast washed down by a cup of Barry’s Tea. Tuning into your local radio station at 10am to hear the death notices being read out.  How, despite annual evidence to the contrary, we can convince ourselves that we will have a summer of sunshine, just because we get two weeks of nice weather in May. Our wide range of accents, which differ from county to county, despite how small the country is. Waving hello to strangers on a country road. No matter what tough medicine the IMF prescribe, day-to-day the Irish way of life will go on with all its idiosyncrasies and charms.

Our Proud Diaspora

Over 70 million people around the world claim to have some Irish heritage. That’s a hell of a lot of friends to have. All you have to do is look at the international outpouring of pride that accompanies St Patrick’s Day around the world every year. Green hair, green rivers, green milkshakes – can you think of any other country that inspires such devotion! You can travel anywhere in the world, and chances are you will find someone Irish. From the Great Famine, to the mass emigration of the 1980s, Ireland’s sons and daughters have dispersed around the world in numbers. Nowhere is this truer than in the United States. Ireland’s international reputation has been damaged by recent events. But the fight back starts here. If every one of those 70 million friends stands up for our country, and re-asserts our pride in all things Irish, then the future is bright.

(A version of this article appears in the November 23rd issue of Irish Examiner USA)

Hanafin: Art event can send positive and vibrant message about Ireland

A new contemporary art event, which is expected to bring 150,000 extra tourists to Ireland next year, was launched in New York on Friday. Leading figures from the arts and business world gathered at the spectacular Irish Consul General’s residence in Manhattan to hear Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport Mary Hanafin announce details of Dublin Contemporary 2011.

The large-scale visual arts event will open in Dublin next September, showcasing the best of Irish and international contemporary art. It’s planned to hold the event every five years, and it aims to put the Irish capital on the map as a destination for lovers of contemporary art, in a way that Venice Biennale has done for its host city.

“It can be and will be a very imaginative and very exciting event,” said Minister Hanafin. She said it sent out message about Ireland that was “very positive and vibrant” at a time when Ireland is in the international headlines for all the wrong reasons.

When you ask anybody around the world what do they know about Ireland, there is very few that will mention the Irish economy. But what they will talk about is our culture

“This is a way of saying to people: ‘Look at Ireland in a different way’ and look at what we do well,” she said. “When you ask anybody around the world what do they know about Ireland, there is very few that will mention the Irish economy. Very few of them will be able to name a particular bank or a developer or anything like that. But what they will talk about is our culture. And our unique characteristics that set us out from any other country that speaks English.”

The event is already generating interest in the New York arts community – among those attending last Friday’s launch were art historian and critic Barbara Novak, Village Voice art critic Christian Viveros-Faune and renowned Irish-born artist Brian O’Doherty. The business community was also well represented by, among others, Revlon president Alan Ennis, and Continental Airlines director Patricia Cunningham.

Details of the programme for Dublin Contemporary 2011 will be announced in March, but it will include a trail around the city at landmark sites including established art venues, warehouses, churches and open spaces. “It’s the open space element that I’m looking forward to most,” said Minster Hanafin “Because I have no doubt those will be the pieces that will be bold, daring, exciting and those are the ones that will cause debate. And there should be debate about contemporary art.” She said cultural tourism was very important to Ireland – if the event is a success it has the potential to generate €13.5m for the economy.

Among those attending were art historian and critic Barbara Novak and Village Voice art critic Christian Viveros-Faune

The festival’s artistic director Rachael Thomas, who is on secondment from the Irish Museum of Modern Art, said the theme would be “Silence”. She says it takes its inspiration from James Joyce, Samuel Beckett and John Cage, and told the gathering that it can be seen as part of a long tradition of Irish art from the Book of Kells to Jack B Yeats. 

Dublin Contemporary 2011 was also launched in London last week at the 2010 World Travel Market – the biggest expo event for the travel industry in the world.

U2's Spiderman musical delayed (again!)

The show was originally due to open in February as you can see from this poster - it's now been delayed again until January 2011

http://www.rte.ie/news/morningireland/player.html?20101105,2849112,2849112,flash,257

Here's a report on the delays to the new Spiderman musical on Broadway, written by Bono and the Edge, which  I did with RTE Radio One's Morning Ireland.

Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear - Top 35 Best Photos!

Chaplins Time Traveler

An Irish filmmaker has spotted what he thinks is a woman talking on a mobile/cell phone in 1928 - could she be a time travelling man in drag?

Ps - if they mastered time travelling, why not go handsfree on the mobile?

Haunting Ireland - Ghost Estates

Nothing captures the despair and destruction left behind by the bursting of Ireland’s property bubble better than photos like this one.

And there are thousands upon thousands of others.

A website has been created, www.ghostestates.com, which reveals the complete scale of the disaster. It’s a Google-map of Ireland with red pins marking the locations of abandoned building sites. Click on the pin, and you will see a photograph of the estate or site concerned. The map of Ireland is covered with red pins – every province, every county, almost every town is represented.

The website was the work of ordinary citizens, but last week an official State study was published which put exact numbers and locations on the problem. The Department of Environment study confirmed there are more than 2,800 ghost estates in Ireland. Building has started on 120,000 homes in these estates, but only 77,000 are complete and lived in.  That means there are 33,000 empty, vacant, unsold or incomplete houses and apartments across the country.

