Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

Well… this show closed because of how bad it was… need I say more? Oh I will.
The acting was horrible and there was too much back story in the first act. The Green Goblin was too campy and sounded like a Texan losing their southern accent. The Sinister Six had characters that were not part of the group in the comics. The climatic battle over the audience between Spider-​Man and Green Goblin looked like air humping. I guess Spidey was too tired from the poor acting to get his legs up around Goblins waist. After three attempts, he just hung there.
They also tried to make the costumes and sets look like they were ripped from the comic book with way too much black overt shadows on the clothes and back drops.
Anyone who is a fan of the comic, could have written a better musical plot and script. And sadly, the best number wasn’t U2’s Rise Up Above… Actually, none of the numbers were good.

Bought tickets through TKTS in the morning. At over $ 112 a ticket, not the best value for the product. These seats are supposed to go for $ 160.
Good: The flying, the stage design. The theatre itself is pretty grand. The only plus, my 6yr old enjoyed the show — why I am giving it 3 stars. Otherwise, would have given it one star.
Bad: The acting and singing were bad. Not sure it was due to poor actors/​singers or the poor songs by Bono. Perhaps I was expecting too much from Bono.
I didn’t like the fact that they allowed someone to interrupt the show by seating them at 8:15pm when the show’s scheduled start time was 8:00pm and it started at 8:10pm. Whatever happened to Broadway etiquette? You showed up late, you watch from the back until intermission. Certainly did not expect that for a Broadway show. Lastly, they offered a booster cushion (which was nice for my 6 yr old), but at the end of the show, they asked us to fight the swarm of show goers (who happened to just loitered in the lobby instead of being orderly dispersed out of the theatre) to get to one single location to return these cushions.
Overall, the show was subpar for a Broadway production. Not worth the ticket prices. Now fully understand why it is shutting down. Wish I has bought tickets for ¹⁄₃ the price to go see Peter and The Star Catcher instead.

Spider-​Man Turn ON the Dark, put me in bed, tuck me in tight and leave me alone. What an absolute disaster. My sister and I decided to surprise our nephews with a trip to the show. They had no clue what was going on until we actually got into the theater. Once inside they were overcome with joy and anticipation, and honestly so were we. I couldn’t wait to see the action packed show, watch these crazy cats swing around and enjoy some cheeZy showtunes in between. YES GAWD!
So we waited… and waited… for the action to start. What? This is it??? The action scenes seriously were in slow motion and so lackluster that the kiddies fell asleep before intermission. I even caught my sister nodding off a few times. I’m not sure if because they had some technical glitches in the beginning that they watered down the acrobatics but we all craved some more. The yawn fest love story plot had me itching in my seat. I was so anxious to get the hell out of there.
I’m all about raising funds for good but at the end of the performance the actors took about 15 minutes to talk about donating some funds to charity (cool) and shamelessly plugging some overpriced Spiderman paraphanelia (not cool). Damn those people. Didn’t they see that I had to drag 2 sleepy children and adult sister out of Foxwoods? Time waits for no man.
The 2 redeeming factors were:
1.Spiderman really was swinging close to us and the kids appreciated that (when they were awake) It made for a semi interactive show
2. The show will not go on. This joint is closing in January
I was expecting some POW! BOOM! WHAM! and all we got was a whole lotta SPLAT! WOMP! POO!

If you like action this broadway is definitely the right choice. I purchased the groupon deal and its one of the better seats where you get in on the action. I also got to say hi to spiderman during the play too. It was about 2 and a half hour show and it was pretty much like the movie verison but only on broadway. I must say they could have taken out maybe 2 of the scene and throw in more action scene. I was surprised by how well they performed in the air. It wow’d me every time spiderman was in the air. I was afraid the strings would tangle.

