Spider-Man Musical Debuts With Difficulties

Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark has finally turned on the lights — and the results aren’t pretty.

The Spider-Man musical launched its first full preview last night at Broadway’s Foxwoods Theatre, and based on numerous reviews of the performance, the preview wasn’t without its fair share of technical difficulties. Indeed, reports suggest that the performance was halted at least five times due to technical glitches, resulting in a shockingly long three-and-a-half hour running time.

The Hollywood Reporter notes one particular incident in which Spider-Man, played by Reeve Carney, was left dangling over the audience at the conclusion of Act I. Crew members spent nearly a minute securing Carney, with stage manager C. Randall White reportedly stopping the act early and suggesting that he wanted to try the stunt again. Instead of a repeat performance, however, a 45-minute intermission was called.

White called for another pause once again during the second act, prompting one audience member to shout: “I don’t know how everyone else feels, but I feel like a guinea pig today — I feel like it’s a dress rehearsal.” The woman’s comments were reportedly met with boos.

The New York Times interviewed various audience members following the performance, with several interviewees stating that they would hold off on recommending the show to friends until improvements were made. One interviewee, an acting teacher in Manhattan, believed that certain problems are too fundamental to be corrected quickly.

“The story-telling is really unclear and I found it hard to understand exactly what was going on and why certain things were happening,” he said.

In defense of the show, a 6-year-old attendee said that “parts of it were really exciting … I’ve never seen people flying before.”

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