Spider-Man rep speaks out on the "early" reviews

[tazber]

Posted: 2/8/11 at 1:00pm

“The PILE-ON by the critics was ridiculous and uncalled for. Their actions are unprecedented and UNCOOL!”
Link

[ljay889]

Posted: 2/8/11 at 1:01pm

Is he serious?

[wexy]

Posted: 2/8/11 at 1:09pm

And they were being kind.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 2/8/11 at 1:09pm

Critics respond: "Nana nana boo boo!"

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 2/8/11 at 1:09pm

The thing is, now that reviewers have decided when "Enough is enough!", what's to stop them from reviewing previews of other shows?

And if they don't start doing that, doesn't that add credence to the fact that, at least on some level, they did have it in for this show?

[newintown]

Posted: 2/8/11 at 1:24pm

"...what's to stop them from reviewing previews of other shows?"

Nothing, I suppose. Does it really matter, though?

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 2/8/11 at 1:25pm

PRS...before I had the misfortune of seeing this monstrosity I would have been concerned about those same issues. After seeing it, and hearing that no changes are being made to the incomprehensible book, I think it's more than time that the critics let the audience know what they are in for so they can avoid being duped.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 2/8/11 at 1:28pm

Point taken, Erik.

Newintown, no, I suppose it doesn't really matter. I still find the whole thing a little unseemly (I know, I know. "Wait till you see the show!")

[pvie]

Posted: 2/8/11 at 1:40pm

I'm a nobody here, just like to go to the theater every now and then. I've read the board often, but never commented before. I really dislike what the times did today. I saw the show last week. I didn't like it much to be honest, but Brantley's review is close to unprofessional. The show had no out of town tryouts and difficulties (technical or other) led them to delay the opening date to 3/15. I guess that at least they calculated that the likelihood of having a technical problem was still high, they needed to work on that. What's the problem with waiting until then? The NYT offers no explanation for their decision, then goes to the show and THAT preview has a technical problem which Brantley uses to pan the show. This is as classless as it gets. I would expect it from the Post, but the NYT? Really? The NYT? Again, I didn't like the show much, but now I wish that Brantley is just as right as he was about Wicked.

[Xman8]

Posted: 2/8/11 at 1:48pm

I think despite any efforts to demolish Spider-Man with bad press and bad reviews I still think it will be a commercial success. I mean Addams Family had equally bad reviews and still sells at capacity every week. I do, however, applaud the critics for having enough with the delays and just flat out reviewing it to give a message that the frequent delays just hurts your shows. I got tickets to the show and while it may seem that dramatically it doesn't hold up I still like to have a different theatre experience.

[sundaymorning6am]

Posted: 2/8/11 at 1:50pm

oh, please. those 'professionals' have reduced themselves to being bloggers with wider audiences. They bought their own ticket and wrote about it as they pleased. That's what a blogger does. Good job, guys.

[Scott Briefer]

Posted: 2/8/11 at 1:54pm

ErikJ972: Your comment about "no changes" is wrong. You are falsely believing those who have written that no work is being done on the book and the score of SMTOTD.

Several people who have seen the show multiple times have commented, here and elsewhere, that tremendous work has been done since the first preview and continues to be done. Why do you - and others - wish to perpetrate that lie?

You can hate the show. Your opinion - any opinion - is valid, but maintaining a malicious rumor - which can easily be proven to not being true - is just wrong.

You have written, on several occasions that words I've used make it hard to take me seriously. I don't lie and I don't spread false rumors. In all consciousness I can no longer take you seriously.
Updated On: 2/8/11 at 01:54 PM

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 2/8/11 at 2:01pm

Okay, what has changed book and/or score wise?

mean Addams Family had equally bad reviews and still sells at capacity every week.
Because of the cast. We have proof of this.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 2/8/11 at 2:02pm

Several people who have seen the show multiple times have commented, here and elsewhere, that tremendous work has been done since the first preview and continues to be done.

The only positive work that could be done on this show's book and score would have been to overhaul it entirely. And that has not been done. The creative team has even said so themselves. They seem to be completely satisfied with the product that they have created. Or have given up on it entirely and are choosing instead to just stop beating a dead horse. "People are going to come see it anyway" seems to be their mentality more than "Give the people what they want."

The reviews were kind. This show gets it wrong in so many ways, it's ridiculous. And it's about time the public knows the whole truth. Will it be hypocritical to avoid reviewing future shows in their preview period? Yeah. Did the critics have it out for this show maybe just a little bit? Possibly. But I don't blame them. Blatant carelessness on behalf of the entire creative and production team absolutely warrants this harsh criticism, sorry to say.

EDIT: And technical difficulties have no effect on the quality of the show. Having to stop the show for a few minutes to hoist an actor back onto the stage from being midair does not affect the book or the score. So I'm tired of hearing "But it's not finished! We're still working out technical kinks!" The problems lie, as every single critic has said, in the incomprehensible and humorless book and the dull as drying paint score, not the technical aspects. Updated On: 2/8/11 at 02:02 PM

[Scott Briefer]

Posted: 2/8/11 at 2:12pm

Both of your comments are just wrong. Not the opinion part... you are more than entitled to your opinion, but the speculation as to what's happened and the motives of the creatives.

