Michael Cohl News

Sources tell BroadwayWorld.com that behind the scenes talks have been 'making progess' and that the cast, which has not been made aware yet of the specifics, has been told to expect that announcement to come tomorrow (Wednesday) as was promised on Friday.

Monday night, the New York Times is reporting that discussions and negotiations are underway for director and co-bookwriter Julie Taymor to either 'work with a newly expanded creative team to fix the critically derided $65 million musical or to possibly leave the show.' The paper reports all of this to anonymous sources as the producers have insisted that the talks are private, but they do note that for the first time Bono himself is directly involved in the negotiations. As to the possibilities of Taymor departing or accepting help, they note that as of Monday night, 'they were not sure if Ms. Taymor would stay or go as director'.

After five delays, the show is currently scheduled to open on March 15th, 2011, but rumors have said that the show will likely be delayed again, possibly to June of 2011. A delay past April 28th would make it inelligible for this year's Tony Awards. Now, multiple sources tell us that the show is likely to announce that further delay this week, probably to June of 2011.

Word went out earlier this week that Bono, who wrote the music and lyrics for SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK attended the show on Tuesday night to analyze the musical's progress since he last attended the production to lend his help in January, along with rumors last week (denied by the production) that they were bringing on additional team members for the book/production. As for whether the producers would delay the opening of the show yet again, spokesperson Rick Miramontez, said that, 'all decisions are made as a group.'

The hits just keep on coming for SPIDER-MAN, but some help is on the way to the show. The New York Times is reporting and we've confirmed that the show has officially brought on Paul Bogaev, a multi-award winning music director-producer, arranger and composer to work on improving the show's many sound issues, including to 'help improve the performance, vocal and orchestration arrangements, and sound quality of the songs and numbers'. Word has also been coming from multiple sources that it's expected that the production will officially announce another delay later in the week (it's sixth) that might push the official opening as far forward as AFTER this year's Tony Awards. The Times is also reporting that 'Bono and Edge are writing new music for 'Spider-Man' now, but Mr. Miramontez said that Mr. Bogaev's role was far greater than adding that music once it is ready. No significant additions have been made to the score so far.'

It's Roger Friedman at Showbiz411 vs. Michael Riedel at the New York Post today. Friedman writes that 'I spoke to Julie Taymor this morning. She was working on some changes with her own co-writer, Glenn Berger. She told me she's had lots of input about changes from friends and colleagues. 'No one has been hired or is being hired,' Taymor said. 'The director they mentioned is a friend of Michael Cohl's. I'm sure he asked his opinion. When a show's in previews, everyone gives their opinion. Try this, that. And the other guy, I've never even heard of him.'

After what's reported as two sold out shows yesterday, the cast of SPIDER-MAN will be back at work in rehearsal this afternoon, on tech work on the still being tweaked 'Deeply Furious', flying work, understudy rehearsals and more. The cast is also working on new scene work as well, with unspecified changes coming to the script of the show, which despite the reviews earlier this week remains fully committed to going forward and to doing more work on the show until their official opening on March 15th. There's no word however if any substantial changes are planned for any of the issues that were raised across the board by multiple critics.

After many major newspapers published their reviews for SPIDER-MAN Turn Off the Dark on Tuesday, other major news outlets are picking up on the buzz: the $65 million (and counting) spectacle was essentially lambasted across the board. With a headline that screamed 'THE NATIONAL JOKE', NBC's The Today Show spoke with critic Ben Brantley and producer Michael Cohl, and had a look at the reviews, saying '[The reviewers note that] the show is 'hanging on by a thread'...'laughable'...and these are the good ones.' Watch the segment below!

SPIDER-MAN's lead producer, Michael Cohl spoke exclusively to Entertainment Weekly and told them that 'Any of the people who review the show and say that it has no redeeming value are just not legitmate reviewers, period. It's hard to have people that don't get pop culture reviewing a pop culture event, isn't it?'

In the New York Times, Ben Brantley writes that 'You are of course entitled to disagree with our decision. But from what I saw on Saturday night, 'Spider-Man' is so grievously broken in every respect that it is beyond repair. Fans of Ms. Taymor's work on the long-running musical 'The Lion King,' adapted from the animated Walt Disney feature, will have to squint charitably to see evidence of her talent. True, signature Taymor touches like airborne puppets, elaborate masks and perspective-skewing sets (George Tsypin is the scenic designer) are all on hand. But they never connect into a comprehensible story with any momentum. Often you feel as if you were watching the installation of Christmas windows at a fancy department store. At other times the impression is of being on a soundstage where a music video is being filmed in the early 1980s. (Daniel Ezralow's choreography is pure vintage MTV.)

