Rick Miramontez News

According to the NY Times, Mayor Michael Bloomberg might soon join the ranks of the many comedians who have spoofed SPIDER-MAN in recent months. Bloomberg will reportedly work Spidey skits into the Inner Cirlce charity dinner that will take place on Saturday, March 26. Details on the performance are being kept confidential.

It's not a great day for SPIDER-MAN on Broadway, as the show was halted tonight for several minutes mid-show for safety concerns.According to audience member reports, the show was stopped at the beginning of what is one of the most extensive aerial sequences in which the Green Goblin fights SPIDER-MAN above the audiences heads. During tonight's show, the Green Goblin stopped mid-flight, after a malfunction caused his steering mechanism to fail. The actor playing SPIDER-MAN was held on the balcony from making his flight while they attempted to discover what went wrong.

A production source tells us that an official company meeting has been called for tonight at 7pm at the Foxwoods Theatre for all the SPIDER-MAN cast and crew to hear the news officially from producer Michael Cohl before an announcement is revealed to the press and public regarding the show's future. We're told that neither Bono, nor The Edge are expected to be there, and aside from Cohl, it's not been revealed what current, or future creative team members might be in attendance.

Patrick Healy in the New York Times is now reporting that lead producer Michael Cohl has 'told at least two investors and one other person involved with the Broadway musical that its director Julie Taymor, will step aside once negotiations about complex contractual matters like her creative legal rights and her considerable financial stake in any profits are concluded.'

Patrick Healy in the New York Times is now reporting that lead producer Michael Cohl has 'told at least two investors and one other person involved with the Broadway musical that its director Julie Taymor, will step aside once negotiations about complex contractual matters like her creative legal rights and her considerable financial stake in any profits are concluded.'

Now, others are adding to the trickle of information leaking out of the production, with Michael Riedel in the New York Post reporting that Christopher Ashley (Memphis, Xanadu, All Shook Up, The Rocky Horror Show) is likely to take over direction duties from Julie Taymor. Riedel reports that it's unknown if she will continue with the production in some capacity, take a break and return or what as negotiations are still ongoing. He pegs the hiatus as 4-6 weeks, to begin at the end of April, but also notes that the sheer technical complexity of the production will make large scale changes difficult.

The New York Times is reporting that tomorrow's SPIDER-MAN announcement will include the news that the production will shut down for 2-3 weeks for giving the cast a break, and for holding new rehearsals for more substantial changes. Other online blogs have speculated that there will be a longer break, possibly as much as 4-5 weeks. The production is also expected to delay its scheduled opening for 'about three months'.

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.'

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has formally slapped the production of SPIDER-MAN with three 'serious' safety violations pertaining to the injuries infamously sustained by several cast members late last year.

According to the New York Times this weekend, another delay in the opening of SPIDER-MAN: TURN OF THE DARK may be imminent. A sixth postponement is being considered by the producers of the $65 million musical.

According to the New York Times, another delay in the opening of SPIDER-MAN: TURN OF THE DARK may be imminent. A sixth postponement is being considered by the producers of the $65 million musical.

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?'

Spider-Man spokesperson Rick Miramontez gave an exclusive statement to Entertainment Weekly about his reaction to the show's reviews. What'd he say? 'The PILE-ON by the critics was ridiculous and uncalled for. Their actions are unprecedented and UNCOOL!' Click Here for the EW piece.

Last night's reviews of SPIDER-MAN turned out to be the most negative in recent memory. BroadwayWorld.com has a complete round-up of all of the reviews here, as well as our own critic, Michael Dale's 'nonReview' take that he'd be bucking the trend and waiting for the show's official opening on March 15th to weigh in.

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.