What was the thing with asking Spiderman if he was Jewish? I feel like I heard the punchline but missed the setup.
Updated On: 5/13/11 at 12:55 AM
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/28/09
If they were able to make it better, then good for them.
It does sort of amaze me, though, that it took, what, nine years to create the first version, and this new, better version took three weeks? Think of what this bunch could've done in nine years...
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/06
AfterEight-
I find it interesting that you think it should have gone in a similar tone to Superman!, considering one of the main reasons I've ever heard cited for it's failure was that it was self-mocking and the general public didn't want their American hero to be mocked like that.
Are the set, lighting, and costume designs pretty much the same, or has anything new been added?
Is Jenn Damiano's role beefed up at all? I am just curious.
I see that the "If The World Should End" song gets moved up more.
Oh, and is Arachne still in the finale or no since that all changed? I actually am probably one of the few who liked Love Me or Kill Me for the brief seconds when all three are singing and Jenn reprises "World Should End" in the background.
I still will probably give it a second go.
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/09
Huskcharmer,
It's hard to know why It's Superman flopped. I thought it was a fun show. A lot of the humor is wry, and perhaps that didn't sell well with the general pulic. But as far as camp is concerned, the old Batman tv series about that time was as campy as it gets, and it was a hit, and there were several camp comic villains in the tv shows of the era that the public embraced.
Now, 50 years later, winkng self-referentiality and intentional camp are a common part of the pop culture landscape, and the Green Goblin, in his telephone and piano scenes here is the perfect camp comic villain. Those two scenes worked well. They should have stuck with him in that capacity, and eliminated entirely his history as a scienist which is too serious and without interest. And if Spiderman could have an insult song with him like "Cherry Pies Ought to Be You," it would stop the show (as if Bono and the Edge could write such a song). Spiderman himself needn't be such an earnest drip. Put in a little fun, a little frolic.... The show would soar.
Swing Joined: 5/13/11
Out of curiosity, how did they flesh out the part of Emily Osborn (and the relationship between her and Norman)? I was glad to hear she got a little more material after seeing the first version, as my issue with her death was similar to the issue I had with Uncle Ben dying, in that we weren't given the time or material to feel the significance of their deaths in anything other than a very surface sort of capacity.
Swing Joined: 5/13/11
Jordan Catalano who cares about what you think about this show : you have been a blind and irrational hater of this show for months now even calling Taymor a bitch. I think that really says what kind of person you are and how valuable your opinion can be... The fact that you have attending the first new performance of the show and make a new thread just to of course bash it is really sad and again very telling.
Updated On: 5/13/11 at 04:28 AM
"i" want to know what Jordan thought. Really. He WENT to the show, he's entitled to give his opinion. One I respect. Will I agree with him? Don't know. I doubt I'd be open minded enough to even give this production more money.
Considering nearly everyone ON this thread agreed with what he said, that would validate his opinion. But instead of being rational, you'd rather decide he's just holding a grudge of sorts. You seem to have decided to think it's great without seeing it -- a bit calling the kettle black, eh?
Swing Joined: 5/13/11
Of course he holds a grudge about this show : you just have to read all the hateful comments he made about this project and its creative team in the past months. And now after having criticized it to death he just couldn't wait to see it again and create a new thread ? For what reason in your opinion? Just to bash it blindly of course.
That is sad really but what on the other hand is funny is that if a show like that can create such reactions even if there are hateful ones that totally show why such a project is that interesting. Of course people with a narrow minded opinion about what broadway shows should be like just can't stand such a thing and never will no matter if it is good or not.
Updated On: 5/13/11 at 05:34 AM
Swing Joined: 12/31/69
bk, I really appreciate your posts and comments (not to mention recordings) on here, but while I doubt I'd like either version of Spiderman much--could your post be any more condescending? Poor, young, foolish theatre goers who are killing Broadway with their enthusiasm was the gist I got...
After Eight, the prob is I'm not sure a light hearted, self mocking Strouse/Adams Superman style show *could* work now. (And it was hardly a massive hit back then anyway). In the 60s that was the overall tone of superhero comics and their adaptations. But to appeal to any modern comic book or Spiderman fan at all now, I think they'd be completely put off by a musical done in that tone. Does Spiderman still sound to me like it's a bit too self serious? Umm, yeah. But I think a light hearted take would flop even quicker...
And *shrug* I appreciated hearing Jordan's thoughts, just as I appreciated hearing most of the thoughts from people who actually saw it tonight, that's why I read threads like this. Otherwise... I wouldn't.
Updated On: 5/13/11 at 05:35 AM
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/23/08
For goodness sakes. It's Spider(hyphen)Man. See? Spider-Man!
Yay!
He wasn't being hateful at all. Not liking something is not being hateful. He didn't bash, he pointed out what was improved (the story) and what still didn't work. At least he WENT back to check it out. Would it be impossible to clear all the bad feelings about the former production clearly away? Unlikely for all of us that were so thoroughly disappointed with what they were passing of as a finished product.
Taymor's gone. Wouldn't this give jordan a great opportunity to again throw mud at her BY liking this? Why can't you just accept that he JUST DIDN'T LIKE IT? Lots of folks on this thread didn't.