In USA Today, Elysa Gardner bucks the trend thus far and writes that 'And while the state-of-the-art visuals can be stunning - not just the aerial sequences, but Kyle Cooper's blazing projection design - some of the most affecting touches are low-tech. Before Spider-Man first takes flight, the dancers doing his stunts leap and twitch like giddy children perfecting a new trick. Bono and Edge's songs aspire to the same emotional sweep. In a USA TODAY interview in November, Bono described the 'operatic' scope of U2's music. There are tunes here, melodic and undeniably theatrical, that confirm that determination to transcend sentimentality that links them to tunesmiths from Bruce Springsteen to Rodgers and Hammerstein. For more, tune in again in March. But know this for now: Spider-Man's creative team is trying to bring musical theater back to the future. And that's a mission worth rooting for.'

In the Hollywood Reporter David Rooney writes that 'But mostly, Spider-Man is chaotic, dull and a little silly. And there's nothing here half as catchy as the 1967 ABC cartoon theme tune. The absence of the word 'musical' from Taymor's definition of the show seems key. The songs by Bono and The Edge display minimal grasp of music's function in goosing narrative or illuminating character. And despite all the wailing-guitar attitude, they only squeak by as atmospheric enhancement. Aside from one or two stirring anthems in familiar messianic U2 mode, this is strictly album filler, with echoes of everyone from T. Rex to Alice Cooper, plus an occasional nod to The Who's Tommy. The lyrics - when you can decipher them - are either too vague or too literal. But an underwhelming score is the least of the show's worries. What really sinks it is the borderline incoherence of its storytelling. ' Click Here for His Full Report.

Here's what Charles McNulty had to say for the LA Times: But the time has come to assess the work, not the hullabaloo surrounding it. So much emphasis has been placed on the technological hurdles, the notion that 'Spider-Man' is trying things that have never been attempted before in a Broadway house. What sinks the show, however, has nothing to do with glitches in the special effects. To revise a handy little political catch phrase, 'It's the storytelling, stupid.' And on that front, the failure rests squarely on Taymor's run-amok direction. This is, after all, her vision, and it's a vision that has been indulged with too many resources, artistic and financial. The production, lacking the clarity that's born out of tough choices, adds when it should subtract, accelerates when it should slow down. Taymor's inventive staging of 'The Lion King' was a victory for the craft and commerce of theater alike. But the investors of 'Spider-Man' have inadvertently bankrolled an artistic form of megalomania.

Here's what Chris Jones had to say for the Chicago Tribune:'After the $65 million spent, the endless delays, the injuries, the cast changes, the incessant spinning of stories on the Web, Julie Taymor's 'Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark' now has to be willing to stand in the light. Deck chairs can be rearranged forever.

Here's what Jeremy Gerard had to say for Bloomberg:'Preview number 65 was no improvement over number 30. In fact, it was worse. After all this expenditure of talent and money, 'Spider- Man' is probably unfixable because too much has gone into making humans fly, which is not what they are good at. It imitates poorly what the 'Spider-Man' movies do brilliantly with computer graphics -- and without putting live actors in jeopardy.

Here's what the Washington Post had to say:If you're going to spend $65 million and not end up with the best musical of all time, I suppose there's a perverse distinction in being one of the worst. What's apparent after 170 spirit-snuffing minutes in the Foxwoods Theatre - interrupted by the occasional burst of aerial distraction - is that director Julie Taymor, of 'The Lion King' fame, left a few essential items off her lavish shopping list:

BroadwayWorld.com was the first to report that multiple critics from major newspapers have indeed purchased tickets in recent days to SPIDER-MAN: Turn Off the Dark, and they have come out in force. All but a few papers have filed reviews timed to tonight's performance which was, until the most recent delay, scheduled to be the show's opening night. Here are all the reviews for SPIDER-MAN: Turn Off the Dark to date and we'll keep updating as new ones come in.

BroadwayWorld.com has learned that multiple critics from major newspapers have indeed purchased tickets in recent days to SPIDER-MAN: Turn Off the Dark, and amongst those expected to publish reviews in tomorrow's newspapers will be The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and The New York Post. Early word is that the reviews are expected to be negative. These reviews will be timed to hit after tonight's performance which was, until the most recent delay, scheduled to be the show's opening night.

Well, the major Broadway critics haven't gone in (yet) but now the UK Telegraph is the latest paper to break the gentleman's agreement of holding reviews until after the official opening, an agreement which generally assumes a typical amount of previews. Well-known UK Critic Charles Spencer writes that 'Never mind turning off the dark. I spent much of this dreadful new musical muttering Please, Lord, make it stop.'

On Twitter Watch, Nikki Hayden wrote 'iam_nikkihayden At Spiderman on B'way and Spiderman is stuck at 30 feet. Show is delayed - not impressed. 19 minutes ago iam_nikkihayden @BroadwaySpotted I'm at Spidey right now and Peter is stuck 30 feet and the show is stopped. 20 minutes ago '