[CHEERS] Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
This has been on my list of things to see since I first heard about it. Lucky for me, I have a girlfriend who can stomach my inner nerd. She took me to see Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark as part of her Christmas gift to me. Awesome, I know. Here’s my review, which happens to be the first thing I’ve ever reviewed:
WARNING - CONTAINS SPOILERS
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is described as the most expensive Broadway production in history, an exciting rock musical featuring music and lyrics by U2’s Bono and The Edge accompanied by 27 highly technical aerial sequences. The entire play is seen through the eyes of 4 high school kids who are recreating the hero’s story, which in turn plays out like a 3-D graphic novel… it was pretty cool.
Plot: Peter Parker is your angsty, misunderstood high school boy who is constantly being bullied by the school jocks. Low and behold, Peter’s class takes a trip to Oscorp Industries, where they are given a tour of the lab conducting experiments on genetic engineering. Conveniently, a spider whose DNA was altered to have superhuman strength, agility, perfect balance and equilibrium escapes and bites him. You know the story. Peter takes notice of his new powers the next morning after waking up on the ceiling, he arrives at school booming with confidence and pummels the bullies in what I thought was a very hysterical and entertaining fight scene. Parker then enters a wrestling match for a chance to win $1,000, so he may purchase a motorcycle and impress his crush, the red-headed girl next door, Mary Jane Watson. After making mincemeat of professional wrestler Bonesaw McGraw, Peter refuses to stop [main jock] Flash’s car, which is stolen by an unnamed thief on his way home right before his Uncle Ben is tragically struck and killed by said car. The play introduces the character Arachne. No, not the Marvel character Julie Carpenter formally known as Spider-Woman but the Greco-Roman mythological Arachne, a great mortal weaver who was turned into a creature that was half woman and half spider. Arachne gives Spider-Man his costume and the crime fighting begins, only to soon be interrupted by the Green Goblin, a self genetic altering experiment conducted by Dr. Norman Osborne that goes horribly wrong. After declining Dr. Osborne’s offer to work hand-in-hand in cleaning up the city, the Green Goblin forms the Sinister Six (or seven in this case). Spider-Man defeats them all in a short rock montage right before surrendering his powers to live a normal life with Mary Jane Watson. After revealing that she has a secret crush on Peter Parker, Arachne resurrects the Sinister Six (seven) and once again to bring Peter to the realization that he is destined to be Spider-Man. He then sets out to defeat them, again, before freeing Arachne from her curse by surrendering himself to save Mary Jane Watson.
Overall I enjoyed the story and the addition of the Sinister Six, but at times the play felt like it dragged on. The aerial sequences were amazing and well choreographed, we were sitting in what was considered the “flying circle” and were able to get pretty close to Spidey a few times. Some of the Arachne bits were boring and seemed almost unnecessary, but like I said, the majority of it was enjoyable. Most important, for a play that in the beginning was having major technical issues and several injuries, our run was flawless and there were no pauses.
Score: 4.5 / 5
Acting: I don’t know much about acting but you could tell that it was definitely well rehearsed. The casting, in my opinion, was spot on. There’s not much I could say here. My only complaint is that it felt like a high school play when the 4 students recreating the story took the stage, which was only a few very short scenes.
Score: 4.5 / 5
Music: The music was all written by U2’s Bono and The Edge. The songs were mainly catchy rock anthems with a few slow bits, played live by an electric guitar and bass off to the side of the stage. The singing was great, although I feel that the actor who played Peter Parker sounded a bit raspy (while singing) for the part. Overall the music was definitely a good fit to the artistic comic book feel that the play was aiming to achieve.
Score: 4 / 5
I highly recommend going to see Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark if you don’t mind spending about $80.00 on a ticket. As a Marvel fan and Spidey fanboy, I thoroughly enjoyed the play. My girlfriend who probably couldn’t name 3 Marvel character off the top of her head also loved it, so it’s really for everyone. Go see it.
Overall Score: 4.5 / 5
