8:35 PM
Kelsey Long
Having a huge interest in musical theater, I couldn't help but miss all of negative attention Spider-Man the Musical has been getting lately. First of all, it is the most expensive musical in Broadway history with $65 million in production costs. It is supposed to go beyond the measures of an ordinary musical, adding in spectacle elements including an aerial battle that takes place over the audience. The idea sounds great. It sounds like it would add a new element to theater entirely, and has been the talk of Broadway, since production was announced. With huge expectations, it's opening preview on Broadway fell flat. Many audience members described the show as "visually stunning", but remarked that it seemed that the show was still in stages of dress rehearsal rather than performance mode. It seemed that the show was constantly getting mixed reviews that the show had potential, but needed to sort out many flaws in order to be successful...and then came the injuries. There were several setbacks for the show during it's previews: an actress suffering a concussion, two other actors hurt by a sling-shot technique meant to propel them across the stage, and then a final actor suffering broken ribs and internal bleeding after falling from a platform.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/more-trouble-for-the-spider-man-musical-74267
The show has finally decided to postpone it's opening date until February 7th in order to make creative changes to the show. My questions is, why didn't they stop and do this sooner?! I guess I have this idea of a Broadway having such a high standard. It should be polished. It should be almost flawless by the time they start doing previews and Spider-man seemed nowhere near that point! I understand that the show requires a lot of stunts and technical elements, but so does Cirque Du Solei and they don't seem to have many problems. I truly would like to see this show succeed, I just think they should have postponed it after the first injury. With all the money spent on it, it really would be a shame for it to be a failure, but in again with that amount of money spent on it, it should be spectacular!
