It’s a day of the week that ends in day, so that means Conan O’Brien picked on the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark again in another bit during his late night TBS show.
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If all of the jokes making fun of the upcoming Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark wasn’t enough, actress Natalie Mendoza, who plays the villainess Arachne, suffered a concussion during the first preview performance. The actress was hit in the head by a rope holding a piece of equipment. Against doctors advice the actress performed during the second performance.
The Actors’ Equity union and the New York State Department of Labor, which monitors safety in public performances, said they are looking into the accident. Mendoza is the third actor to be injured.
The New York Times ArtBeat has the full story.
If the success of a Broadway musical is measured by how much fun is made at it’s expense then Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark would be king. Saturday Night Live added so hits to the musical turned punching bag.
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A representative for the musical has said they’re taking it all in stride and rolling with the punches. After Conan O’Brien’s recent pokes the musical sent flowers to the comedian with the following note:
We wanted to thank you for your tribute to our show, but we couldn’t decide what to send. We hope you enjoy the flowers – it was cheaper than a cease and desist.
When you dump $60 million into a Broadway musical, you might want to get word out about it. The 30-second ads for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark feature rehearsal footage that the production has been taping for weeks. The ad includes images of some of the show’s flying sequences and its set and costume designs. The two ads will be broadcast on cable and network television in the New York area starting on Monday.
Preview performances begin Sunday night, and director Julie Taymor has said that she expects to continue working on the show after preview performances begin and that the musical may need to stop now and then mid-performance to make technical fixes. This is glossed over in the ads.
The most expensive musical in history features music by U2’s Bono and The Edge.
Over on it’s Facebook page you can check the first video of what we can expect from the upcoming Broadway musical.
The scenes look interesting enough, but it’s still not enough to get me to think this won’t be a train wreck. This is the most expensive musical in Broadway history with a budget of $60 million and has been plagued by delays and injuries.
The musical has yet to debut and been in the news a lot, and not much of it is positive.
Matthew James Thomas is being tagged in to serve as an alternate for the leading man, Reeve Carney, in the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man for the upcoming Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. The rumor has Thomas taking the lead in up to two shows a week due to the physical demands of the role.
No one would officially comment on the decision according The New York Times Artbeat.
The upcoming Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has teamed up with the SyFy television channel to be the musical’s lead media partner for television and Internet commercials, promotions and contests. What’s fascinating is SyFy is part NBC Universal. Marvel (the comic book company behind Spider-Man) is owned by Disney which owns ABC.
The SyFy channel draws younger men, part of the target audience for this musical. The channel will begin running commercials for the musical closer to its scheduled first performance on Nov. 28, as well as on-air promotions, teasers and contests.
The SyFy channel is in an estimated 95 million homes and it’s prime time shows reach 2 million people a night. The $60 million musical is being director by Julie Taymor with music by Bono and The Edge of U2.
The musical has been plagued by delays, budget overruns and injuries due to stunts.
Is the opening for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark in trouble? Already the most expensive production in history, the $60 million Broadway show will see it’s opening delayed for two weeks. Theater executives familiar with the show have said “more work is needed on it.” If you read the New York Times Artbeat a picture of a chaotic production is painted:
These executives, as well as people working on or plugged into the production, described a tremendous amount of creative commotion behind the scenes in interviews this week. Flying sequences were still being developed and the music, special effects, and scenes of plot and dialogue were still largely in separate pieces even though performances were originally set to begin on Nov. 14.
The Artbeat article says director Julie Taymor “spent chunks of the 11-week rehearsal period experimenting over and over with the flying stunts and other special effects rather than preoccupying herself with deadlines.”
The musical boasts music from U2’s Bono and the Edge and advance ticket sales so far total about $8 million in hard cash with an additional $2 million to $3 million in unpaid group orders. That’s great for the average $10 million show, but not so good for a musical with a budget of a major motion picture.
On Wednesday the production was unable to present all of the stunts to the safety inspector. They must be signed off on before production begins. An investigation has begun over recent accidents that have caused performers to be hurt attempting some of the stunts.
The production was originally to launch in 2009 but was delayed due to funding. At that time the musical was to cost $40 million.
Bets as to whether this will go down as the biggest disaster in Broadway history?
An actor in the upcoming musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark was injured while performing some of the stunts for the show. During a demonstration to some of the ticketing brokers, actor/stunt man Kevin Aubin suffered some broken bones. According to the New York Post the actor broke both his wrists.
[Aubin] was crouching at the back of the stage. Suddenly, he shot up into the air and came crashing down at the lip of the stage with such force, some audience members heard his wrists snap.
“It was a thrilling effect, but you knew something was wrong because he hit the stage so hard,” says a source. “He maintained his Spider-Man pose, but you could see he was wincing.”
The Arts Beat for the New York Times spoke to another actor who said a “glitch” caused him to break his feet performing the same stunt.
