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  2. Originally posted by aussiemofo:Featuring the hits:
    A Spiderman and a Woman
    Drowning Spiderman
    SpiderBoy/Girl
    Stuck In A Web You Can't Get Out Of
    and the smash hit
    Spidey Bloody Spidey.


    I've only just read that post,
  3. The first official announcement of the Spider-Man musical has confirmed a February 2010 opening at Broadway's Hilton Theater -- although at this point, one of the only bits of news revealed about the much-discussed tuner is the fact that the show has a subtitle.

    Helmed by Julie Taymor (The Lion King), Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark will have music and lyrics by Bono and The Edge, both of U2. Taymor and Glen Berger (Underneath the Lintel) pen the book.

    No casting was confirmed, although on red carpets Rachel Evan Wood has been talking up her role in the musical. Many legiters expect Wood to play Spidey's love interest Mary Jane Watson opposite Jim Sturgess as Peter Parker. The duo co-starred in Taymor's 2007 pic Across the Universe.

    Plot details of Spider-Man remain sketchy, outside of the fact that the show will retell the Marvel superhero's origin story about a nerdy teen bitten by a radioactive spider.

    Design elements include sets by George Tsypin (The Little Mermaid), costumes by Eiko Ishioka (M. Butterfly), lights by Donald Holder (Lion King) and sound by Jonathan Deans (Cirque du Soleil's Beatles show Love). Daniel Ezralow (Across the Universe) choreographs.

    Capitalization costs for the megabudget tuner remain unconfirmed, although the production is said to come in at north of $35 million.

    Hello Entertainment/David Garfinkle, Martin McCallum, Marvel Entertainment/David Maisel, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Jeremiah Harris produce in association with Omneity Entertainment/Richard Weinberg, the Mayerson/Gould/Hauser/Tyscoe Group, Patricia Lambrecht and Jam Theatricals/S2BN Entertainment.


    © RBI, 2009.
  4. Originally posted by http://modernfabulousity.blogspot.com/2009/03/stage-addiction-inside-preview-of.htmlStage Addiction: Inside the Preview of "Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark" With U2's Bono and The Edge

    You know, some days I really like my job.

    This evening, after seeing a matinee of Exit The King (more on that challenging, exciting, difficult, witty, utterly brilliant production later), I headed down to The Times Center on 41st Street for a special sneak preview of Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, the new mega-musical opening next January at Broadway's Hilton Theatre. The talent is tremendous -- Julie Taymor (The Lion King) directing, Eiko Ishioka (Coppola's Dracula and the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony) on costumes, and, of course, U2's Bono and The Edge, composing their first-ever score for the stage. I think it's safe to say that no other musical this decade has generated more excitement or interest, and its pre-sales -- currently available only through specialty groups -- are through the roof.

    But is it any good? Are the casting rumors true? Will Taymor's vision please both fanboys and theatre queens? Your intrepid editor was about to find out...and perhaps shake hands with Bono. (Hot!)

    The presentation began with Taymor, who spoke at length about the elements that drew her to the project...essentially, the classical structure of Peter Parker's journey from everyman to hero. Unlike Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films (which moved from the story's comic book roots toward a more naturalistic, real-world interpretation), Taymor is, unsurprisingly, going the other way -- embracing the webcrawler's inherent theatricality, and placing him inside a stylized New York City populated with heroes and (multiple) supervillains.

    The set designs, displayed on the huge projection screen in the photo above, drew inspiration from the pop-art colors and the lines of comic book panels while playing with multiple perspectives. Ishioka's costumes were breathtaking -- a rogues gallery of the villains that appear onstage in the musical received audible gasps from the audience, including the Green Goblin, Lizard, Kraven, Swarm, and a new female villain created at the behest of Taymor, Swiss Miss (dressed in immaculate white dominatrix gear and multiple knives...hot!). Fans of Dr. Octopus and Sandman should know, however, that neither made an appearance in the presentation, although Taymor hinted at a special villain yet to be identified who appears in the piece.

    Taymor addressed the question on everyone's mind right away: will Spider-Man spin webs and fly through the air? The answer was a resounding yes...the character will swing through the theatre and over the audience. She then showed a video from last year's top-secret "flying workshop" in Los Angeles, where she, stunt designers from the Spider-Man movies, and aerialists from Cirque du Soleil spent two weeks in a studio lot working on "webslinger technology" for the musical. The results were pretty impressive...the wires are visible, but the moves are so stunning you forget them very fast. I'm only one opinion, but I loved the effect. Can't wait to see it with all of the production elements next January!

    After a rambling, geektastic speech by book writer Glen Berger, there was nothing left but to hear the songs. To wild applaus, Taymor introduced Bono and The Edge, and the two men ambled out onto the stage. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day -- these two global superstars, who have played stadiums all over the world and won every award imaginable, actually seemed a little nervous playing these songs to an audience for the first time! They were, if you can imagine it, even a little adorable, like kids with a new toy...playful, smart, interesting, and genuinely excited to be working on a stage musical. (Bono mentioned that they first got the idea to do a musical from Andrew Lloyd Webber, and name-dropped Rodgers and Hammerstein in their opening remarks.)

    Bono and The Edge previewed eight songs (five in their entirety and three snippets) over speakers in what sounded like prerecorded studio demos. The vocals, however, were sung live by five unknown actors who, Taymor mentioned, had only had one day of rehearsal. (This quintet was not, necessarily, part of the cast; she also mentioned that they had just started the audition process, and throughout the day there was never a reference to ANY possible cast members...not even the oft-mentioned Evan Rachel Wood and Jim Sturgess.)

