Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark review

Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark Review - Broadway musical

The basis of the histrionics is the comics of Spider-Man, created by Stan Lee & Steve Ditko & the film of 2002. According to the authors, this show cannot be attributed to the usual spectacle. It contains elements of circus, rock'n'roll motifs, fragments of opera & musical theater. This unusual production required very lengthy preparation & large capital investments, as the technical side of the theatrical was unprecedentedly complex. The show used tricks in the form of flights of the main character & his opponent. During previews some of the actors were even injured, which affected the preparation for the premiere of the show.

To create this unusual setting, it was spent about USD 75 million. The sets & costumes took nearly USD 10 million in the mentioned amount. Special equipment for flights took USD 2.2 million. Weekly production costs during the show amounted to USD 1.3 million. The average cash boxes were only slightly higher than this amount. A good return was possible only once. In early January 2012, it gathered for a week USD 2,941,794, showing the best result in the history of Broadway. After closure of the show, investors’ losses estimated to almost USD 60 million. Producers expected to transfer the musical in Las Vegas, but these plans were not realized. Later, the organizers said that the show could be resumed at the end of 2015 or early 2016. They also considered the possibility of establishing a national touring production. But till that time, none of that had happen.

The first reaction to the news of the creation of a musical about Spider-Man was extremely negative. After the premiere, negative reviews became less – opinions were divided in halves. Many critics have written positive reviews about the histrionics. The audience reacted favorably to the play, but organizers expected more interest to their brainchild. Even the re-working of production has not brought the major improvements to the spectacular. But the opportunity to watch live for the beloved hero’s flights was adopted by Spider-Man’s fans with great enthusiasm! Extremely complicated costumes & set design were appreciated not only by the audience – the designers Eiko Ishioka & George Tsypin have received awards for their work. The show entered in Broadway’s history, as the production, which has shown the best result for the weekly collections in the box office & at the same time, ended as unprofitable.
Last Update:July, 13th 2016