#1
Posted: 3/17/11 at 3:33am
Just saw Spider-man TOTD for the 2nd time (the first time I saw it was the 3rd day of previews last Fall) and (I have to admit) really loved it this time (so let the sniping begin 
)…
The first time I saw it, I generally found the first act to tell an enjoyable, coherent, Spider-man "origins" story, but found the 2nd Act (as have apparently many) confusing plot-wise, with too many plodding-paced ballads and directorial indulgences…
While I can't give you a point-by-point comparison of what exactly changed, the bottom line for me is that the show is now definitely a coherent, enjoyable, and entertaining whole from beginning to end. The first Act seemed smoother (and the show as a whole had no technical mishaps), with at most some tweaks here and there to keep things generally moving. The second Act has been given a rousing finale, including the addition of a new Arachne web as the backdrop for the final battle scene (into which Spiderman scampers effectively up and down as he tried to break through initially to get to Mary Jane), an effective battle between Spidey and Arachne, a visually striking image of Arachne ascending to the heavens and "becoming" a "star pattern", and an exciting final whirl around the hall of Reeve Carney as Spider-man, plus an overtly-pandering (but nonetheless enjoyable) curtain call sequence in which he performs the famous upside-down kiss maneuver borrowed shamelessly from the first Spiderman film. There was also some additional exposition inserted before Deeply Furious (yes, it's still there, but it's campiness somehow felt more consistent with the comic-book campiness already seen elsewhere, including the whole inflatable wrestling match thing earlier, which to me is all just part of Julie's sometimes bizarre creative world), in which Arachne at least explains what is going on as far as everything being an illusion, her intent to capture Mary Jane, her being upset with Peter Parker not donning the Spidey suit again, etc., etc. The Geek Chorus also seemed less annoying by far, and (if I recall), the scene in which Arache sort of takes over their reality (thus confusing us even more about who the Geek Chorus is exactly supposed to be, etc., etc.), with the Chorus ultimately "banished" for the rest of the musical, etc., etc., I believe no longer occurs - they seem to come in throughout when actually serving a useful observational purpose, and otherwise stay out of the way. Frankly, the audience gave them - as well as the rest of the cast - a fantastically rousing ovation by the end, and throughout seemed to accept them and be entertained by their lines and not annoyed the least.
I can't really completely explain why the musical as a whole for me just "worked" (unlike last time, where it felt rough around the edges). Certainly, there are still book issues - there is little chemistry between the two leads, and Arachne's motivation for freeing Spidey at the end still feels confusing. But taken as a whole (and, as I'm sure many feel - "for better or for worse"), there's no denying that the show in it's current form is Julie's vision - the approach she set out to take from the beginning (including the whole mythological angle that I was resistant to the first time; the use of multiple vs. merely 1 villain; the desire to tell more than the origin story and to try and encapsulate material from multiple movies, etc., etc.), and, of course, the stunning visual set design and imaginative overall lighting and imagery. Frankly, I can SEE now why she really felt it was "done", and find myself actually feeling sorry for her (as an artist myself) - like the final product or not, there's no denying that this is what she intended to make, and I can't fathom how someone who put so much creativity into a project and actually made it "work" now in many ways can watch as it's slowly picked apart, first by critics, and now by the new members of the creative team. I, for one, am glad to have caught it in it's current form (which, incidentally, would have been the day after the most recent "opening night" )…I feel for Julie, I commend her for what she's achieved (notwithstanding the sniping here), and I'll cross my fingers that the "improvements" they make will not upset what has already been done. Though I'm sure many here will say that any changes can only help (blah blah blah ), my thoughts are that it's actually hard to take something so specifically tied to an overall creative approach and try to change something here; something there; without the basic integrity starting to get lost - but I wish them well, and hats off to the entire cast for enduring this all with such whole-hearted effort….
