Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark began previews last year (10), but its official launch has been delayed numerous times due to safety issues, accidents and stunt problems. Director Julie Taymor exited in March (11) and the show was recently shut down to allow a new creative team to revamp the production.
U2 stars Bono and The Edge, who created the score, also began working on new music for the show, while the story has been rejigged and many of the stunts changed.
The musical resumes previews on Thursday ahead of an official launch in June (11) and Bono has confirmed many of the show’s issues have now been resolved.
He tells the New York Times, “What was great about Turn Off the Dark 1.0 was unusual and rare: magic, a pop-up Pop-Art opera with a bit of rock ‘n’ roll circus thrown in. What was not right about it was a catalogue of commonplace problems – story knots, bad sound and finally a failure to cohere, meaning that the whole was not greater than the sum of the parts, as wonderful as some of those parts were. If people can’t follow the story, then the songs aren’t going to get them out of the maze…”
The Edge adds, “We didn’t want to rely on the spectacle of the show alone. For Bono and I, the crucial thing was to tell a story that moved people.”
Actor Reeve Carney, who plays the superhero, insists the new script “jumps off the page at you”, adding, “There’s an energy in the company because of having a clear direction, knowing where we’re headed and knowing that it’s going to be to a greater place.”
Playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa adds to USA Today, “What we’ve done is bring iconic characters from the comic (series) forward more and flesh out their relationships.”