For some reason, I was fascinated by reading about this production when it was first coming out. Combining Spider-​Man, U2 and Cirque du Soliel seems like entertainment gold, but so much went wrong! Injuries! Rewrites! Bad reviews! Millions of dollars! Holy cow!
That was probably a few years ago, but it stayed fresh in my mind! So when we visited NY and decided to spend a night on Broadway, I couldn’t help but satisfy my curiosity (plus the tickets were heavily discounted). Was it really as bad as it sounded?
Turns out… nah, not really. Probably thanks to the rewrites, but overall it’s not bad. The first two acts are slow, and pretty much the same storyline as the first Spider-​Man movie. After that, and a remake, do I really need to see the Spider-​Man origin story again? No, but there I was, so oh well.
The third act was fun and exciting though, with a solid finale. In the end, it was good enough, and I can now say I’ve seen a Broadway play.
The strangest thing about the whole experience was the audience. It seemed to be a mix of foreign businessmen and 6-​year-​olds. Guess that’s what happens when Spider-​Man is on Broadway. Is it Disney on Ice? Is it Phantom of the Opera? Nobody really knows, so everybody goes. The kids in front of us seemed bored and kept fidgeting most of the time, and booed when a song started up or there was kissing. They actually left before the big finale, which was fine by me. But if you have kids, the show’s a lot slower than you might think, so they better be on their best behavior.
The entire experience can be summed up with this fact: Their specialty drink at the bar is a blue and red concoction that comes in a large Spider-​Man sippy cup. Yes, the lid slides open, and you drink from a little dribble hole. It also tastes pretty bad. This production is something that should be meant for kids, but is designed to be something for adults, and it doesn’t really work out all that well.
But the tickets are cheap, so hit it up!

Bruddha Bob and La Bella had been waiting to see this. Husbear and I were pretty open to whatever they wanted. In line at TKTS, we had a list of five shows and the incredibly cute boys were suggesting Big Fish instead. But, Bruddha really seemed interested in this.
These were half off seats at the list minute (and I mean at 5 pm for an 8 pm show). We’d been hearing how the tickets weren’t selling so well. Well, it was pretty crowded but not packed. Lots of acrobatics and flying of characters overhead. I hoped for a Spideyboy to drop in my lap. I would have kept him: he was yummy.
The music was better than I would have expected, but the real stand outs were Mary Jane and the Green Goblin. An Arch Nemesis who’s one step from Liberace is well worth the money. The plot holds together, the visual effects and staging are surprisingly good but I can see where theater purists do not care for this: it’s an ambitious show that’s half Cirque du Soleil and half musical. It is also obvious that a number of the parts are recorded and played during the show as they cannot possibly be performing them while swinging wildly about.
Still, it’s a huge show, ambitious and entertaining and just so very campy.

As a musical theatre student, I’ve seen a lot of shows in my life, and one of my main reasons for coming to New York was to see a couple of Broadway shows. One night last week I tried to see Kinky Boots, but unfortunately it was sold out and just as I was heading home, I walked past the Foxwoods Theatre and decided to pop in and see if Spider-​Man had any seats left.
I never intended on seeing this show. It’s been running for 3 years and is the most expensive show in broadway history. It’s had many issues, including a couple of the stuntmen really badly injuring themselves, one case was so bad the stuntman could’ve died.
So I went in with pretty low expectations. The show wasn’t appalling, the second act was certainly much better than the first, but it certainly wasn’t anything special. Reeve Carney, who’s playing the lead at the moment, is so wrong for the part of Peter Parker. He has a really rocky tone to his voice and it’s really not pleasant to listen to at all. The female lead was alright, but nothing special.
The main thing I disliked about the show was the soundtrack. It’s so bad, and doesn’t sound like a broadway show — more like a terrible U2 album, as it was them that wrote the show. The acrobatics in the show though are what make the show half decent. It’s absolutely amazing watching the stuntmen fly about the stage and come out and fly over the audience’s heads. The set is also pretty cool, with a lot of it designed as if it’s part of a comic book, paying homage to the origins of Spiderman.
It’s not a show that I would suggest or recommend to people, but if it’s your last option then it’s an alright option.