Ten thousand of these houses are in the early stages of construction and have been completely abandoned. In fact, builders are only continuing to work in one-in-six of the ghost estates. The report breaks down the figures, county-by-county. Worst affected are Carlow, Leitrim, Roscommon, Sligo and Longford. Cork has the most unsold homes with 3,427.

Real Victims - Phase 1 buyers of overpriced homes

But it’s not just the empty or abandoned houses that are the problem – the real victims are those who bought houses or apartments in Phase 1 of the developments. In many cases, homeowners who live on estates where building work has ceased have also been abandoned and left without essential services. Sewers have been left open on the sites, water is contaminated and security lax. Thousands of homes are not served by roads, paths and public lighting – many of these essentials would be “finishing touches”, undertaken by developers when the entire estate was completed.

An expert group has now been set up to look at how to deal with the problem. It comprises, among others, local authorities, NAMA (the agency set up to take over non-performing loans from banks and pursue developers – it will end up owning many of these estates), representatives of the Construction Industry and health and safety authorities. The choices they face are stark.

Awful Truth: Bulldozers

Experts say it could cost up to one billion euro to complete all the estates on which work has begun. There is simply no money to do this, nor is there a market for all the houses if completed.  A portion of the houses will be taken over by NAMA, and completed and sold for as much as they can get. Others will be allocated to social housing – good news for those on waiting lists, but perhaps not what many of those who bought houses in these estates for inflated prices were expecting when they took out their massive mortgages. There has been talk of converting some ghost estates that are near completion into hospice or nursing home communities.

But the awful truth is that hundreds if not thousands of these properties will be simply bulldozed to the ground – symbols of the foolishness and recklessness that has brought Ireland to its knees.

One NAMA for the rich, and Bananas for everyone else:

The property companies who built these estates, are for the most part, insolvent. They borrowed heavily to finance the developments, and now in a collapsed market, will never to be able to afford to pay them back. But the men who set them up, are often far from insolvent. Intricate corporate structures, and transfers of asset ownership to family members means that even when the company goes kaput, they can walk away comfortably leaving massive debts behind.

The foolish banks who lent them money in the first place without adequate collateral must surely take the hit? No - of course, not. Banks are systemically important. Their books are so filled with these worthless never-to-be-repaid loans, that they need to be bailed out. So the citizens of Ireland, through the government they elected, say "we'll buy these loans off you". Enter NAMA, a "bad" bank who will buy that €100m loan-which-will-never-be-repaid for €40m. (Reports put the average haircut or discount for loans taken over by NAMA at 60%). Of course, even that €40m in most cases will never be repaid - the property company is kaput, remember - so NAMA will take over the assets behind the loans. For that read hundreds of ghost estates.

Now in order for NAMA to work, it must make as much money as it can from selling these houses. Even if that means selling them at fire sale prices. So the market gets flooded with more apartments and houses at a lower price. Guess what that does to the value of the house owned by our Phase 1 buyers? Correct, it drives it down even further.

So now that the fools who borrowed to build, and the chancers that recklessly lent to them are bailed out, the biggest victim of all turns out to be the young couple who just wanted to buy a home to live in. They paid hundreds of thousands of euro to live in an unfinished estate, in a house now worth half of what they paid for it only a few years ago, in an economy wrecked by the very people who overcharged them and are now being bailed out.

Families: as systemic as banks?

Which brings me to the key point. Isn't it time to at least talk about a Nama for "the little people"? Call me bananas, but if the banks are will to sell loans to NAMA for 40% of their original value because the builder has walked away from it, why won't someone give a haircut to those now in negative equity? If we can borrow to buy bad loans off the banks to make sure they don't go bust, can we not do something to make sure families don't go bust? Are families not as systemic to our society as banks? Don't we own most of these banks now anyway?

Personally, I don't own one of these houses, and while I know some people in negative equity, thankfully they are not living in a ghost estate. But many people my age bought houses in areas they didn't really want to live in, and towns that didn't exist ten years ago, just because it was all they could afford. Now, they are trapped. 

They have no road or footpath in the estate, youngsters are hanging out in the abandoned building site near their homes, and their new neighbours are likely to be either pensioners from retirement homes or welfare recipients - that's if the bulldozers don't get there first.  Their jobs are far from safe, their pay has been cut, their taxes are about to rise, their childcare costs are still high, and they have to work two jobs to pay a mortgage back to a bank that managed to get it's loans taken off its hands.

I'm not an economist. But people live in a society, not an economy. I understand that our budget structural deficit is completely unrelated to the NAMA project and bank bailout (which makes it even scarier). But the tough medicine that is about to be administered, would not taste as bad, if it was tempered with some recognition that there is one group left waiting for their bailout - ordinary citizens.

When the ship is steadied, and the current fire is put out, there are a few "finishing touches" to be made to our approach to the bursting of the property bubble. In the meantime, can we get some paths, roads and lighting to those poor people trapped in our ghost estates, and please tell me we don't have to wait for an "expert group" to report back to tell us that is what they need.