SPIDEY ON BROADWAY: GOOD NEWS TURNS TO DISASTER

The Broadway production of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, which is due to open officially on January 11, appeared to get off to an auspicious start with a featured segment on Sunday’s 60 Minutes and the debut of commercials for the show in the New York area. But the late-night newscasts in the city were abuzz with reports about what a disaster the first night’s preview had become. The already delayed preview of the $65-million production was stopped four times in the first act and once in the second, and the intermission lasted more than twice as long as usual. The New York Post‘s Michael Riedel indicated that the problems were not limited to the equipment that allowed the stars to fly over the stage and over the audience. Riedel also complained of “a dull score and baffling script.” The New York Times quoted one audience member as saying, “The story-telling is really unclear and I found it hard to understand exactly what was going on and why certain things were happening.” During one of the down periods, one heckler shouted from her seat: “I feel like a guinea pig tonight. I feel like it’s a dress rehearsal.” Tickets for the previews are selling for $140.