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  • FRIDAY APRIL 20 2007 2:00 PM

Webs Over Broadway: Spidey Gets the Musical Treatment

Submitted by _DictionaryGirl_

Edited by erin_broadley

Tags: Spider-man, musical, Broadway, horrors



Hey, remember when they made High Fidelity: The Musical and it was a wildly popular box-office success? Oh, wait, it was cancelled after eleven days. Okay, but remember when they made that Bob Dylan musical and it was universally well-received and celebrated? Oh, wait, no, that one was cancelled, too. Well, all right, but at least Broadway has learned from its mistakes and will no longer dabble in the sort of genres with which it has no business dabbling. Oh, wait...

A reading of the new musical Spider-Man will take place in New York City July 12 and 13, Playbill.com has learned.

A casting notice reveals the "29-hour rehearsed reading" will begin rehearsals July 2 for the two-day event.

As previously reported, Julie Taymor will direct the forthcoming musical version of the Marvel Comics hero with music provided by Bono and The Edge of the band U2. According to the notice, Glen Berger — playwright of Underneath The Lintel and The Wooden Breeks — will join Taymor on the book. (Neil Jordan — of "The Crying Game" fame — had previously been attached.) Taymor consistent collaborator Matthias "Teese" Gohl ("Across The Universe," "Frida," "Titus"wink will serve as musical supervisor.


Okay but in all fairness, who doesn't think of Spider-Man and immediately think of U2 and The Crying Game? No? Well, moving on then!

So as we can see, they're still just in the casting stage at this point. The call requirements listed on Playbill range from admittedly cute (check out the "geek chorus" parts) to kind of terrifying:

Arachne: "a beautiful, boastful young woman turned into a spider for her hubris and lack of respect for the gods...appears to Peter Parker and the audience as in turn a powerful spider-woman who comes from another time to inspire Peter; an otherworldly lover; a bride; a terrifying (and sexy) dark goddess of vengeance; a dance partner in a charged and violent spiders dance of death...e.g., Sinead O'Connor."


Uh, that's not the way I remembered her, but that's cool. Either way, is anyone else just dying now to see how this is going to pan out? I say it has "hands-down recipe for success" written all over it. What could possibly go wrong?

Recommended Viewing: Another gruesome casualty along the wayside of the "What If Pop Culture Had a Soundtrack" experiment. Let this be a lesson. History is doomed to repeat what it fails to remember. Never forget.

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Comments
gordond

gordond

Seattle, WA
January 2007

APR 20, 2007 02:05 PM

It's a darn shame the show was closed.

I think a lot of shows are canceled prematurely, a lot like on television where if they don't get a quick payoff they give up. That way of thinking would have killed Seinfeld after its first season.

Margot_Dent

Margot_Dent

Los Angeles, CA
February 2004

APR 20, 2007 02:16 PM

that picture by the article title is hilarious, i was watching that video on loop for like 5 minutes yesterday.

SignalNoise

SignalNoise

USA
February 2004

APR 20, 2007 02:32 PM

This is such a mad, preposterous idea I feel compelled to embrace it. And the more overwrought and impressionistic it is - the better.

Kolic

Kolic

Broken Arrow, OK
July 2004

APR 20, 2007 02:50 PM

Yeah...I kinda want to see what comes of it. Same with Last Starfighter the Musical...mainly because a friend and I came up with what we want to see for the Death Blossom scene: midgets in red lamme (that foily cloth stuff) running around and stopping in different kung fu type poses and saying "Death Blossom!" in a whispery type voice when they do.

So...yeah...um...yeah.

st_even

st_even

Milwaukee, WI
September 2006

APR 20, 2007 02:55 PM

The Lord of the Rings did all right in Canada. =/

SomethingStupid

SomethingStupid

North Hollywood, CA
March 2004

APR 20, 2007 03:45 PM

Eh. Taymor did The Lion King and turned that into an show that is still is all over the place and supposedly a classic. I've not liked all of her films, but she's certainly a visual master. It's the kind of thing that could turn out spectacular and could be an embarrassment of epic proportions and that's always exciting. I dunno. I'd rather plays take huge risks and stretch their boundries. Not that there's anything at all wrong with the more traditional plays, but it's fun to see people do something really nuts and find out whether or not it works.

