SueleenGay: I think your questions are excellent ones. Here goes...
Change
Personally, I don't know exactly what has changed. I have only seen the show the one time.
I too wondered how the producers / creatives were justifying the extended preview period while few reports suggested any major work was being done, or even being planned. I've read the reports in the press that Bono and The Edge had frozen the score. I've read most - if not all - the Julie Taymor interviews where one moment she talks about the spectacle serving the story and others where she is seemingly contradicting herself.
There had been some reports - both here and in the press - of the additional flying sequence added to the end of act two and some press that suggested there were more changes to come. Not nearly the profound changes that would warrant pushing the opening back time and time again.
Having typed that, here's what I was told from the kind usher I spoke with extensively before the show and who said he's seen every performance... He said that the show is a different show now than when it first started performances. And, not just smoothing out the technical issues. He said that large amounts of the book have been rewritten. He said that they cut an amazingly beautiful sequence that involved puppets, but didn't best serve the story. He said that there have been major tweaks to the score. He mentioned a new ending and suggested that they were close to yet another major change to the ending, but rehearsal time had kept them from putting it in just yet.
He said that the performances have grown substantially too. That there were major shifts in the character's motivations, that added clarity to what is "known" as the confusing second act.
Ms. Taymor wasn't as specific, but she did say throughout our conversation that they were hard at work and that she was determined to get this right. When I asked her about the second act and the comments that it was initially confusing, she was clear that it was intentional. That like a mystery - my word not hers - she wants it to all come together in the closing moments. (Which by the way, it did for me in it's current form, and she suggested that there was more to come in this regard.)
It was suggested that there was a new scene going in soon and some substantial cuts. As I wrote earlier, the show currently runs at 2hrs. 45mins. and the plan - with the new scene - is to run at 2hrs. 30mins.
Here's my take on it. I have long ago realized that the press isn't always truthful, or perhaps more kindly, accurate. Words are taken out of context, or reinterpreted by the journalist, editor, etc. For example, I remember clearly reading on several occasions that Bono was no longer working on the score - not true.
What I saw was a team of creatives and technicians at the back of the theater working very hard to get this right. I briefly spoke with the lighting operator (I thought it was the sound engineer), who is currently situated at the back of the house because of the constant notes and need for proximity to the other technicians, and I spoke with the sound engineer. Both were clearly working a show in flux. There was nothing "frozen" about their energy. Aides were holding impromptu meetings during both the intermission as well as after the show.
As for what you've read here... Please. If you remember my initial comments, I wrote "hmmmm" a few times. I used this expression because I was myself taken back by how inaccurate what I had read here - or interpreted - was. I was more expecting to enter a funeral parlor than a theater. The ushers I spoke with, not being members of this website, weren't even aware of the negativity that this board insists is the atmosphere over at the Foxwood Theater. It just isn't so.
In fact, so much of what I've read here, wasn't my experience at all. I should have know this. This board - and many of it's members - are so riedel. I don't wish to be unkind, but... Well, the jokes on me, because I keep coming back here despite what has been proven to me time and time again.
The Score
Do you like every note of every score? How about your favorite ones?
I agree that a good score needs to be more than serviceable. I'm sorry if my words weren't clear. What was meant is that I don't know U2's music and I was actually expecting to not like the score at all. (I didn't like the Good Morning America preview of The Boy Falls From the Sky.) What I heard Thursday night was 9 or 10 wonderful songs and perhaps as many musical moments that were enjoyable, but didn't rock my boat. Nothing stood out as being dreadful or "wrong".
I don't think SMTOTD is going to make it into my favorite scores list, but it definitely will make it into my collection and I am very much looking forward to getting to know it better. This is more about my personal tastes and not about the quality of the work, which has been reported to be sub par on most accounts. Just not so in my opinion.
Ms. Taymor and Confusing
Mysteries are confusing, they're supposed to be. Often, so are thrillers. The second act of SMTOTD has moments that are not initially explained. Nothing contradicts itself, but somethings are left vague, until the end. Without spoilers, this makes sense for what Ms. Taymor is trying to accomplish here. Perhaps, this isn't the Spider-man people are used to, but that is not her intentions.
What I took away from the comments about the writing, before having seen it, was that the book was not only a mess of confusion but amateurish. This is just not the case. All of the dialogue is motivated, and there is a fair amount of it. Is it Pulitzer Prize prose? No. Does it have to be? No.
The creatives on SMTOTD have not only a story to tell, but also some pretty large - yet also simple - themes to explore. Words - dialogue - is just one component of how these subjects are presented. It's true that the best work is the staging and the visuals, but that isn't to type that the book is bad. It's not. It still has some issues, but I am confident from what i saw that they will be worked out in the next month.
Book Musical or Not
SMTOTD is a book musical. Don't believe what you've read (see above). Like most book musicals, there are scenes which often evolve into songs. There is far more dialogue that I expected, or what is common these days for a rock musical.
There is a strong story, but not the traditional Spider-Man saga. Framing the entire musical is the new Arachne myth which is as much the focus of SMTOTD as the Spider-Man of the comics and film. This is intentional and personally, I thought fascinating.
As for my comment regarding what happens offstage... The important action happens onstage. The love story between Peter and Mary Jane is shown, but it's not the main focus and so Ms. Taymor relies on what we do know, so not to bog down the evening. Everything that's needed to understand their relationship is there, just not the details of their courting. Why do we need to see the stage version of the film? Not what this show is about.
I for one think that there needs to be more Arachne. For me, the issues of the second act is that we don't get quite enough of her emotional arc. This is what Ms. Taymor wants us to focus on, as it is the larger story about myth and the throughline of her play. It is my hope that the new scene will fix this.
I hope I've answered your questions.
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As for fanboy... based on the provided definition, no I am not a fanboy. I always want for a show to succeed, but I am very comfortable being honest about my disappointment. If anything, I was prepared for SMTOTD to suck. For me, it just didn't. As I typed earlier, I was enthralled.
Updated On: 2/5/11 at 05:59 PM