Spider-​Man just celebrated its 1000^th show on Broadway. For years I would walk by the theatre on 42^nd Street and nearly every conversation I would overhear around the area spoke to its inflated budget and how the show would have to play for as long as Phantom of the Opera to recoup its investment.
This built a bad rep for the play on Unilocal and other sites is unwarranted. The initial version I heard was terrible, but this story has been refined and turned up for family entertainment. I’ve seen some great plays on Broadway like Book of Mormon and Once and although this can’t hold a candle to those titans, it hits the target audience with a bullseye.
There are parts of this play that are top-​notch and others that are among the worst. I’ll break it down;
Good:
–Scenery
–Special effects
–Aerial stunts
–Costumes
–Action Scenes
Bad to terrible:
–The music sounds like a bunch of leftover U2 songs that didn’t make their albums.
–The actors, Peter Parker wasn’t great
–The singing voices… on par with a local theater group
–Too many U2 songs, it made the play feel pretentious. I caught New Years Day, Beautiful Day and Vertigo. The songs are ok on their own, but can you imagine a dance club that plays Vertigo? Me either.
–Drags at points, mainly the beginning.
Overall we have great action and unbelievable set pieces and special effects brought down by the worst Broadway soundtrack I have ever heard with subpar singing voices on the leads.
To recommend this to others, it kind of boils down to what you are looking for. If you have kids, just take them and they will love it. If you are one of those people that are fascinated by special effects you have to see this. Finally, if you care about the backbone of a play, meaning the characters, story and music then you can do better at much any play in the theatre district.

Yay! My first Broadway show in NYC was quite the experience.
I’ve heard of my mom rave about this show when she visited, and my dad and I finally got the chance to watch it! It was great for the most part… but then they had 2 technical difficulties that ended up being a full hour and 15 minutes over. You must recall that Broadway shows are 3 hours with intermission IN ITSELF, so this made the show like 4 hours long. What a drag.
It is understandable of all the tech difficulties though! I mean it is very difficult doing the stunts but I would think that after all that practice, the tech difficulties wouldn’t be that long??? Idk. I docked one star because it was just insanely long, AND we had to sit through that intermission… like what!?!
But this was my first Broadway experience, and we scored on the seats — ROW D!!! It was really cool to see the actors and actresses in action.

Damn it… the other reviews are right.
I’ll admit it, I’m a Spider-​Man «fan boy», big Todd McFarlance fan growing up, also an artist myself. It would take a lot for me not to have liked this… but they managed to do just that :/​
Overall… like Peter Parker, it caught between two identities; Do we want to target children? Do we want to target adults? It starts off sort of ‘adult campy’ then gets really cartoonish at times.
CASTING
The lead male isn’t likeable I don’t think… and, not to sound like a jerk, but he has a speech-​impediment, it sounds like. Mary Jane is awful, very plain, very «small town talent show» singing voice. The guy playing the Green Goblin is actually good but they go waaaaaaaaaaaaay over the top with his character, more like Robin Williams than any Green Goblin I’ve ever read. The highlight of the characters is the «Spider Goddess» (I know; «huh»?) but she’s a great singer.
SETS
Highlight of the play for sure. They manage to do a 2D style of comic book paneling which work really nicely. The final showdown is great.
PACING
ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz­zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz… my God it is boring. The pace is terrible, like a car in first gear trying to shift into second going up a hill… then stalling out over and over again. It’s one of those plays where you’re like, «Okay, good… here we go — FINALLY.» Then — back to boring.
MUSIC/​SONGS
The music actually matches the mood but the songs go on way too long and they have regular choruses that repeat over and over again. It just drags for the sake of singing when the play already feels long.
STORY
Like I was saying, as a fan of the comic, there are some HUGE liberties with the origin of Spider-​Man, like he’s somehow inspired by a Spider Goddess? What? Then, the Sinister Six were created by Green Goblin? Um, no. Kraven? No. Carnage? No. I was excited to see them in the program then when I saw how they were created, it was a ‘face palm’ moment.
BROADWAY?
This does NOT feel like a «Broadway» play on any level. It’d be kinda cool if it was off-​Broadway but after seeing it, I felt a little embarrassed to tell anyone I saw it. However, if you’re a kid, this would be good if the kids are around 10 – 14 but it’s very PG-​13 in spots. There were a lot of tourists here and especially a lot of kids.

