Hate the game, not the playa…or play. Spider Man: Turn Off the Dark has had its fair share of doubters, whether it was a critic hurrying to be the first to condemn the stage adaptation or embittered comic book fans who felt the musical took too many liberties with the source material. The blockbuster did not do much to prevent the first inklings of doubt. There was the teetering on the cliff overlooking development hell, a Broadway master who willingly ignored the original comics, a line of lawyers lying in wait behind every ambulance that arrived at the Foxwoods Theatre, and a record 182 preview performances.
Yet, Spider Man tickets are still on sale for year two. Bono and the Edge still have managed to build a pleasing soundtrack for the general audience and this is still an action/musical Broadway opera taking advantage of wire-fighting acrobatics. The musical had much more going for it than against it, which is why none of the disasters and missteps could derail the Michael Cohl and Jeremiah Harris production.
The show is going to continue to gross more than $2 million a week. I am at this rate the producers will be announcing the rock musical has broken even, perhaps finally dismissing the persistent rumor that Spider Man will go down as a Broadway bust. Ultimately, Broadway has the same measure of success as Hollywood and the recording industry – sales numbers. So, no matter if critics deride the score or Saturday Night Live and Tony Award skits parody the production, the producers, creative team, and actors and actresses will have the last laugh as Spider Man the musical heads into Year Three, inspires a West End production, and has tours traversing the United States concurrently.
