Spider Man musical preview 'an epic flop'

New York - "Spider Man: Turn Off The Dark," the musical based on the famous comic book character co-written by Julie Taymor and U2, premiered in New York last night with a preview showing. If reports are to be believed, however, the play was "a disaster."

Reports from both the New York Times and the New York Post were quick to report on the faultiness and downright dangerousness of the performance itself. Starting the performance nearly half an hour late, one actor was left hanging overhead of the audience for almost ten minutes after a wire malfunction halted his arrival to the stage. Even the hero himself - Spider Man, played by Reeve Carney - was caught in an aerial harness at one point, whilst also being dangled several feet in the air above the audience at the end of act one. Interval then ran for over forty minutes, leaving the crowd impatient and restless. The villians were victim to the calamity, as well, with the actor playing the Green Goblin apparently having to improvise the Rodgers and Hart song "Manhattan" while performing a musical number at the piano, as stage managers rushed to fix damaged and faulty equipment on-stage. This was in addition to the musical having "few of the effects" promised in the lead up to the production, as well as parts of scenery missing entirely. Michael Ridel of the NY Post labelled the musical as a "disaster." "The $65 million show's high-tech gadgetry went completely awry amid a dull score and baffling script," he commented in his article. The musical - directed by Lion King director Julie Taymor and with a score by Bono and The Edge, one half of Irish stadium rock band U2 - has been in high circulation of news due to its high budget, reports of actors breaking their wrists during stunts and numerous delays - partially due to a lack of financing in its early stages. This was summarised by The AV Club as "the general sense that it’s completely doomed." The musical officially opens on January 11, 2011.