RIEDEL: Spider-Man "The Biggest Fiasco in Broadway History" SHOW is OFF. — Page 2

RE: Riedel's viciousness. Not to play the devil's advocate, but I think he is decrying the prominence of the physical aspects of a show when they are given more importance than the artistic merits of the piece itself. I, too, can understand where's he's coming from. Example from the far distant past: when it came out, one of the big selling points of Miss Saigon was the fact that it had a helicoptor on stage and, in fact, they charged more for seats that afforded the best vantage point to see the helicoptor. My thought, even before it opened, was, hey -- I can see a helicoptor any time I want by going to the local airport -- and it was a small airport, at that. It doesn't mean that special effects cannot enhance an already-worthy show but the bones and marrow of it should be the show itself. Chicago had a lavish production when done in 1975, but no one missed the sets when the pared down revival opened in 1996. And Riedel has been supportive of offbeat shows -- Fela! being an example that comes to mind.

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Well, Thats why the suspicion is War Horse wont start on broadway until 2010-2011 because they are waiting for South Pacific to run its course.

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Wasn't The Coast of Utopia a transfer?

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Wow, if this is definitely true, what a terrible thing. It is a shame that such a large-scale production that many looked forward to might not end up playing on Broadway.

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How could a show cost $45 million dollars? That is incredibly hard to believe. If a show is that much money it must be amazing. If a show like In The Heights costs $10 and that has a good size cast, big set, lights, and other stuff then this must be huge.

That's the part that I think sucks about the canceling of this show. Now we'll never know what a $45 million show directed by Julie Taymor would have looked like and I honestly think it's a pity.
And it's SPIDERMAN. Did anyone go see the SPIDERMAN films for the story? Maybe. But most of the people were there for the special effects. I was thinking about this show like a CIRQUE DU SOLEI experience rather than a musical, and it could have been good. I wonder what will happen with the Hilton.

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Riedel may be onto something with his suggestion that the show would be more appropriate for Las Vegas. Wonder if we will see it set up there in a few years. (Vegas is NOT a theatre town. They like spectacle shows with little or no substance.)

Funny the producers are just now realizing that the show would likely never be profitable. Show's costing upwards of $10 million don't have much of a chance of recouping in this economy. BWW peopel figured that out right after teh show was announced!

This age of "My show cost the most to produce" has got to end.

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Wouldn't Leo Bloom be able to explain better than Maxie B?

Wicked also had a huge advance. I imagine In the Heights had little to none. Most of its success at the box office came after the reviews and Tony wins. I'm wondering what Spiderman's advance is. I can't imagine it's huge.

Sad for those involved. My question is, did they officially start selling tickets yet? I thought I read that somewhere.

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IIRC The 1994 Production of Carousel was a transfer from the National Theatre which was co-produced by Lincoln Centre so if War Horse does transfer to Broadway then I think it may end up at the Vivian Beaumount and be a co-production.

The problem is, Vegas is a Cirque city not a Taymor town. To swing it in Vegas, the producers would have to ditch the puppeteer and bring in our friends from Montreal with their investor money from Dubai. But gambling was down 15% in Vegas in June, so they might even be wary of such a pricey show.

If the whole things is dead in the water, Bono and Edge have their very own Lifehouse, since Larry and Adam want nothing to do with the material as U2.

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