I came to this show knowing that it didn’t have the best reviews, however, it really exceeded my expectations. Prepare to be wildly entertained, with amazing stunts, a predictable storyline, and an incredible set. While parts of the show were quite cheesy, you have to admit the music is infectiously catchy– you’ll leave the theater with songs stuck in your head. Great for anyone of all ages!
Tip: Was easily able to pick up $ 39 rush tickets at 10 am on a Thursday, good seats in the Flying Circle. There were a fair amount of people in line, but plenty of tickets available.

What! Why is the rating so low?! Maybe because I had very, very low expectations for this musical, I ended up being extremely pleased/​amused.
Okay, I admit with the other Unilocalers that the music is forgettable. I can’t remember any of the songs, much less the titles of the songs. I didn’t think the acting was horrible or bad. From pictures I’ve seen, I was afraid I would get bored with the set. The set was very plain and simplistic, but I think it worked well with the musical. The design was very big, exaggerated, and comic book-​y. They made a minimal set really entertaining. The flying was super cool. During the fight scene, Spiderman pops up randomly in the audience, which I found really entertaining. Major props to ALL the Spidermen (you’ll see at the end… there are, like, 6 – 8 guys who play him) and the amazing physical feats they have to do.
The whole cast does Stage Door and all of them are really nice and take the time out to talk to you.
I would definitely see this again.

I really appreciated how the stage setting as well as the performer’s costumes reflected a comic book feel as well as the athletic spidermen flipped and zipped through the theater. However, that is all I can say about the show. The music seem to drown out the actors voices making it sound very amateur, the only strong vocals belonged to the female, male lead, and of course the 20 ft. spider lady hanging from the celling.
If it wasn’t for the ending fighting scene that left the audience hungry for more, the rating could have easily been swayed to a 2 star.

It’s a 2.5 — but barely so. We’ve all probably heard our share of horror stories about this show, but I had to go see for myself just what all the hype (and hate) was all about.
My biggest issue is — the show reminded me of a Broadway version of Mickey D’s. It’s all about the packaging and while it was at times slightly enjoyable, you leave the place feeling empty. The main problem for me was that the musical score was by far the worst I’ve heard in a long time. I’m not necessarily saying all Broadway shows need to have melodramatic scores like a Lloyd Weber show or Les Miz, it needs to have a musical «soul». You know there is a problem when a show like the Toxic Avenger had more spark and quirk in its (ridiculous) songs than this overbloated production.
There was a very workman-​like quality to this entire experience. Dutifully we all needed to be subject to the Spidey origin story and the burgeoning love between Peter Parker and Mary Jane. It felt tedious because maybe we’ve seen this over and over again in the recent films and of course the comic books. It was a slog right off the bat, and what made things worse was the lack of any memorable music. There are not real «anthems» to speak of, and even the wannabe epic song «Rise Above» (elements of it were sprinkled throughout the show) lacked to resonate with me.
Maybe it was because the problem is — the songs are all WAY too jarring. Everything felt like it was IN YOUR FACE, and the songs seemed to act more like background music for the action scenes rather than actual genuine moments. It’s hard to gauge the chemistry of the actors when everything felt so LOUD. For that, you really have to treat this show less like a Broadway show, and more like a generic loud popcorn film. When was the last time you remembered the score to a mindless movie like «Battleship» or «Transformers»? Yep, it’s that kind of music.
That’s the sad truth of the «musical» and unfortunately it literally saps all of the soul away from what is a relatively competent production. The stage is grand, the actors are enthusiastic, and the backdrops are mostly eye-​catching. There are a lot of well-​staged scenes and lots of cool comic book motifs all over. I also liked the cool costumes of the various bad guys. Clearly a lot of the money went into the set design — and of course the aerial acrobatics. The best scene in the show was clearly the climactic battle between Spidey and the Green Goblin — with lots of free swinging action taking place right above the audience. Unfortunately, you won’t see any high flying acts until 45 minutes in the show, and nothing in the show comes close to the cool action at the end of program.
Nonetheless — kids will eat this up. It’s loud, it’s got lots of colors, action and people are flying all over the place. But this is not masterpiece theater. Despite solid performances from Spidey, MJ and the Goblin, the show just lacks any kind of real soul or emotional harmony. It’s a product of the corporate age, where entertainment is full of sugary goodness and any kind of nuance is thrown out the window. Scenes are dutifully executed to take you to the next «action packed» moment. There are no surprises, just plenty of captain obvious moments patched together like an uncoordinated, gaudy quilt. If you have kids, you’ll make them happy. Just be prepared to suffer through some of the worst music you’ll ever hear on the Broadway stage.
Bono and the Edge … please don’t attempt to score another musical. Just don’t.

