With a price tag of $70 million and counting, by far the most expensive musical ever, Spider-Man: Dead And Loving It Turn Off The Dark is on hiatus for an overhaul until May 12. But you wouldn't know it from the press the show has been pushing out the past few days. First came the announcement that injured actor/stuntman Christopher Tierney would be returning when the show reopens and now two of the shows producers have turned to the AP to flagellate themselves in public.
"I lived in denial the first couple of weeks of December," said producer Michael Cohl. "I kind of knew I was living in denial but I didn't know how deep. And then around Christmas I started to go, 'Wow. It's not working.'" Incidentally, "around Christmas" was when Tierney fell 30-feet and suffered a fractured skull, a fractured shoulder blade, four broken ribs and three broken vertebrae. It was also when the media, Gothamist included, started to get really interested in the production's problems.
Though the accidents and media attention brought with it big ticket sales, the producers could tell it wasn't for the right reasons. According to the AP "numbers indicated the show might be successful for only between nine to 12 months," and so they had to do something. "It was only a matter of letting it play or fixing it," Cohl explained. "Fixing it isn't mad, is it? There's madness to walk away, don't you think?"
The Taymor version was "muddled. It was difficult to follow," said Cohl, who also repeated a common complaint from the audience that few cared about the leads. "It lacked emotion. It lacked spirit and sincerity."
So they went about firing the show's choreographer and sort-of firing its famous director Julie Taymor (interestingly she is still billed as the director and "remains a part of the production."). "It was really difficult. It was horrible," producer Jeremiah Harris said. "It's about people—it's emotions and lives."
As for the changes coming to the show, the rumors all appear to be true. The book, which producers swear worked well in rehearsals, is being heavily revised. Gone are the Greek Chorus, diminished are the Taymor-creation/villain Arachne and the onstage band, and in is one or two new songs by Bono and the Edge and a stronger role for the Green Goblin. Will the new creative team of Philip William McKinley and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa be enough to save the troubled show? Or will the tenth anniversary edition of Not Since Carrie be subtitled "Until Spider-Man Swung Into Town?" Only the Shadow knows.
