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It’s another dark night at Broadway’s Foxwood Theatre for Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark. After a cancelled performance Tuesday, previews were supposed to resume tonight but the stage crew and performers took an extra day to incorporate the extra safety procedures designed to eliminated the variables that led to an aerialist falling 30 feet into the orchestra pit. While some are speculating that the show shouldn’t open at all, it’s coming. At a projected $65 million budget, you don’t cancel. But this isn’t like Starlight Express. I remember seeing that musical, and after finding it to be a bore, watched wondering if performers would fall while buzzing around the rink on roller skates (several did). Accidents on this musical have already been more serious than a few skinned knees suffered in a roller rink mishap. It’s too bad that such an ambitious show has been defined by mishaps, but the wall crawler has prevailed against long odds before and audiences are packing preview performances.
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If this show is a hit it will partly be due to morbid curiosity. “Hey I was there when Spidey fell to his death!”
Wouldn’t the show be more exciting if performers did fall during their routines? The show looks ridiculous. This is what Broadway has come to?
Taymor’s Folly.
Where is the hard reporting on this we’ve come to expect on Deadline.com? The actors, stunt men and probably the audience are being put in danger on this show and everyone is standing around watching it continue. Actors have very little power here; if they complain or sue, they are never hired again. Which is why it is so important for the union to protect them. Yet Equity has ‘been on the set’ since November and people continue to be hurt. I understand this is an expensive show and it can mean a lot of work for many people. Things are out of control, however, and someone is going to get killed.
I too dread an impending fatality on the set of this Spiderman musical atrocity. Oh Julie Taymor, why have thou forsaken[insert sentiments here] . . .
I am surprised that Nikki hasn’t focused on the fact that the book writer is Glen Burger, a Gersh client, and they have been the only ones to actually loudly announce the fact that its ‘their project’, while every other agency in town with someone involved (including cast) are trying to avoid the fact that their clients are in this show…
Goes back to her earlier post of bloodlines….
Lost in all the reporting about the stunts and accidents -
is this thing actually good?
It’s only a matter of time before OSHA steps in and closes the show. The wonder is why they haven’t done it sooner since these continuing accidents are so highly publicized and predictable. The entertainment industry has never proven it has been capable of properly policing itself. I’ve heard that Ms Taymor has publicly stated that danger is an important component of this show. What ever happened to illusion?
Just to clarify, there was no performance scheduled for Tuesday night, so it couldn’t be canceled. Just the performances Wednesday were canceled (thus far).
And am I the only person tired of reading the whining and complaining by various ‘artists’ about this show? If they don’t like the danger, then go work elsewhere. The challenges of this show have always been there, and if they don’t feel that their union is properly protecting them, then either file a grievance with it or go work elsewhere. There are many other people who would like the opportunity that you have been given.
They have their union protecting them, OSHA protecting them, but most importantly like most other Americans who work they need to protect themselves. And most importantly, accept accountability for their own decisions, and not point the finger at others.
Accidents happen…especially when you are attempting something that has not been done before. That is part of the reason it is called ‘art’….
I think you miss the point completely.
Actually, there was never a scheduled preview performance for Tuesday night so that was false reporting. They just canceled Wednesday mat and evening performances to implement the safety precautions. This is a horrible accident and to be honest I’ve seen the show and the actor didn’t even fall on the most dangerous stunt, if you can call it that. Spider-man stops and freezes on the edge of the bridge while the wire was there to ensure the off chance that he does fall. It was a freak accident where negligence was involved. This show is unprepared and should not have had a first public preview until they were absolutely ready. The media scrutiny and the outrageous budget has ultimately forced the producers to decide to preview the show. This is just unfortunate because the technical and visual stunts of the show are amazing. The story needs work; it’s confusing. The songs range from awful to somewhat decent.
it’s all boils down to a lack of leadership. the producers rarely said no to taymor, and her artistic vision can be contagious. this lead to budget increases, delays and serious injuries.
they [producers] also failed to think outside the box when it came to hiring broadway dancers to do the work required by professional acrobatic/stunt performers. the complexity of the stunts must have been obvious in the development stages.
that all being said, it is selling quite well and it’s not too often Broadway shows are in the news.
What will finally kill this show dead is the insurance company yanking the show’s liability coverage – and I suspect it won’t be long now.
