The blog "Modern Fabulosity" has posted a review of the preview of the Broadway musical, "Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark".The music and songs of the show have been created by Bono and Edge and is scheduled to premiere on 18th February 2010.
"...I headed down to The Times Center on 41st Street for a special sneak preview of Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, the new mega-musical opening next January at Broadway's Hilton Theatre. The talent is tremendous -- Julie Taymor (The Lion King) directing, Eiko Ishioka (Coppola's Dracula and the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony) on costumes, and, of course, U2's Bono and The Edge, composing their first-ever score for the stage. I think it's safe to say that no other musical this decade has generated more excitement or interest, and its pre-sales -- currently available only through specialty groups -- are through the roof.
The presentation began with Taymor, who spoke at length about the elements that drew her to the project...essentially, the classical structure of Peter Parker's journey from everyman to hero. Unlike Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films (which moved from the story's comic book roots toward a more naturalistic, real-world interpretation), Taymor is, unsurprisingly, going the other way -- embracing the webcrawler's inherent theatricality, and placing him inside a stylized New York City populated with heroes and (multiple) supervillains.
Taymor addressed the question on everyone's mind right away: will Spider-Man spin webs and fly through the air? The answer was a resounding yes...the character will swing through the theatre and over the audience. She then showed a video from last year's top-secret "flying workshop" in Los Angeles, where she, stunt designers from the Spider-Man movies, and aerialists from Cirque du Soleil spent two weeks in a studio lot working on "webslinger technology" for the musical. The results were pretty impressive...the wires are visible, but the moves are so stunning you forget them very fast.
To wild applaus, Taymor introduced Bono and The Edge, and the two men ambled out onto the stage. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day -- these two global superstars, who have played stadiums all over the world and won every award imaginable, actually seemed a little nervous playing these songs to an audience for the first time! They were, if you can imagine it, even a little adorable, like kids with a new toy...playful, smart, interesting, and genuinely excited to be working on a stage musical. (Bono mentioned that they first got the idea to do a musical from Andrew Lloyd Webber, and name-dropped Rodgers and Hammerstein in their opening remarks.)
My favorite songs included two beautiful ballads written for Peter Parker which bookended the presentation, "Rise Above" and "Boy Falls From The Sky." Both were incredibly successful at marrying story to lyric; they also managed to simultaneously sound like U2 rock tracks AND Broadway classics. I also liked the title ballad, "Turn Off The Dark," a minor-chord metaphor for heroism, and an uptempo rocker, "Bouncing Off The Walls," which will have Peter taking the title literally...with walls that move to accomodate his bouncing!
Less successful were a character number called "Bullying By Numbers," a percussive track called "Pull The Trigger," and a ballad that (I think) was called "If The World Should End." The latter might have just been the female performer, who had breathing problems and sang out of tune for long sections.
All in all, though, I was thoroughly impressed...energized, even, by Taymor's thoughtful approach to the material, the dynamic execution of the designers, and the palpable energy of the production team. Can we dare to hope that Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark might be a great musical in the making? A week ago, I didn't imagine such a thing was possible. Today, I'm not only thinking it. I'm betting on it."
A very promising review and the music sounds like something we would like to hear....I guess this is not Bono and Edge´s first musical as they composed the music for Anthony Burgesss´s A Clockwork Orange for the stage in the nineties for the Royal Shakespeare Company,London.
My favorite songs included two beautiful ballads written for Peter Parker which bookended the presentation, "Rise Above" and "Boy Falls From The Sky." Both were incredibly successful at marrying story to lyric; they also managed to simultaneously sound like U2 rock tracks AND Broadway classics. I also liked the title ballad, "Turn Off The Dark," a minor-chord metaphor for heroism, and an uptempo rocker, "Bouncing Off The Walls," which will have Peter taking the title literally...with walls that move to accomodate his bouncing!
Less successful were a character number called "Bullying By Numbers," a percussive track called "Pull The Trigger," and a ballad that (I think) was called "If The World Should End." The latter might have just been the female performer, who had breathing problems and sang out of tune for long sections.
All in all, though, I was thoroughly impressed...energized, even, by Taymor's thoughtful approach to the material, the dynamic execution of the designers, and the palpable energy of the production team. Can we dare to hope that Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark might be a great musical in the making? A week ago, I didn't imagine such a thing was possible. Today, I'm not only thinking it. I'm betting on it."
A very promising review and the music sounds like something we would like to hear....I guess this is not Bono and Edge´s first musical as they composed the music for Anthony Burgesss´s A Clockwork Orange for the stage in the nineties for the Royal Shakespeare Company,London.
official web site :http://spidermanonbroadway.marvel.com/
source:http://modernfabulousity.blogspot.com
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