'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark' to Close on Broadway After Two Years
Looks like Broadway is dimming the lights on one of its most fascinating disasters.
After two years, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is closing on Broadway, with its final performance set for the Foxwoods Theatre in January 2014.
Though the show has run pretty smoothly for the majority of its run, nobody is really going to remember that. Instead, the show will mostly be remembered for the mishaps prior to the show's official opening, and the disastrous circumstances of its early life. The show, penned by U2's Bono and the Edge, was a high-risk piece that involved high-wire stunts and ambitious setpieces organized around a story that weirdly vacillated between comic book homage and Greek drama. This would have been all well and good, but a litany of injuries, the departure of director Julie Taymor, and problems with the script all contributed to the show becoming something of a running joke in Broadway circles.
However, the show was able to attain a certain legitimacy once it was up and running. It earned two Tony Award nominations in 2012 for its sets and costume design, and it frequently played to packed houses (although the live attendance was apparently unable to compensate for the massive costs involved in running it).
But even with these setbacks, the show isn't completely dead. A spokesman for the production says that the show will be moving to “the entertainment capital of the world: Las Vegas.” Further details about the show's Las Vegas run are expected to be announced in the coming weeks. So Spidey will live to swing another day...just not in his native New York. J. Jonah Jameson is reportedly thrilled.
Via: Entertainment Weekly