    My favorite songs included two beautiful ballads written for Peter Parker which bookended the presentation, "Rise Above" and "Boy Falls From The Sky." Both were incredibly successful at marrying story to lyric; they also managed to simultaneously sound like U2 rock tracks AND Broadway classics. I also liked the title ballad, "Turn Off The Dark," a minor-chord metaphor for heroism, and an uptempo rocker, "Bouncing Off The Walls," which will have Peter taking the title literally...with walls that move to accomodate his bouncing!

    Less successful were a character number called "Bullying By Numbers," a percussive track called "Pull The Trigger," and a ballad that (I think) was called "If The World Should End." The latter might have just been the female performer, who had breathing problems and sang out of tune for long sections. It's hard to evaluate songs that haven't yet been taken to the production level, so I reserve the right to change my opinions, for good or ill, once it opens!

    All in all, though, I was thoroughly impressed...energized, even, by Taymor's thoughtful approach to the material, the dynamic execution of the designers, and the palpable energy of the production team. Can we dare to hope that Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark might be a great musical in the making? A week ago, I didn't imagine such a thing was possible. Today, I'm not only thinking it. I'm betting on it.


  5. Those titles sound amazing. I can't wait to see what these sound like! Thanks for posting yeah!

  6. Bono's unconvincing musical

    U2 singer Bono has failed to impress his bandmate Larry Mullen Jr. with his 'Spider-Man' musical soundtrack.

    Bono's bandmates are "not convinced" by his 'Spider-Man' musical.

    The U2 singer and guitarist The Edge have been working on a soundtrack for forthcoming stage production 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark' but drummer Larry Mullen Jr. doesn't understand why they took on the project.

    He said: "I'm not convinced about that. I think it's a Bono and Edge project and I think that's really valuable and really good. But I wouldn't have chosen 'Spider-Man' as my theatrical debut. I would have loved to have worked with Cirque du Soleil or something more left field."

    However, Bono is hopeful of changing his bandmate's mind - he wants to release the soundtrack as the next U2 album as he believes it could be as successful as The Who's famous rock opera 'Tommy'.

    He said: "If we do, it'll be a monster, because it's the most accessible music we've probably ever written. It could be our 'Tommy'. We could do it with guest stars and everything."

    Despite the singer's optimism, Larry remains unconvinced.

    He added to the Irish Independent newspaper: "It's not my project, so I'd have to come in on it and become a session musician, and I'm not good at that.

    "But I'll listen to a good argument any day. That's what U2 has been doing for over 20 years; we've argued our way to the top, you could say."



    Copyright (C) bangshowbiz.com 2009.
  7. Tony's Rehearsal Gives Surprise SPIDEY on Broadway Preview

    By Michael Doran
    posted: 08 June 2009 11:17 am ET

    People in attendance of Sunday afternoon's full dress rehearsal of the 2009 Tony Awards got an unexpected video preview of the planned 2010 Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn of the Dark, which will be directed by Julie Taymor (The Lion King) with a score by U2's Bono and The Edge.

    In a segment that apparently was not aired during the live television broadcast Sunday evening, interview footage of Taymor, Bono, and the Edge was show on Radio City Music Hall's giant video screens.

    Newsarama contributor Michael Avila, who attends the dress rehearsal annually with his wife Cindi, picks up the story from there...

    "So during the down time in what will be the commercial breaks, they run various video clips, Avila writes on his Popzone blog. "Some are old TV spots for long-forgotten Broadway shows like Timbuktu. Others are promos for upcoming shows. Imagine my fanboy surprise when an image of Spider-Man showed up on the massive Radio City screens.

    "Then they played a montage reel that showed Bono, Edge, and Taymor discussing the show and what they plan/hope it will be. They had video of actors in harnesses flying through the air on wires, along with some special effects that looked to be in the early stages. There was also a shot of a drawing of Spidey's Rogue's Gallery, featuring familiar faces such as Electro, Carnage and Sandman."

    Avila goes on to summarize what little information exists about the show's book (Broadway terminology for script/storyline) or casting, other than it will involve the 'With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility' angle and that actress Evan Rachel Wood has done some public campaigning for the role of Mary Jane. But what details could be gleamed from the footage?

    "For one, it looks to have visual effects unlike anything Broadway's ever seen (makes sense, with the estimated $40 million price tag)," writes Avila. "There were two shots shown (one of which I caught in a pic) that featured these effects.

    "More important, I glimpsed one guy flying around with some kind of wingspan, not in any way resembling how Spidey would look web-swinging around town. My first instinct was this was a look at one of the villains in the show.

    "The Vulture, maybe? Morbius?? The Green Goblin perhaps, although it did not look like someone sitting on any type of Glider."

    "Obviously this is all speculation, but I can certainly picture a story that includes several familiar foes tackling Webhead on stage," concludes the accidental spy. "Regardless, this is one of the more fascinating events to appear on the pop culture radar in some time, because of the sheer risk involved. I can easily see this being either a tremendous success or a humongous flop."

    Check out Avila's blog for this full account of the story, along with a few more photos taken from his iPhone from the Radio City mezzanine.

    http://www.newsarama.com/comics/090608-spiderman-broadway.html


    A few pictures on his blog:

    http://popzone.blogspot.com/2009/06/exclusive-spider-man-broadway-musical.html
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