Spiderman Preview Thread!- Page 44

[sundaymorning6am]

Posted: 12/15/10 at 8:41pm

i have a friend at the show tonight, and he said natalie mendoza is back tonight.

update: 9:30pm: the first act is exactly the same. Updated On: 12/15/10 at 08:41 PM

[jagfkb]

Posted: 12/15/10 at 10:15pm

^With all the talk of the good songs in the show, while neither exactly memorable, I really did enjoy D.I.Y. and Turn of the Dark, as sung by Natalie...

[SNAFU]

Posted: 12/15/10 at 11:03pm

Fingerlakes, I have to agree with you, Wicked even though people like to bash it. does have a story-line that tugs at peoples emotions. I took my Housekeeper and her husband as a gift. During Defying Gravity they both stood up and cheered spontaneously. It was then I realized why WICKED has been selling out. It wasn't because of the faults I have seen but because of the story and pathos the general audience member sees.

Updated On: 12/16/10 at 11:03 PM

[Baileyboo]

Posted: 12/15/10 at 11:26pm

Hey Snaf..

First you said I was a insider wannabee, and now you accuse me of being in "meetings". Which is it?

I guess you are always right, since you can take any side in an argument! Even both sides in the same argument!

[fingerlakessinger]

Posted: 12/15/10 at 11:47pm

SNAFU, I think you put what I was trying to say into the perfect words. WICKED is far from being perfect, but it just has that "it" factor.

Does anyone know what major changes have occured during previews?

[scott68]

Posted: 12/16/10 at 12:01am

sundaymorning, any update from your friend on the second act? Specifically, the ending?

[zerose]

Posted: 12/16/10 at 12:10am

http://twitter.com/cardamond/status/15259244706140160
"B4 the show we were told a new ending was going in tonight. Too bad it still makes absolutely no sense. Also, today is Julie Taymor's bday."

Can someone describe the new ending? Is there any added spectacle to Act 2?

[Horton]

Posted: 12/16/10 at 12:25am

I still don't understand how this show hopes to do a number on the Tonys if they're nominated. How are they ever going to do a number?

[SNAFU]

Posted: 12/16/10 at 1:25am

Baily, personally I don't care what you are. If I remember I suggested you were Julie at one point in time too. I find you kind of annoying . That's MHO though.

Updated On: 12/16/10 at 01:25 AM

[perfectliar]

Posted: 12/16/10 at 1:55am

I was there tonight. Apparently there were some dialogue changes and a new final scene. I noticed they were having an issue with the giant web that fills the stage for Peter and Arachne's final confrontation; I don't know if that's new, but I remember reading the line about "I'm the only real artist" and that's still there... so I don't think that's what was new. Other than that, it ended with Arachne being "released" by Peter and ascending upward into the light. Peter kisses MJ and she says, "Go get 'em, Tiger" before a giant banner (one of the t-shirt designs) falls.

Any part of that sound new?

[leefowler]

Posted: 12/16/10 at 1:59am

I was pretty numb at the first preview by this point, but what you described sounds new to me.. I don't remember a big web at the end.

Was there a final fight, or confrontation? Did you feel like the ending worked?

[mywonderwa11]

Posted: 12/16/10 at 3:00am

How is the rush? Has anyone tried yet?

[Baileyboo]

Posted: 12/16/10 at 8:17am

And I find you annoying as well. I guess we are even.

[manhattanite]

Posted: 12/16/10 at 10:09am

Perfectliar - The giant web is new because that wasn't a part of the otherwise lame final sequence when I saw it last week. Did it work for you? Also, the ending "Go get em Tiger" and the drop (which I thought was extremely limp and disappointing) is the same. What did you think? Also, how was Natalie Mendoza?

[ALittlePriest]

Posted: 12/16/10 at 10:36am

These were posted about last night's performance:

http://twitter.com/WhiskeyFrisky/status/15269341540917249
Just saw #spiderman the musical. What a piece of ****!

http://twitter.com/DJGY/status/15235639901429761
Interval report @Spiderman: awesome mid-air battle scenes over orchestra, great forced-perspective set design, book & score need an overhaul

So no major stops in Spiderman tonight. It was overall a mixed bag. Great visuals. Everything else needs work.

http://twitter.com/cardamond
Going back to see Julie Taymore's Arachnophobia musical (aka Spiderman) for the second time tonight. What are the chances it's improved?

B4 the show we were told a new ending was going in tonight. Too bad it still makes absolutely no sense. Also, today is Julie Taymor's bday.

Overheard at Spiderman: "The effects are too amazing to comprehend. Like the Grand Canyon." "What is this crap? I want to see f-ing Spidey."

http://talkinbroadway.com/allthatchat/d.php?id=1929954
Posted by: DeGeorge 09:34 am EST 12/16/10

SpiderMan last night (aka StinkerMan)
$65 million does not a good show make. Wow, is this a clunker. It is so NOT entertaining. Not funny, not dramatic ... just very presentational. Not spectacular enough to make you forget the material is dreadful. The flying gets old after the first few sequences. (I found Sandy Duncan as Peter Pan flying over the audience and Mary Poppins ascending to the rafters more thrilling more thrilling than any of the flying in Spiderman.) The book is a mess, the music completely forgettable. Nothing special about the performances. There is no emotion in this show. It just is "there". Its as if Taymor and company thought they could dupe the audience with huge sets and spectacle, but last night they didn't buy into it. Very tepid applause, and in this age of obligatory standing ovations, there was none last night. A few scattered people here and there stood, but they were few and far between. The bulk of the audience remained seated and politely applauded. It clearly was not a crowd pleaser last night.