I. LOVED. THIS. SHOW! The theater is pretty nice looking, and the seating area is comfortable enough. With student discount tickets at 40 $, seating was a steal!
The props were beautiful and everything was comic-​book themed… Gorgeous colours, lighting and pyrotechnics. The acting was pretty decent, and the high-​flying stuff was incredible!
The only bad part was that we were seated on the second level, and there is a small platform that the actors land on occasionally which is pretty freaking-​awesome especially if you have to sit on the second level — but for those in the first couple rows in the area near the platform it blocks a decent portion of the stage (about 30%). Lean forward, and it’s okay — but it’s rather uncomfortable.
I should disclose that this was my first Broadway play EVER, so I do not really have much to compare it with. And don’t let my hyper-​criticism mislead you; I had an INCREDIBLE time! It was so much fun, I was smiling throughout nearly the entire play like an idiot but I didn’t care!
If you can, put this on your list of Broadway plays to see. It really was one of the best nights of my life! It’s fun for family or date night alike.

Uh, I liked it. I really thought it was unique and fun. The origin story is one that everyone pretty much knows — thus making it more «boring» innately. Fine, the story is not the most exciting, but the stunts are pretty incredible. I love all the flying and acrobatics done by the multiple Spidermans.
Things that were NOT as good:
The wrestling scene is super ghetto. The Green Goblin is actually really freaking scary. Some songs are bad.
Ultimately, I found this to be a good departure from normal Broadway shows with its stunts and flying. That being said, I live in New York and watch a lot of Broadway shows (which I find «the same» after a while)… if I was a tourist, I probably wouldn’t make this the one show to see.

I got these tickets for my dad’s birthday for the 2 for 1 special. I tried to get it for Jersey Boys and Wicked, but wasn’t able to. Bummer because I keep seeing specials from Groupon or the like for Spider-​man now!
I was worried about the show because of the bad reviews, but I thought it was a lot of fun. I laughed so much! Was it corny? Hell yeah. I can’t imagine trying to make it into a serious show though. I liked the comic book aspect to it. I sat in the Flying Zone, which are definitely the best seats in the house. Spider-​man flew up to our level multiple times and made a kids life at the end of the show when he touched his hand. My favorite scenes were the Arachne ones. I loved her and thought her songs were the best. Many of the other songs went beyond corny to what the hell were they thinking?! Definitely would not purchase the soundtrack.
I would never pay full price to see this show, but would recommend taking advantage of all the specials going on. It was definitely entertaining, even if you are just laughing at the nonsense of it all.

