RIALTO CHATTER: Major SPIDER-MAN Reviews Coming Tomorrow!

Has there ever been such a concentrated effort to kill a hit show before?

I think the critics are being a bit childish and impatient. Give the show until the 15th of March to open. Now, if they change the opening date again I think the show, at that point, should be fair game for reviews. Part of me says that if it never opens, it should never be reviewed. People are going to see it if they want to. Granted, the reviews will sway some people but I feel those that do want to see it will and those that don't, won't and the reviews won't sway them. JMO

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"Has there ever been a show with such a lengthy preview period before?"

I'm not sure why A = B? The preview period has been too long, ergo, we will all coordinate our efforts to kill the show.

I hate corporatism and the RICO act, but seriously, Team Spidey should consider making a claim.

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Has there ever been a show with such a lengthy preview period before?

Yes, but they all ended up never opening.

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Does anyone think this really is going to make a difference? There has been so much bad press already for this show which hasn't done a damn thing, except maybe raise their grosses! The (bad) press seems to have died down lately, so these new reviews will do (positive) wonders for the box office!

It's a coordinated effort to impede a business. Some might say.

Julie Taymor should do "The Crucible" next.

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Updated On: 2/7/11 at 02:20 PM

Yep, that's the problem with RICO and it has been used that way in the past. If several major negative reviews are published on the same day, it could be argued that this is a coordinated effort.

I wish the people who would coordinate such a thing would step back and ask themselves why they would do that. But I would imagine they are being swept up in their own unhealthy Riedel glee.

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Spider Man has become the Sarah Palin of theatre.

In that it is talked about incessantly and every little thing it does makes the news?

Spider Man has become the Sarah Palin of theatre.

In that it was written about incessantly and now most people have lost interest.

It's interesting how certain posters assume nothing but conspiracy on the part of the reviewers, but seem to have no problem with the way the Spider-Man team has spent the last four months blatantly lying to the press every chance it gets, saying that the show's opening is postponed so they can make changes, and that any review will not reflect the show that plays opening night because of all the changes that are being made.

Both the composer and director have confirmed that nothing of the sort is happening. There are no musical changes being made, nothing is being cut, the storyline is not being altered, and word from audience members is that the show is more or less exactly the same one that played the first preview but with an actual ending now tacked on.

It is clear that the postponements have not been to "work out the show's problems", the only reason seems to have been to delay the reviews for as long as possible to rack up as much ticket revenue as they could before they got slammed, all the while smearing the critics who have written about the show saying that what they were writing did not reflect the "finished" show and thus were doing a disservice to their readers.

Rick Miramontez and the producers are the ones that have perpetrated a scam here, claiming they were changing the show when they knew full well they weren't in the hopes it would counteract the (deserved) bad press.

On the other hand, I do think that this shows that Miramontez would make an ideal White House Press Sectretary for a Republican presidential administration.


Oh - and I forgot to add, I also love the way that all of the accidents have been the fault of the actors. Reeve Carney didn't "lean the correct way" and so that's why the show had to be stopped the other night. Craig Tierney didn't doublecheck his rigging so it's his own fault he fell ten feet (or was it forty? The number the Press Department gave kept changing...) And then after Natalie Mendoza left, suddenly there were reports about how no one really like her anyway and the show was better with her replacement. Class acts, all around.

Updated On: 2/7/11 at 03:27 PM

Both the composer and director have confirmed that nothing of the sort is happening. There are no musical changes being made, nothing is being cut, the storyline is not being altered, and word from audience members is that the show is more or less exactly the same one that played the first preview but with an actual ending now tacked on.

I was thinking the same thing, if previews are for adjusting the show before opening but they've said there will be no changes, I don't see the logic of staying in previews beyond not being 'officially' reviewed.

The critics don't have any interest one way or another as to whether a show succeeds. They are in the business of getting eyeballs to read the paper they work for, for providing a service to their readers, and for creating a name for themselves.

The idea that there is collusion between them over the life and/or death of this show is preposterous.