Broadway’s ‘Spider-Man’ gets off to shaky start

David Ng at our sister blog, Culture Monster, has been keeping tabs on Broadway’s $65 million “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” to see if the new musical can in fact do whatever a spider can… 

"Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" actor Reeve Carney at the Foxwoods Theatre (Getty Images)

On Sunday, Broadway’s “Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark” began preview performances at the Foxwoods Theatre in New York. The event marks the first time that a paying public audience was able to experience the long-delayed stage musical. But according to reports in the New York press, the first performance was marred by a number of technical mishaps.

New York Post columnist Michael Riedel reported that “overhead stage wires dropped on the audience, scenery appeared on stage missing pieces — and the show’s star [Reeve Carney] was even left swaying helplessly over them midair during what was supposed to be the climatic end to the first act.”

Carney was left dangling for apparently close to a minute as stage hands attempted to free him from an aerial harness. The glitch prompted hoots and other derisive noises from the audience, according to reports. Once the actor was disentagled, an intermission was called.

Technical problems reportedly began early in the performance. One of the mishaps involved a scene with a character named Arachne, the spider whose bite transforms Peter Parker (Carney) into Spider-Man. The Post reported that an apparent wire malfunction left Arachne dangling in midair “where she remained for an embarrassing seven or eight minutes as stagehands worked feverishly to figure out the problem.”

THERE’S MORE, READ THE REST

– David Ng

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