Spider-Man rep speaks out on the "early" reviews

Is he serious?

Critics respond: "Nana nana boo boo!"

"...what's to stop them from reviewing previews of other shows?"

Nothing, I suppose. Does it really matter, though?

Point taken, Erik.

Newintown, no, I suppose it doesn't really matter. I still find the whole thing a little unseemly (I know, I know. "Wait till you see the show!")

I think despite any efforts to demolish Spider-Man with bad press and bad reviews I still think it will be a commercial success. I mean Addams Family had equally bad reviews and still sells at capacity every week. I do, however, applaud the critics for having enough with the delays and just flat out reviewing it to give a message that the frequent delays just hurts your shows. I got tickets to the show and while it may seem that dramatically it doesn't hold up I still like to have a different theatre experience.

ErikJ972: Your comment about "no changes" is wrong. You are falsely believing those who have written that no work is being done on the book and the score of SMTOTD.

Several people who have seen the show multiple times have commented, here and elsewhere, that tremendous work has been done since the first preview and continues to be done. Why do you - and others - wish to perpetrate that lie?

You can hate the show. Your opinion - any opinion - is valid, but maintaining a malicious rumor - which can easily be proven to not being true - is just wrong.

You have written, on several occasions that words I've used make it hard to take me seriously. I don't lie and I don't spread false rumors. In all consciousness I can no longer take you seriously.

Updated On: 2/8/11 at 01:54 PM

Several people who have seen the show multiple times have commented, here and elsewhere, that tremendous work has been done since the first preview and continues to be done.

The only positive work that could be done on this show's book and score would have been to overhaul it entirely. And that has not been done. The creative team has even said so themselves. They seem to be completely satisfied with the product that they have created. Or have given up on it entirely and are choosing instead to just stop beating a dead horse. "People are going to come see it anyway" seems to be their mentality more than "Give the people what they want."

The reviews were kind. This show gets it wrong in so many ways, it's ridiculous. And it's about time the public knows the whole truth. Will it be hypocritical to avoid reviewing future shows in their preview period? Yeah. Did the critics have it out for this show maybe just a little bit? Possibly. But I don't blame them. Blatant carelessness on behalf of the entire creative and production team absolutely warrants this harsh criticism, sorry to say.

EDIT: And technical difficulties have no effect on the quality of the show. Having to stop the show for a few minutes to hoist an actor back onto the stage from being midair does not affect the book or the score. So I'm tired of hearing "But it's not finished! We're still working out technical kinks!" The problems lie, as every single critic has said, in the incomprehensible and humorless book and the dull as drying paint score, not the technical aspects.

Updated On: 2/8/11 at 02:02 PM

But the book and score need so much more work than just a cut song, a few verses changed, a scene added, and lines tweaked. The book and score, as I saw them on December 19th, were unsalvageable. With another show this unbelievably bad, new writers should have been brought in. Another director could have given input. SOMETHING! But that. Hasn't. Happened.

Because it's Taymor, Bono, and the Edge at the helm, no fresh eyes laid a finger on the work. And that's precisely what it needed. These are the people who wrote this dreck in the first place. Of course they couldn't see how bad it was.

I seem to remember in one of these threads that someon was at the first preview and went again very recently and the song list was exactly the same. Did they cut the song but not take it out of the Playbill listing?

I really need to see this show.

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Oh boo-hoo Spider Man rep. I hear no one complaining about the Million plus dollars a week they've been raking in.

This show reminds me of Lestat. Elton John had no desire to change any of the score. Sounds like Bono is of the same ilk. If this is the attitude these "composers" take with regards to their Broadway shows, they have no business being on Broadway.

I'm looking forward to Isherwood's review of Good People tomorrow.

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"After seeing it, and hearing that no changes are being made to the incomprehensible book..."

You wrote "no" and not "no major"... However, you also wrote, "hearing". So, perhaps you are not lying, but you are continuing a falsehood: changes are being made. "Major" is a matter of opinion.