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.'
Adam Feldman, head of the New York Drama Critics' Circle, an organization comprised of many, but not all New York critics has just blogged about the result of their meeting tonight. On the agenda was whether they'd be able to reach a consensus about whether to wait for SPIDER-MAN's opening night to review the show. The end result? No consensus.
Well, the major critics haven't gone in (yet) but now the Toronto Star 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.
Critic Richard Ouzounian writes that 'The only truly amazing thing about Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, is how unequivocally awful it is...'
According to Ew.com, T.V. Carpio has revealed that SPIDER-MAN director Julie Taymor is making 'major changes in the second act, which will make things more clear and better.' One of those 'major changes' includes the fight between her character, Arachne and Peter Parker.
Many critics still haven't decided (or announced) if they'll review SPIDER-MAN, but now New York Magazine's Scott Brown says that he will review the show on February 7th and then return to see the 'final product' on March 15th.
The attention of the world is still lasered in on SPIDER-MAN as is the New York Times, who reports that the long talked about new finale for the show has finally gone in today.
Now, the New Jersey Star-Ledger's music critic, Jay Lustig has gone in, noting that they considerer the number of previews that SPIDER-MAN has had to be 'an unreasonably long period of time' and also cite the fact that the audience is paying non-discounted ticket prices and therefore to wait would be 'absurd'.
Well, the major critics haven't gone in (yet) but MTV has now posted their review of SPIDER-MAN: Turn Off the Dark, in two parts. The first, entitled 'Five Things We Liked' includes the Set Design, The Costumes, The Aerial Work, It's Family Friendly and 'Splash Page' the show's opening number.
Just in from Rick Miramontez, Spokesman for SPIDER-MAN Turn Off the Dark 'The official position of the Spider-Man team is that critics should not review the production until invited by the production. We deem critics to be theater lovers, and to review the show before it is frozen is not, in any way, in the spirit of Broadway and all it represents.'
BroadwayWorld.com reached out to multiple major critics after last night's announcement that the opening was being delayed (again) who have told us that they were talking to their editors and expect that given that the show will now have been seen by potentially 200,000 audience members before its opening night, that they will NOT wait until opening night to review the show and were instead looking at seeing the show near to the February 7th previously scheduled opening night.
While some have criticized Bono for not being around for SPIDER-MAN's early previews, due to previous touring commitments in New Zealand, he is now back in town and fully involved with the production that features his music and lyrics.
Reeve Carney appeared live on Carson Daly's New Year's Eve Countdown and Bono and the Edge appeared in a pre-taped segment and we've got the first video of it!
Bono and The Edge will be attending all future previews of SPIDER-MAN Turn Off the Dark, according to production spokesman Rick Miramontez. '[They] will be in the theater next week and for all of the preview performances leading up to the opening night working on the show,' added Miramontez.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the SPIDER-MAN team has finally weighed in on the controversial early reviews published by Newsday and Bloomberg News last week. Critics form both publications, Linda Winer and Jeremy Gerard suprisingly wrote reviews for SPIDER-MAN:TURN OFF THE DARK five weeks before the much delayed openning night.
