Spiderman 2.0 — Page 5

Spider-Man is musical theatre, regardless whether the book and music are "stale" or not. Whether it's GOOD musical theatre or BAD is purely subjective. I do think it has some fantastic design elements (in the version I saw) and I wouldn't write it off as a theme park show. I won't say I liked the show, but I found elements of it I liked and I'll give credit where it is due. I hope the show finds the audience it targets and I hope it's enough for the show to be a success. If it doesn't, I just hope someone will finally redesign the theatre into a house (or houses) that doesn't require an insane profit margin. I don't know why anyone would WANT to put a show in there. Nine shows in 13 years and was Grinch the only one to make a profit? If so, it took 129 performances in 37 days to achieve it.

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A U2 song originally played in the club? Which one? Was it pre-recorded? That sounds almost like a shout-out to "Chess," which did a similar thing with playing a recorded ABBA song in one of the scenes.

<< and Matt Caplan's role as Flash was expanded as well.
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I didnt see "1.0", but is this a GOOD thing?

I felt like Flash was one of the most annoying characters that I have ever seen in a show (JMHO)

I think the question 'what makes a show a Broadway show' is an interesting one. Maybe it's for a different thread, but in trying to figure it out I'm coming up with some interesting answers.

To me, STOTD is a Vegas show, not a Broadway show. I think there is a difference.

I noticed that Arachne ends the show at curtain call in her white dress; does the hanging moment still happen in some form?

EDIT: Yes, sorry, brain fart, curtain call.

Updated On: 5/13/11 at 03:58 PM

I really dug the Fritz Lang's Metropolis look she had.

Idiot, I find myself disagreeing; it IS that simple. I'm sure many would agree with me that defecating onstage is not so different from what Baby It's You does eight times a week. But we don't get to say it's not a Broadway show just because we don't like it. It is a show. It is playing a Broadway house. It is a Broadway show.

It's like what Sondheim says about his own work: when Sweeney Todd plays a Broadway house, it is a Broadway musical. If it is staged in an opera house, it is an opera. Same for Porgy and Bess.

Updated On: 5/13/11 at 06:12 PM

Is the Act 2 duet outside the theatre between MJ and Peter still in the show? I think it was right before he (spoiler?) threw away his suit. I don't remember the name I just remember liking it (I guess that says something).

Scarywarhol: "It is playing a Broadway house. It is a Broadway show."

Yes, we disagree on this. It's too literal I think. When we think of Broadway, most of us probably think of an experience first, then a location.

I do agree that a show being 'good or bad' doesn't define it as being 'Broadway' or not.

Feeling guilty -- not sure we should be discussing this in a thread that's explicitly about STOTD -- but I do love discussing it.

Bwaytoday- Yes that duet is still in. It is placed much later in the show now. The plot of him throwing the suit in the trash can and the homeless man finding it has been cut.

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"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."

This is a fair argument, and I haven't seen Spiderman, and again doubt I'd love it by any means. And yet, so much of this argument is subjective. Most writers of the classic musicals if asked (and if they were all alive) would laugh at the idea that they were making "art". While I kinda disagree with that as well, I think when you start to say something's art, and something's not, it reeks of snobbism. What you can say is something moved you in a way that other things didn't--I assume that's what you're getting at by something being art and others being something less than that...

I know so many theatre fans think of spectacle as a dirty word, but I think spectacle *can* (even if this seems to happen rarely) be art. Some spectacle is so viscerally thrilling that it becomes emotional and moving. It doesn't sound like Spiderman reaches that, but I do think spectacle can create an emotional response. (This his how the greatest pop musica, be it rock or disco, works IMHO--it taps into a hard to define emotional feeling that transcends the usual material). *anyway*...

Maybe we should save half of Broadway for art and half for spectacle :P

Jordan, among others who saw it, if they make the most of the "new" preview period, can it be improved (more)?

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