Playing devil’s advocate, but it’s possible the production will work out all the bugs, tighten up the story, and manage to prevent serious injuries in the future. I can see that it’s a bit of a trial and error thing, as Spider-Man is a very ambitious show, and I can’t think of any other on Broadway that’s been quite like it before. It’s a step up from Peter Pan in terms of aerial stuntwork, at least.
Anyway, they could find their groove, and if so, the show might be very successful based on the current interest. It’s a bit premature to be calling it “Taymor’s Folly”, although that’s certainly been the media’s narrative all along due to costs and the various delays.
Of course, if someone does get killed, none of it was worth doing, really.
In fact, most major media outlets, with the prominent exception of the New York Post’s Michael Riedel, have been co-opted by the producers’ PR efforts to portray a $65 million Broadway spectacle as the underdog. Read the softball pieces in New York Magazine and Variety and watch the glowing 60 Minutes piece from a few weeks ago. I only wish for theatre to succeed, even this circus act, but imagine how $65 million could have been spent by other producers to create and stage many more meaningful plays and musicals.
As someone pointed out, this seems to be a show that, even if somehow successful, will not translate well to tours (unless the entire cast is brought along). It will be impossible to train NEW actors to do all of this, every city.
And what’s the chance more people won’t fall and break their necks through the course of this show? Night after night? Odds are against that…
Julie Taymor’s career is over. This Spider-mess added with The Tempest bomb in box-office means a death sentence for any artist.
On the job injuries happen all the time. Some jobs are riskier than others. This show is a beast and it’s had no out of town try out. It was expected there would be accidents. If someone gets injured on a construction site, do they demolish what they’re building? Actors are not precious. And they need their jobs! People who are calling for the show to be shut down should shut T F up.
Oh no, quite the contrary. He nailed it right on the head.
“PACKING THEM IN”— just like auto Formula One racing, the crowd comes for the wreaks and the deaths, the more fiery and gruesome the better.
There’s a lot of rash judgment being made here.
What’s going on inside the Foxwoods Theater is fairly amazing. The audacity of the flying and the apparent fearlessness of the eight or so people who double as Spider-Man is breathtaking. This is not Mary Martin being raised for a few quick moments of flight. This is heart-pounding acrobatics from the floor of the theater to the ceiling, literally, with a full-blown extended action sequence between Sipder-Man and the Green Goblin over the audience’s head, seemingly within reach. It’s exasperating and very scary, the speed at which the flight occurs. My stomach was in knots hoping that everything would go fine, and when I was there, it did. And it’s not just one or two flying sequences. It’s relentless and it’s wonderful and once they ensure that all of the safety precautions have been properly enforced, it will really be something to experience.
The distinction that’s unclear to me is whether these are legit stuntmen or actors. Their bios show many dance credits, and while the agility associated with a typical dancer is apparent in the performances of the Spider-Man doubles, I worry that they have not been properly trained as stuntmen. The official word is that Christopher Tierney, the guy whose injury turned this into a national story, was hurt as a result of human error. That’s scary, and I definitely don’t mean to diminish the terrible state he’s in, but the fact is a human error can happen during previews, on opening night, two weeks after opening night, or six years into the run. I don’t think we can blame Taymor for what’s been classified by third parties as human error.
What I will blame Taymor for is her book, which is lifeless. Sadly, with all of the current complications, I wonder if she’ll have the time to develop it during these remaining weeks of previews. The music is great, straight off a U2 album. The book, on the other hand, is where the real work is needed.
Ultimately, I hope Spider-Man succeeds not because I want to see Broadway further develop into a theme park, but because it will bring new audiences into the theater: comic book fans, sure, but also teenagers, men, non-English speaking audiences and all of those millions of people desperate to see “where the money went”. Spider-Man is important, this is the most influential theater story in 25 years, and I sure hope they keep their performers safe.
This is not the definition of Broadway…with all it’s pure glamour,excitement and ability to sparle and just entertain….from “CATS” to “DEATH OF A SALESMAN”…,magical theatrical moments!. Not desperate trainwrecks that actually endanger people’s lives. This is now simply all about money…and loads of it!! and Taymor’s dwindling creative reputation and now what appears to be putting actors in the position of being seriously injured,paralized and God forbid, killed.Where are the “Masters Of the Theater”??? The Vanessa Redgraves,Dustin Hoffman’s, Pacino’s, who cry out their love of the stage?. Then take it back and do something now. Stop this lunacy in the name of respected theater.