A final word about the music: I'm actually happy (notwithstanding my comments above) that they're bringing in someone to help clarify the sound quality and tighten the orchestrations/arrangements, etc., and I certainly can see how some pure theatre-lovers can be dismissive towards the more poetic, generalized rock-lyric approach taken here (vs. the more traditional role of using the music to tell the action/tell the story more specifically, etc., etc.). All I can say (and this as a composer of theatre/film/t.v. myself), is that it also basically just "worked" - it's obviously U2-styled (what else would you expect?), but there were many lovely musical moments and several memorable tunes (including, as others have also cited, "If the World Should End", "Boy Falls From the Sky", and "Rise Above", but also "Bullying By Numbers" and even "Turn Off the Dark", not to mention that damned-insistent guitar-hook-laden melody that typically accompanied all the flying ) - overall, more than enough to leave me feeling musically satisfied, and not even remotely close to the "disaster" that others have suggested it is. Frankly, if the show opened as-is as of today, I think it would be a big hit (not that a show's commercial success is always a reflection of its "objective" artistic merit). But we'll see what happens from here…
- robjohn
)… The first time I saw it, I generally found the first act to tell an enjoyable, coherent, Spider-man "origins" story, but found the 2nd Act (as have apparently many) confusing plot-wise, with too many plodding-paced ballads and directorial indulgences…
While I can't give you a point-by-point comparison of what exactly changed, the bottom line for me is that the show is now definitely a coherent, enjoyable, and entertaining whole from beginning to end. The first Act seemed smoother (and the show as a whole had no technical mishaps), with at most some tweaks here and there to keep things generally moving. The second Act has been given a rousing finale, including the addition of a new Arachne web as the backdrop for the final battle scene (into which Spiderman scampers effectively up and down as he tried to break through initially to get to Mary Jane), an effective battle between Spidey and Arachne, a visually striking image of Arachne ascending to the heavens and "becoming" a "star pattern", and an exciting final whirl around the hall of Reeve Carney as Spider-man, plus an overtly-pandering (but nonetheless enjoyable) curtain call sequence in which he performs the famous upside-down kiss maneuver borrowed shamelessly from the first Spiderman film. There was also some additional exposition inserted before Deeply Furious (yes, it's still there, but it's campiness somehow felt more consistent with the comic-book campiness already seen elsewhere, including the whole inflatable wrestling match thing earlier, which to me is all just part of Julie's sometimes bizarre creative world), in which Arachne at least explains what is going on as far as everything being an illusion, her intent to capture Mary Jane, her being upset with Peter Parker not donning the Spidey suit again, etc., etc. The Geek Chorus also seemed less annoying by far, and (if I recall), the scene in which Arache sort of takes over their reality (thus confusing us even more about who the Geek Chorus is exactly supposed to be, etc., etc.), with the Chorus ultimately "banished" for the rest of the musical, etc., etc., I believe no longer occurs - they seem to come in throughout when actually serving a useful observational purpose, and otherwise stay out of the way. Frankly, the audience gave them - as well as the rest of the cast - a fantastically rousing ovation by the end, and throughout seemed to accept them and be entertained by their lines and not annoyed the least.
I can't really completely explain why the musical as a whole for me just "worked" (unlike last time, where it felt rough around the edges). Certainly, there are still book issues - there is little chemistry between the two leads, and Arachne's motivation for freeing Spidey at the end still feels confusing. But taken as a whole (and, as I'm sure many feel - "for better or for worse"), there's no denying that the show in it's current form is Julie's vision - the approach she set out to take from the beginning (including the whole mythological angle that I was resistant to the first time; the use of multiple vs. merely 1 villain; the desire to tell more than the origin story and to try and encapsulate material from multiple movies, etc., etc.), and, of course, the stunning visual set design and imaginative overall lighting and imagery. Frankly, I can SEE now why she really felt it was "done", and find myself actually feeling sorry for her (as an artist myself) - like the final product or not, there's no denying that this is what she intended to make, and I can't fathom how someone who put so much creativity into a project and actually made it "work" now in many ways can watch as it's slowly picked apart, first by critics, and now by the new members of the creative team. I, for one, am glad to have caught it in it's current form (which, incidentally, would have been the day after the most recent "opening night"
)…I feel for Julie, I commend her for what she's achieved (notwithstanding the sniping here), and I'll cross my fingers that the "improvements" they make will not upset what has already been done. Though I'm sure many here will say that any changes can only help (blah blah blah ), my thoughts are that it's actually hard to take something so specifically tied to an overall creative approach and try to change something here; something there; without the basic integrity starting to get lost - but I wish them well, and hats off to the entire cast for enduring this all with such whole-hearted effort…. A final word about the music: I'm actually happy (notwithstanding my comments above) that they're bringing in someone to help clarify the sound quality and tighten the orchestrations/arrangements, etc., and I certainly can see how some pure theatre-lovers can be dismissive towards the more poetic, generalized rock-lyric approach taken here (vs. the more traditional role of using the music to tell the action/tell the story more specifically, etc., etc.). All I can say (and this as a composer of theatre/film/t.v. myself), is that it also basically just "worked" - it's obviously U2-styled (what else would you expect?), but there were many lovely musical moments and several memorable tunes (including, as others have also cited, "If the World Should End", "Boy Falls From the Sky", and "Rise Above", but also "Bullying By Numbers" and even "Turn Off the Dark", not to mention that damned-insistent guitar-hook-laden melody that typically accompanied all the flying
) - overall, more than enough to leave me feeling musically satisfied, and not even remotely close to the "disaster" that others have suggested it is. Frankly, if the show opened as-is as of today, I think it would be a big hit (not that a show's commercial success is always a reflection of its "objective" artistic merit). But we'll see what happens from here… - robjohn
Updated On: 3/17/11 at 03:33 AM
