Spiderman Preview Thread!- Page 48

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/23/10 at 6:53pm

They don't have to lie. Rush is always up to their discretion. Even if they have 100 seats available...or 500. They don't have to sell them for rush.

[SingingChef]

Posted: 12/24/10 at 12:30am

Show went very smooth tonight.

TV Carpio went on as Arachne tonight and was absolutely amazing!

[jdtp12]

Posted: 12/24/10 at 12:34am

Is the net still in the ending?

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 12/24/10 at 12:37am

I have a question. I was looking at a picture of the pre-show curtain and I noticed that the stage goes all the way out to the first row. The orchestra pit does not separate the stage and first row, but there are some electric guitars off to the side. Why are there these guitars off to the side? Here's a link (I can't directly post the photo).
Spiderman pre-show

[steven22]

Posted: 12/24/10 at 12:39am

TV Carpio u/s arachne?

[thetinymagic2]

Posted: 12/24/10 at 12:58am

bwayfreak234 - I looked at your SPIDEY photo, and then clicked on some of your other photos. Fantastic! I have to know where your "food shots" are from. Looks delish! Which Restaurant?

[Tag]

Posted: 12/24/10 at 12:58am

I believe the orchestra is not in the pit but in another location in the building. And guitarists (members of Carney?) play on the sides of the stage.

[Scott Briefer]

Posted: 12/24/10 at 1:02am

I am mostly interested in the work on the book and score. Has anyone seen the show more than once and noticed the direction the show is taking? Has act two gotten any clearer - better? Have they introduced any new music? Replaced or eliminated any of the songs that don't work? How long is it currently running?

Updated On: 12/24/10 at 01:02 AM

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 12/24/10 at 1:10am

thethinymagic - Haha... those actually are not my photos. They just came up when I searched "Spiderman broadway". Those food photos are awesome though :)

[SingingChef]

Posted: 12/24/10 at 1:17am

There is going to be some shiftage of role coverage on the female side of things with a possibility of some large changes soon.

[glind.jr]

Posted: 12/24/10 at 2:27am

I saw the show tonight. I started to write a couple, simple things, but I can't stop writing so this is very disjointed - forgive me.

No pauses. The show has SO much potential but they need to rework the story - BIGTIME. The person sitting next to me fell asleep middle of act two. I spoke to people at the end of act one and they were having fun - kids LOVED it. Biggest complaint I heard at intermission...casting. I don't have the energy to really get into that now, but...I agree. Parker looks the part and acts fine-ish but doesn't sound like Bono which sould've been a requirement. MJ was SOOOO lame and I just kept wondering why she was even there. The audience HATED her. It was SO awkward whenever she spoke - especially about being an actress in a musical. TOO meta and it didn't help that Parker said he didn't like musicals. Uncle Ben? Aunt who? Who were they? Guy in dreads playing the plastic drum? I literally looked the other direction he was so awkward but got more face time than Peter's Aunt & Uncle or MJ's parents.

I've seen U2 for their past 4 concerts. Pop Mart, Elevation, Vertigo and 360. I'm 27 and have paid to see U2 since I was a kid - I love them, but the songs are barely songs. Someone said in an earlier post that Bono has a very specific voice - he basically screams, but amazingly so. These performers don't scream but jump into head voice. I had a speaker directly five feet in front of me and I had a hard time hearing them. "Boy Falls From the Sky" was weak. WEAK and I LOVED it on 60 minutes. If you are a U2 fan like me, the U2 references will be jarring (wrestling scene, "It's Sunday, Bloody Sunday here in the ring."...the "vertigo" insert has been previously commented on and, yes, it's a "BAD" choice.) I also thought some of the lyrics in the first act were very sexual - not intentionally. "DIY" kept repeating "Do It To Yourself" which sounded sexual when the cast sang it and is also a famous Radiohead lyric...I mean, I could go on.

I was in the aisle - for those of you who have seen it if you're facing the stage, I was three rows back, on the center section aisle which juts out so I could lay my legs out. The main actors had almost every intimate right in front of me to the point where if I had sneezed and not covered my face, they'd be wiping theirs. Still, I could barely hear them which sucks for a guy who expects and has heard live blaring sound from U2. Bullying by numbers is - I thought - the first real song and it was not loud but very muddled. I'll elaborate on other songs at another time if anyone cares.

Again, I really did have amazing seats (I coughed up a lot for them) and when Peter realized he didn't need glasses he threw them to the geek chorus who failed to catch them so they landed in my lap...as did a stage hand during the Green Goblin fight. As I said at intermission, **** "Avatar" this is REAL 3-D. I didn't mind any of that (live theater) but the flying sequences looked very under-prepared and there were no "good" or "clean" landings. By that I mean stage hands were running all over the damn place to secure the performers. I applaud all of the "stunt" people but they're not really stunt workers and looked like pieces of meat being flung about. Of course, I could go on about how there were new safety procedures, etc. I will say, at NO point did I feel unsafe even as people were flying in my face. Arachne's legs did get SO close I could've reached my hand one foot above my head and grabbed one, but I didn't flinch.

I really did enjoy TV Carpacio in "Across the Universe" but she doesn't have "the balls" to pull the villain off. I also applaud her for going on as I assume she had little rehearsal. My biggest complaints about her really are technical (fussing with wires, props, costumes, etc.) - still, I have never heard her "wail" or belt and I really wanted her to. Her first big song in act two was hard to understand because she was flying EVERYWHERE. I, personally couldn't focus because her costume kept getting so close to my face and when that wasn't happening she was flying/jerking around behind me. Also, her minions look like they belong in CBGB's circa 1979.