[bravenewboy]

Posted: 12/16/10 at 10:37am

I was there last night. The show went off worse than I ever imagined, and I'm rather easy to please. If that web ending was new, it was pretty major. I'm not sure about what it used to be, but from what I remember of last night (it was so confusing to follow) it still needs work. The web appears, which btw was the point I realized this was a new scene without having seen the show previously. It took them about three minutes in a blackout to get the web up, the right bottom half was all tangled, and the web itself is pretty bootleg. It's like a gigantic fishing net and you can just tell they threw it in over the weekend. Eventually Arachne and Spiderman fight while crawling all over the web. Then, Arachne suddenly says she has Mary Jane in a cocoon which we see at the back of the stage. Peter tells Arachne she could have him as long as she spares Mary Jane. Touched, Arachne acted as if she had been testing Peter to make sure he was still true to himself, and let them both go. Cut to her finally being lifted of the curse. Honestly it was so confusing that my synopsis could be different from what actually happened. I was expecting one more big aerial fight scene across the audience. The ending was so anti climatic and the second act was so awful that it made the first act look put together, which I thought was terrible during intermission. Yikes, it's going to need more than just a few scene changes to make this mess work, it needs an entire new book and score.

[sundaymorning6am]

Posted: 12/16/10 at 11:08am

This was my friend's take on the ending. Pretty much the same as above, and dumber than before:

"At the end of the show, when Arachne confronts Peter, she has captured MJ and has her hanging in a spiderweb, which apparently has a lot of technical problems and took forever to make it onto the stage. Now instead of Peter just talking to Arachne, Peter is fighting Arachne while crawling around the web. It's apparently really awkward to watch. They sort of float around on it and choke each other until Peter tells Arachne that he'll be with her if she lets MJ go. Arachne responds that she doesn't want Peter anymore because he's still human, and she lets them both go. She then asks Peter to kill her so she can finally be at peace. Then she flies up into the 'sky' on the same rope that she came down on in the beginning of the first act."

[bravenewboy]

Posted: 12/16/10 at 11:13am

How did it originally end? I'm curious to know.

[sundaymorning6am]

Posted: 12/16/10 at 11:15am

the ending scene is a blur to me because it was so anti-climactic, but I think Arachne and Peter just 'talked' and then she let MJ and Peter go and she went up into the sky.

Arachne needs to be cut entirely. ADMIT IT, JULIE.

[ALittlePriest]

Posted: 12/16/10 at 12:27pm

At this point, they cant cut Arachne, unless they close for another years and spend another 30 million dollars making a new show. They'd be cutting more than a few songs. That being said, I think they could still rewrite a new song for the shoes number, and cut the entire greek chorus, and still get a passing grade.

[sundaymorning6am]

Posted: 12/16/10 at 12:35pm

yeah, in addition to them needing an entirely new second act. And, um, they could write a new number to replace the dumb shoes number if, you know, their composers were on this CONTINENT. Personally, I think Julie should demand Bono come back and fix this sh*tshow of a score he created. He demanded that she direct, so I don't think it's out of bounds for her to make this demand.

[leefowler]

Posted: 12/16/10 at 12:40pm

The only way this new ending would work is if it somehow topped the battle between the Green Goblin and Spider-Man in Act 1...It would have to be really jaw-dropping.

And with an Arachne who just had a concussion, that's probably not a real good idea.

It's interesting now to remember that interview with Julie a couple of months ago, where she admitted she hadn't figured out what the ending was going to be...

[ALittlePriest]

Posted: 12/16/10 at 12:52pm

I don't even think Bono needs to be here to write the song. Just phone it in or email it. We all know in history many iconic showtunes have been written overnight or put in in a single day.

[fingerlakessinger]

Posted: 12/16/10 at 1:26pm

Friend just emailed me this "report card" as she likes to call it. She was there the 2nd preview and last nights...
Book: D-
Score: D (some songs C-)
Effects: B (while some are neat, most are wanna-be Theme Park attractions...not nearly enough to validate the insane ticket prices)
New Ending: WTF...really, that's all I can say...it looked like the crew of "Deadliest Catch" dropped their nets in hopes of capturing Arachne...and failed
Audience Response: D
Timid applauses that were clearly in sympathy for the actors on stage. I dont know if it was because of the audience response, but to me, the actors on the stage looked like the were starting to feel the wear and tear of the show.

[Bardolph]

Posted: 12/16/10 at 1:29pm

I think Julie should demand Bono come back and fix this sh*tshow of a score he created. He demanded that she direct, so I don't think it's out of bounds for her to make this demand.

*L* Yeah, don't think that's going to happen. U2 is currently on tour in Australia. If you think Spidey is expensive at $1 million a week, the U2 tour costs 5 times that.

Now, of course, despite that cost, U2 is still very profitable, which may not be true for Spiderman. In either case, I don't think you're going to see Bono working on the score until the tour is over.

Besides, the book is what needs the most work, not the score. There are, what, 15 songs in this? I'd say 5 are unremarkable, 5 are OK, and 5 are exceptional.