Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

It seems like Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has been with us for years. Oh, that’s right, it has. While it didn’t officially open until June 14, 2011, there were 182 preview performances with six scheduled openings—the longest preview period ever—for the most expensive musical, coming in at a messy $75 million. Something always happened to hold things up – accidents, quibbling about the story, the Bono and the Edge score and Julie Taymor’s point of view. So Spider-Man closed for revamping. Several creatives were bumped, including co-creator Taymor. A new director, Philip William McKinley, came in. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa would now co-write with Glen Berger and finally, Spider-Man was officially scaling the walls of the Foxwoods Theatre.

Director McKinley smoothed out the jumps and starts. Co-writer Aguirre-Sacasa re-focused the story to simplify the tangled web imagined by Taymor and Berger. The importance of the pretentious Arachne (T.V. Carpio) is now limited to a theatrical opening web-weaving scene and a mystical moment with Peter Parker. After a plodding start, the plot settles on Parker (Reeve Carney), the Queens high school geek raised by Aunt May (Isabel Keating) and Uncle Ben (Ken Marks).  Parker gains super powers after being bitten by a spider, genetically altered by scientist Norman Osborn (Patrick Page), who then morphs into the evil Green Goblin. The next morning, Parker wakes up clinging to the bedroom ceiling. After a period of adjustment, he learns that with his vast new Spider-Man power comes responsibilities, threatening his teen romance with cute Mary Jane Watson (Jennifer Damiano). Zooming around the city to battle the forces of evil is hard on any relationship.

With its superficial action-driven plot, the show lacks emotion and the characters are one-dimensional. Reeve Carney’s Peter Parker is handsome and sings well, but he is bland, even for a nerd.  Jennifer Damiano, a persuasive singer and actress, makes her role somewhat more compelling and Michael Mulheren hits the mark as the editor of The Daily Bugle, where Parker has a part-time photography job. Patrick Page’s campy Green Goblin is fun to watch but, surprisingly, lacks a sustaining malevolence. In one comical scene, he is a lounge singer/pianist, cynically crooning Rodgers and Hart’s “Manhattan.”

The score is disappointing, with the added problem of unfortunate sound quality, muffling many of the lyrics. The stronger numbers include the Green Goblin’s catchy Act II opener, “A Freak Like Me Needs Company,” and Parker and Mary Jane’s duet, “If the World Should End.” Parker, with Arachne and the ensemble, performs “Rise Above,” a self-conscious anthem.

The long-awaited, awe-inspiring 15-minute flying sequence is credited to Daniel Ezralow’s aerial choreography, Scott Rogers’ aerial design and Jaque Paqis’s aerial rigging design.  The Green Goblin and Spider-Man (with substitute aerial acrobats as well as Carney), swoop across the theater, barely grazing audience heads, soaring high, perching on ledges and in the aisle. Their weapons are web shooters, firing fatal strands of paper that land on the audience.

Cartoon-bright, stylish and eye-catching are George Tsypin’s scenic design.  Ditto Julie Taymor’s masks and imaginative costumes by Eiko Ishioka that mix eras like the ’40s, the present with references to the Internet and Facebook, and some future sci-fi year.

Even with all the delays, the comic book plot and unmemorable songs, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark manages to turn on the ticket sales. Is it worth seeing? Sure, if you are bringing the kids. This is the latest action-packed monster musical with all the bells and whistles, bu,t after a few breathtaking flashes of flying cops and robbers, you may find yourself humming “Is That All There Is?”  Kids (of all ages) will gasp at the spectacle, but will they shiver with chills and thrills?  Not so much.

(Pictured: Patrick Page and Reeve Carney)

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
June 17, 2011
www.cabaretscenes.org