And I know what he said previously. I'm on these boards enough. So what?
Swing Joined: 5/13/11
Insulting someone who didn't do anything except creating a show, even if this one ended possibly as a bad one, calling her a "bitch" is in my book pure and stupid hate. Making everything you can to be the first to give an obligatory negative opinion about a show you know you are going to despise because you dislike everything from the previous version is in my opinion pure and disgusting hate. There is no other way to explain such behaviours...
I come here to read honest opinions about people who have attended this show. I don't care if there are positive or negative but such behaviours are a disgrace imo. But like I said they also show more than any other positive comment why a project like this is inherently in its creative approach amazingly unique and interesting.
Updated On: 5/13/11 at 06:08 AM
THAT made no sense. Because people don't like it, that makes it artistic?
You are judging something YOU haven't seen. YOU are judging another person telling them their opinions have no value. You are jumping on ONE person, although others agree with him, by telling he has no right to his opinion. You are being as bitter as you suggest he is.
Jordan: thank you for your opinion. I may not always agree with you, but I appreciate your thoughts.
Swing Joined: 5/13/11
"THAT made no sense. Because people don't like it, that makes it artistic?"
It makes a lot of sense: what is much much worst than hate: indifference. If a show like this can create such reactions that's necessarily because there is something very strong and unique about it. And that's what art should be about: make people react. You know which show are much worse than this one :all the ones that people, except on a board like this one, will never talk about. This is what bland and generic means, like it or not. SM is the opposite of that.
The thing is I feel something like "next to normal" or the "ragtime" revival is a piece of art, something that makes the audience react in a way that the creators want. Spider(hyphen)man is more of a spectacle.
Agree with Taboo here--- most disappointing aspect for me was the score--- who kidnapped Bono and the Edge, and wrote this !!?
It was like listening to a "CD Sampler"--- none of the songs sounded complete !
After Eight- ha I can't stop humming "Cherry Pies" now and chuckling at the thought of that song shoe-horned into this production. I have to agree with Eric Montreal though that the public and comic fans wouldn't except a musical like that for Spiderman today. I think a rock score is an appropriate idea for the material, it's just the songs are lacking.
I think the tone has been significantly cleaned up though. I mean the relationship between Peter and his aunt and uncle is on the right track. Softening stuff like making MJ's dad a sad drunk rather than an angry drunk helped.
We also should remember this isn't the finished product. It's the resetting of the preview process. If they changed this much already think what could also come.
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/09
Eric,
Yes, it is possible that a lighthearted, comic approach would flop, but it couldn't work any worse than the dark and dank approach they took here. And the fact is, the only two scenes that scored were the two comic scenes with the Green Goblin.
The show simply put, is just not fun. Now, I read that the producers said that they were trying to make the show more " family friendly." To me that means, extending the show's appeal beyond comic book nerds to a general public who want a fun boy gets girl, hero defeats meanie villains story with laughs, bright sets, jaunty tunes, and lots of dazzling scenic and flying effects. That's not what's happening here. "We Need Him" from Superman injected life and pep into that show. It got that show moving. Here, "Rise Above" sounds like a dirge. That's not what this show needs.
I'm not a Superman comic fan, and yet I loved It's Superman. It was fun, and it was clever. I never read a Spiderman comic, but I would have loved this show too if it had had vitality, humor, and was attractive to look at. To me, that's what "family friendly" means.
But now, it's all too late to do it this way. Still, it's better than what it first was. And that will have to do.
You know which show are much worse than this one :all the ones that people, except on a board like this one, will never talk about. This is what bland and generic means, like it or not. SM is the opposite of that.
This is like a logic circle. So the reason it gets talked about is because of its blandness, and yet that is also what makes it not bland?
Didn't really think that one through, did you?
I always get a kick out of people who start a tirade aimed at someone on their first day of joining the boards. Transparent much?
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
I was JUST gonna post that Tazber.
It's not like Jordan's opinion (which is just that)... is different from anyone else on this board.
Meanwhile, 90% of the people posting agree on all of Spiderman's problems...yet the one that joins the board TODAY has to rage....
Bouncing off the walls much?
Updated On: 5/13/11 at 07:51 AM
Swing Joined: 5/13/11
"So the reason it gets talked about is because of its blandness, and yet that is also what makes it not bland?
"
Except the reason there is so much talk about this project is certainly not its supposed "blandness". Again if this was a bland project noone would care to talk about it. The reason there is so much talk about it is on the other hand its uniqueness, the fact that it tries to associate many things that shouldn't go well together or that people don't think they should go well together like superheroes and broadway, big budget and artistic exigence among others. Simple logic indeed.
Though I'm sure this project is now less unique than what it previously was but people were complaining about this show to be confusing and now that this has been changed the problem is that it is not enough compelling. Lol that's what I say : some people are just going to hate it no matter what especially ones so prone to use insults.
Also I don't care to be transparent at all I can totally confirm you that I just registered because I'm tired to read hypocritical and hateful posts like the ones I'm criticizing right now an I don't see the problem about that.
Videos