ONE YEAR after Spider-Man Turn Off the Darkbegan its run as the most expensive and ridiculed Broadway show in history, things are looking up for the musical, which was written by Bono and The Edge of U2.
The first preview on November 28th, 2010 had to be interrupted five times because of technical problems. At the end of the first act, Spider-Manwas left dangling over the audience while production assistants tried to reel him in.
And that was just the beginning. The $75 million show was scheduled to have opened officially on December 17th, 2010 but instead went through a record 183 previews. Several actors were injured, including one who fell 20 feet to a basement beneath the stage. The department of labour accused the show of violating workplace safety rules. The director, Julie Taymor – who is now suing the production – was fired last March.
After Ms Taymor was fired, the show was stopped for three weeks as producers transformed its content from dark and sinister to light family fare. Critics had broken the usual embargo to savage the previews. Spider-Manappeared jinxed. Bono and The Edge attended the June 14th premiere, along with the former president Bill Clinton, the actor Robert De Niro, actors Matt Damon and Steve Martin, director Spike Lee and the model Cindy Crawford.
Mr Clinton described the show as "fabulous", but critics panned it. New Yorkmagazine said it had "deteriorated from mind-blowingly misbegotten carnival-of-the-damned to merely embarrassing dud." The Hollywood Reporterdescribed the score by Bono and The Edge as "mediocre ... third rate ... shockingly inept."
During the six months of previews, tickets sold mostly on the ghoulish anticipation of disaster. But since last summer, the musical has thrived. Its producers told the New York Timesthey have clocked up $12 million in advance ticket sales, mainly from tour and school groups, expect to recoup the entire $75 million investment and eventually take the show abroad.
It appears to be a case of lowbrow Americans shunning high-brow critics. Surveys show that about half the audience are from outside New York and are attending their first Broadway musical. The producers are staging a radio campaign in 50 US states, flying listeners to New York so they can publicise the show back home. They have courted journalists from Brazil, Germany and Mexico to lure non-English speaking tourists.
Philip William McKinley, who replaced Taymor, wants to add new scenes and songs every year, similar to new editions of comic books being issued.