Friday, October 17, 2014

Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark



Julie Taymor wrote a meta-theatrical libretto in which four comic book fans debate the connections between modern super-heroes and Greek myths. The mythical Arachne creates Spiderman and his foes, toys with their fates… and sings a song about shoes.

After a skyrocketing budget, an extended preview period, defiant critics, backstage battles, onstage accidents, casting changes and a lawsuit the new writers scaled down the ambitions. The revised Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark followed the arc of the 2002 film. Spiderman gains his powers, pines for Mary Jane, and defeats the Green Goblin.


Would the more ambitious libretto hold up in a concert staging, without the burden of expensive sets and dangerous stunts? Did the Greek myth/Comic hero parallel have potential? Now that it is tied up in legal red tape we may never know. 

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