Probably the worst musical I’ve ever seen in NYC.
If you want to see grown men in cartoon suits hopping around stage, then go and watch this. Otherwise, it’ll be a waste of money and 2.5 hours of your life.

Watching a Broadway show has been on my to-​do list forever! I am glad I can strike it off my list finally.
My expectations were pretty low considering the not-​so-​great reviews of this show. I must say the show exceeded far beyond my expectations. It was really entertaining, I had fun watching the show. The set design, all of the action shots with spidey and the goblin flying about in the air were good.
The show did feel a bit long, the first half before the intermission seemed a little slow. Peter Parker seemed a little whiny, but he’s like that even in the movie. After the Green Goblin and his company of freaks came along, things moved at a faster pace. Really liked some of the songs — Rise above, A Freak like me needs company, Turn off the dark.
I would recommend getting seats in the flying circle or the upper flying circle, you get a better view of the action in the air plus Spider-​man lands a couple of times in these two spots. If you are sitting in the orchestra section close to the stage, you will have to crane your neck a lot.

Do you remember when O.J. was riding in that white Ford Bronco and all you could do was watch it live on TV thinking maybe something shocking would happen? It never did… just a prolonged trial with a desultory conclusion. Watching this much-​hyped «rock» musical at the Foxwoods Theatre gave me the same feeling… on May 31^st, I kept watching it only to realize it was a prolonged trial and an expensive one since it has a $ 65 million price tag. Luckily, Jamie W. and I only paid half-​price at TKTS that afternoon and scored orchestra seats.
It turns out the joke was on us. The show just didn’t amount to much by the end of the evening. In previews since last November and apparently in a retooled version after a month-​long hiatus, I have no idea whether it improved or not. It’s just one of those Broadway shows that feels like too many people weighed in without figuring out what exactly they were trying to do. Amid the hype is a mastodon of a show with too many elephant droppings. Even the youthful staff outside the TKTS kiosk forewarned us not to waste our money.
Where do I start? How about the unmemorable music written by Bono and the Edge. You certainly can hear a lot of the «Joshua Tree» in the score, but most of the songs are either bombastic or treacly. For the life of me, I can’t remember a single verse except for the anthemic «Rise Above». It made me appreciate Elton John’s talent a whole lot more since he has much more of a Tin Pan Alley instinct in him. The U2 frontmen don’t appear to have a clue how to write for a Broadway show. I kept longing for Cole Porter or even Sondheim on an off night.
The book by Julie Taymor and Glen Berger packs way too much of the Spider-​man story into the musical since the plot feels cursory and rushed with little time to engage with any of the characters, including nerdy, well-​meaning Peter Parker a.k.a. Spider-​man, and his beloved Mary Jane Watson. Reeve Carney and Jennifer Damiano do the best they can with the roles, but there is an air of «High School Musical» in their work. Damiano, who impressed in «Spring Awakening» and «Next to Normal», does sing beautifully though.
The only one who makes a solid impression overall is Patrick Page as the Green Goblin, a hammy turn that was quite enjoyable except he seemed like he was performing in a different musical altogether, a satirical comedy that could have brought an interesting direction to the story. For better or worse, this is still Taymor’s production (she quit as director before the hiatus). «The Lion King» touches are all here — the use of oversized puppets and perspective-​challenged sets as well as flying, «Cirque de Soleil”-style acrobatics and animated effects that appear to take their cues from not only the comic books but manga as well.
The net effect is sometimes enthralling (e.g., the various Spider-​men — including Reeve — perform derring-​do somersaults above the audience’s heads and even land in the balcony) but more often cheesy (e.g., the cardboard-​looking sets, the use of a cartoonish lizard puppet as one of the Sinister Six reminded me more of Barney than anything truly menacing). If you need to see it, see it. It’s not the all-​out train wreck that the NY Times would have you believe. It’s just that with all the high-​caliber talent involved, I was disappointed that all I could muster at the end was a shrug. I would have shared my thoughts with the guy next to me, but he fell asleep in the middle of Act I.