Dislike the show. Offer you opinion. All of that's good and fair, but spreading malicious rumors that are just false isn't.

If you want a better analysis of what's changed, read some of the posts in the preview thread regarding just that. Or, better yet, ask someone who's in the know. Quickly, from what I know - and it's limited - they have made major changes... A scene has been cut. A new one added. Yet, another soon to be added. A flying sequence added. Many of the lines have been rewritten or tweaked. A song has been cut and several verses have changed on existing ones. Actor's intentions have changed, the pacing has changed and much of the technical issues have been worked out. AND, I am not even the expert on this subject.

I do know that the comments reported in the press that no changes were being made to the score and book are a lies. Don't believe everything you read.

Again, I am okay with people not liking Spider-Man, even hating it. I think it's really wrong to spread lies.


Updated On: 2/8/11 at 02:12 PM

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 2/8/11 at 2:22pm

But the book and score need so much more work than just a cut song, a few verses changed, a scene added, and lines tweaked. The book and score, as I saw them on December 19th, were unsalvageable. With another show this unbelievably bad, new writers should have been brought in. Another director could have given input. SOMETHING! But that. Hasn't. Happened.

Because it's Taymor, Bono, and the Edge at the helm, no fresh eyes laid a finger on the work. And that's precisely what it needed. These are the people who wrote this dreck in the first place. Of course they couldn't see how bad it was.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 2/8/11 at 2:22pm

Scott,

Please tell us what this tremendous work is, because, as far as I can tell from what everyone has posted, it's not a tremendous amount, it's hardly anything at all.

One of the reviews who saw it twice mentioned the same thing.

You keep SAYING things that you aren't backing up

"Both of your comments are just wrong. Not the opinion part... you are more than entitled to your opinion, but the speculation as to what's happened and the motives of the creatives

Again, Scott, you seem to know an awful lot about what the creative team is thinking.

Is there something you'd like to tell us?

Updated On: 2/8/11 at 02:22 PM

[uncageg]

Posted: 2/8/11 at 2:35pm

I seem to remember in one of these threads that someon was at the first preview and went again very recently and the song list was exactly the same. Did they cut the song but not take it out of the Playbill listing?

I really need to see this show.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 2/8/11 at 2:39pm

Did they actually release a statement including the word "UNCOOL" in all caps? Did they also call the critics "SOOOOO LAME" and say that they were "crampin' the show's STYLE," or that "I know you are, but what am I?"

[Kalimba]

Posted: 2/8/11 at 2:51pm

Oh boo-hoo Spider Man rep. I hear no one complaining about the Million plus dollars a week they've been raking in.

This show reminds me of Lestat. Elton John had no desire to change any of the score. Sounds like Bono is of the same ilk. If this is the attitude these "composers" take with regards to their Broadway shows, they have no business being on Broadway.

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 2/8/11 at 2:54pm

Sorry Scott. I'm not lying. I said no major changes have been made to the book or score. I'm not talking about a line being cut here and there...THE WHOLE BOOK NEEDS TO BE REWORKED!
Taymor's mistake is she didn't make a musical about spiderman. She made a musical about Arachne. With an incomprehensible plot. Julie Taymor has said herself (as you reported in you conversation with her) that she has no plans to change any of this and that it's confusing on purpose.
Unless the book goes the show is doomed. And people paying top price deserve to be warned they are going to see a mess.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/8/11 at 3:03pm

I'm looking forward to Isherwood's review of Good People tomorrow.

[blaxx]

Posted: 2/8/11 at 3:09pm

The NYT offers no explanation for their decision, then goes to the show and THAT preview has a technical problem which Brantley uses to pan the show

You obviously didn't read the review. An explanation was clearly given and Brantley trashed the whole thing, not one technical problem - please, don't be naive. He was going to trash it anyhow, he just did it earlier. Time management.

Let's not forget that most critics go see previews to review the show anyhow - some even go to the very first ones, they just follow the tradition to wait and publish until the announced preview performances are over.

And if nothing stops the show to have 2 years of previews, why should the critics? Good for them for letting audiences know what they're in for. The times of short term previews at discounted prices was left behind by producers, there's no reason why a critic couldn't review these performances too.

[Scott Briefer]

Posted: 2/8/11 at 3:10pm

"After seeing it, and hearing that no changes are being made to the incomprehensible book..."

You wrote "no" and not "no major"... However, you also wrote, "hearing". So, perhaps you are not lying, but you are continuing a falsehood: changes are being made. "Major" is a matter of opinion.

[PitPro2004]

Posted: 2/8/11 at 3:11pm

Generally speaking, I think it's a real shame that audience members now are going to buy tickets to this show harboring the same feeling that make people reminisce about "where was I when Kennedy got shot". It's no longer about making art. Even if every possible review or re-review yet to come out were to be positive, where is the artistic value? What possible pay off could there be at this point?

I haven't seen the show and not sure I want to, but I have to admit that looking at the production photos...well...the sets and costumes look like leftovers from the Beetlejuice movie with Michael Keaton.

Like rats jumping the sinking ship, my feeling is that the show will open...run for a short time and then close with not even as much as a whimper. The production team will run far away...and U2 will just shrug it off.