As Harry Callahan once noted, "Man's got to know his limitations". I'd like to own a motorcycle one day, but the talent to actually DRIVE one isn't there. Therefore, a hog will never be in my garage.... All of us have limits, but some of us can recognize them - and others have that realization thrust upon them in stunning public fashion. Bono and The Edge of U2 are finding that out...
I've been a big U2 fan since 'War', but even a Spidermam musical, featuring 18 songs written by the two of them wouldn't draw me to the theatre - and for that I am grateful. Why? Because the $65 million production (the highest ever) was panned in it's opening preview earlier this week. The next preview is tonight. We hate to use a pun here, but the technical 'bugs' on 'Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark' were so numerous, it might soon be Spiderman: Turn Out the Lights...
How bad was it? Well, with times being tough for Broadway, the reviews aren't as scathing as they used to be. However, Michael Riedel of The New York Post held nothing back in describing the multiple and protracted failures of falling equipment, missing props and actors hanging from the air for 7-8 minutes at a clip. Think Spinal Tap meets Heaven's Gate, folks... Also, the play is missing something very important - a plot. Broadway crowds are tough, and they don't expect to show up and watch something just because it's Spiderman...
Last year, I thought Green Day's 'American Idiot' was a bad idea, but at least it was based on a concept album. This seems worse.... much, much worse. When people are yelling things like 'I feel like a guinea pig tonight', 'Is this a dress rehearsal', and stating the best part of the show was performer riffing a song NOT from the musical - while stagehands are scrambling to fix his equipment - you're in for a bad time. Dirty Harry was right - hey, wait a minute.... 'Dirty Harry: The Musical'. Nah, that's too good an idea to work!
.
2 comments:
No idea how the actual show would be, but I though the music they showed on 60 Minutes this past Sunday was pretty good.
Spidey the musical is basically a U concert without U2! While P-Luv is right the music they played on 60minutes was good, with 18 new songs and a run time of over 3 hours it is unmanagable, much less enjoyable!
IMO, Edge and Bono let their egos get way to big and the better of them. Perhaps they should have talked with The Who, Paul McCartney and Elton John before they started this run away diaster...teg
Post a Comment