Cigarette

Cigarette

Cleveland, OH
April 2004

APR 20, 2007 03:56 PM

TedKoppel said:
Eh. Taymor did The Lion King and turned that into an show that is still is all over the place and supposedly a classic. I've not liked all of her films, but she's certainly a visual master. It's the kind of thing that could turn out spectacular and could be an embarrassment of epic proportions and that's always exciting. I dunno. I'd rather plays take huge risks and stretch their boundries. Not that there's anything at all wrong with the more traditional plays, but it's fun to see people do something really nuts and find out whether or not it works.



If you want to see something new and risky, check out Will Eno's Thom Pain (based on nothing). Taymor's Lion King wasn't risky or boundar-stretching, it was just really good. And I expect about the same from this. As well as Across the Universe, which appears to be shaping up to be Mamma Mia only with the Beatles' music and on film.

So we've lost Mamet, LaBute, we're losing Rivera, Taymor... damned shame. What's next, Caryl Churchill writes a Children of the Corn remake?

sugar_on_asphalt

sugar_on_asphalt

Dekalb, IL
June 2003

APR 20, 2007 04:30 PM

Aaaaaaaa-hahahaha! The High Fidelty musical kills me. Jesus Christ, what a terrible idea.

I'm still waiting for the musical version of The Princess Bride to come out. Now THAT would be awesome.

StudentDriver

StudentDriver

Greenwood, IN
June 2004

APR 20, 2007 04:36 PM

This can't be a worse idea than the Captain America musical that was planned in the 1980s.

ShadowsLightness

ShadowsLightness

USA
May 2005

APR 20, 2007 05:02 PM

No no no no no NO! *Hits head against wall*

el_duderino2

el_duderino2

Kyrgyzstan
April 2006

APR 20, 2007 05:04 PM

lion king, the producers (although that is obviously related) spamalot, how many musicals are based on something else?

just about 100 %

Spidey the musical would hilarious with a capital hilarious. biggrin

CptPyjama

CptPyjama

United Kingdom
October 2006

APR 20, 2007 05:19 PM

Spider-Man the Musical?

...


...


I was fourteen when me and some friends attempted to write X-Men the Musical. Admittedly it had parody songs... but I bet ours was better.

ckdexterhaven

ckdexterhaven

USA
December 2005

APR 20, 2007 05:38 PM

U2+Spiderman=weird

Cigarette

Cigarette

Cleveland, OH
April 2004

APR 20, 2007 05:42 PM

el_duderino2 said:
lion king, the producers (although that is obviously related) spamalot, how many musicals are based on something else?

just about 100 %



Company, Grease, Avenue Q, A Jew Grows in Brooklyn...

Look at what's playing on Broadway right now, approximately 50% of the musicals right now are not based on famous people's lives, existing music, or another well known literary work.

brandxofttl

brandxofttl

Scranton, PA
March 2007

APR 20, 2007 11:27 PM

Ok, for anyone who thought even for a split second that this was even a slightly decent idea, did you not read the part about a spider-woman appearing to Petey to be his "otherworldly lover" and "dance partner" in a violent-spider-death-dance-orgy-rave-of-doom? I've been collecting comics since I was 8 and I don't ever recall even a mention of this bitch. I know the writers are trying to be "deep" by throwing some Greek mythology in there, but you're writing Spider-Man: The Musical. Seriously, don't overexert yourself.

To say this musical would be "based on" Spider-Man is like saying The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was based on the life of Ed Gein. I just wish people who have no sense of history or loyalty to books, movies, comics, etc. would just leave them the fuck alone. Not everything lends itself to adaptation.

Alright, geek rant over. I apologize.

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