The lead guitar players need to get off the stage as the lead guitar player looks exactly like Russell Brand and...need I say more. Someone needs to tell him to change his look - I mean, I felt BAD for him...BAAAAAAAAD. They're also just out of place and the geek chorus - when not in action - flank the opposite side of the stage. All of this looks like a last minute decision and I saw the geek chorus zone out many times while "observing" the action. (I can, again, go on about them later, but they weren't horrible - at all.) Oh, and when Gideon Glick jumped off the stage he nearly ran his groin right into my knee - sounds fun, but...ugh... I jumped and ran my knees into the woman next to me as he dodged. I felt I had to keep my knees at my chest for the remainder of the show.

The set is not as spectacular as reported even though I kept cheering it on to be supportive. After the first 30 minutes there are no new pieces I can remember. The LED "wings" are always there and poorly reflect light when they're not on. IN the second act they're EVERYWHERE and take over for the skyscraper wings which made me wonder why they produced those at all - tilt the LEDs (probably cost...).

Costumes...the high schoolers were very distracting in that their color tone was "Charlie Brown" yellow and black and they all dressed like they had come back from the gym - jerseys, sports bras, etc. I kept thinking that what they were wearing would never be allowed in the high school I went to (granted, I went to hs in Colorao from 1998 to 2002...). Also, it was distracting that some props were in black in white to match while others (like random grocery bags and McDonald's bags) were not. Also, Peter's sweats are branded (this was during the wrestling scene...he defeated a BLOW UP DOLL.)

The show did end with "The Net", but it looked like a fishing net - not a spider net. Act two does not make much sense as I had no idea who was dead or alive. The fashion show still exists and I now understand what people on this post have been bitching about in regards to that. Patrick Page...okay, but he sounds more like a hick than a genius. I know about the Ted Turner thing, but Turner is not a genetic scientist and Page looked and sounded like he knew no more about genetic than he did how to put his pants on. Still, he was entertaining...ish. I was so close that his costume was distracting because it made sounds of plastic rubbing plastic - material you wouldn't want your kids toys to be made out of. But, again, he worked so hard and made that costume make sense.

I dunno know.

It could work, but it's just SO far behind from what I saw tonight. If you have questions about specific things, ask and if I'm on I'll respond.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/24/10 at 3:37am

A stagehand landed in your lap? REALLY?

[Disneyland Magic Man]

Posted: 12/24/10 at 3:56am

Leave It To Taymor

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 12/24/10 at 8:15am

I love that you say the show has so much potential then trash the songs, set, flying, band members, costumes, book etc

[fingerlakessinger]

Posted: 12/24/10 at 8:30am

...really songanddanceman2? I actually thought his review was quite informative.
But your right...perhaps he should rewind time, walk into the theater and say to himself "gee songanddanceman wants all the reviews for this show to be glowing...so I'm going to love this show!"

And to be honest, it is very possible to see potential in an otherwise horrid production. I tend to think that its impossible for a show to have absolutely NO potential of improving or a shimmer of hope.

Updated On: 12/24/10 at 08:30 AM

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/24/10 at 8:34am

If you spent 65m on me...I'd have potential too.

So, Glind....while I appreciate the time you took to write your thoughts, where is the potential that you spoke of? What do you think they should be capitalizing upon? (I'm not being fresh, really.)

[kidbroadway2]

Posted: 12/24/10 at 8:53am

Very interested to see this show... odd how it gets mixed/negative on the boards here but in the Daily News today it said how "amazing" it was and how it will "change Broadway forever".

[perfectliar]

Posted: 12/24/10 at 10:47am

glind, you don't remember any of the sets after the first 30 minutes? Were you sleeping through the first act finale when the entire stage was transformed into the side of the Chrysler Building?

I didn't find any of the lyrics sexually suggestive... at all. "Do it yourself" was probably the LEAST sexual song in the entire show, sung by a bunch of sterile scientists doing robotic choreography.. my mind was nowhere near masturbation.

Your complaints are semi-ridiculous when it comes to most everything but the show itself. I agree that it needs work and that act two hardly makes sense. I also agree that the few bandmembers on stage should be taken off, but because they don't fit... not because I hate that one looks like Russell Brand. What did you think of the story, the direction, the choreography?

And it's TV Carpio... Carpaccio is a raw meat dish.

[jdtp12]

Posted: 12/24/10 at 11:36am

Glind, I really don't think that Peter has to sound like Bono. This is a musical he wrote the music for, not one of his concerts, and Reeve was playing Peter, not Bono. Also, I don't think that every is supposed to "scream" like Bono does, they're not meant to mimic him. Just my opinion.

[misto625]

Posted: 12/24/10 at 12:48pm

Who was on for Chris Tierney as Meeks/Kraven the Hunter?

[uncageg]

Posted: 12/24/10 at 1:03pm

I am just finding it interesting that all of that flying and jumping, etc. was directed at that one seat.

[rougeduck]

Posted: 12/24/10 at 1:26pm

Why is there and ear on this newt?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/24/10 at 1:26pm

Everybody I know who saw Angels in America thought Christian Borle was looking directly at them during the benediction at the end. When really he was just looking at me. The magic of theater!

[uncageg]

Posted: 12/24/10 at 1:53pm

Namo, actually he was looking at me. And I am in Denver. That's how good he is. :)

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/24/10 at 2:16pm

By that I mean stage hands were running all over the damn place to secure the performers.

To which I can only say, "Thank the goddess for that!"