Spider-Man on Broadway (sort of)

In the January 17 issue of New York Magazine writer Michael Schulman wrote a preview of the Spider-Man Broadway musical Turn Off the Dark in which he was less than flattering about what he saw:

—at sixty-five million dollars, the most expensive Broadway musical ever staged—those elements have been compounded by death-defying aerial stunts, which, despite safety tuneups by the director, Julie Taymor, have resulted in a stream of ghastly headlines. At a flying demonstration in October, a cast member broke both wrists when he was catapulted across the stage during a slingshot maneuver. (Another actor broke a toe the same way.) Then, in previews, a lead actress sustained a concussion when she was hit in the head by a rope while standing offstage. (She later quit.) And, shortly before Christmas, a performer fell off a thirty-foot-high platform and suffered a hairline skull fracture, internal bleeding, and four broken ribs, among other injuries. He got out of rehab last week.

In the article Schulman quoted several people who said that they were going to the technical dress rehearsals in the hopes of seeing someone get hurt. Talk about your bread and circuses.

Needless to say, the latest news is that there have been more injuries and the show has been pushed back yet again, this time to a March opening.