Spiderman: Turned of the Plot
Im told they spent 60 million on this show. After seeing it, I can only imagine that not much of the 60 million went into the writing of the script or that nobody was honest enough with the people in charge to honestly say to them "Hey... plot actually matters." You can have all of the costumes, special effects, flashy sets and great performances... but without a good story, none of this matters. Before I rant... I have to say; Great casting and Great performances. Rant and I VERY rarely do this: This show doesnt know what it is. Is it about Comic book characters or cartoon caricatures? Is it about Peter Parker or about four unknown, weird kids that pop up every time the crew needs to arrange the complex set behind the curtain. Is the villain the Green Goblin or the Spider lady? They spent a great deal of time developing a very entertaining villain only to kill him off quickly before the first act begins. They introduce four kids that ramble on and on about who or what they think Spiderman should be... Why? I can understand that they needed a device to keep us occupied while they made their set changes, but this was completely distracting. It just cheapened the Spiderman Myth by force-feeding the idea that all of this is coming from these four idiots having a little brainstorming session. And then... We never find out what happens to these four idiots because the acid trip induced Spider Ladies prance onto the stage and proclaim "We are going to take over the story now." There were about 7 interruptions during the show including a woman who screamed because she felt she had paid for a preview and not a dress-rehearsal. I have to agree. I expect a generous amount of pauses and re-sets during a dress-rehearsal, but not during a preview. A preview should be about seeing what works, and getting audience reaction, not about seeing IF it works. I hope they re-write this baby before January because right now, the tail is wagging the dog. The sets, effects and costumes should serve the story, not the other way around. Dont kill off your bad guy until the end. Especially a really good bad guy. He was funny, and fun to watch. Get rid of the spider-lady. It makes no sense having her there. And the dream sequences... please. For 60 million dollars can someone tell a story that doesnt have a dream sequence? Ditch the four goons and find a better device for keeping the audience occupied while waiting for the set change. Okay... rant over.

Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark on Sunday, Nov 28th, 2010