Althouse: "The sheer ineptitude of this show, inspired by the Spider-Man comic books, loses its shock value early."

February 7, 2011

"The sheer ineptitude of this show, inspired by the Spider-Man comic books, loses its shock value early."

"After 15 or 20 minutes, the central question you keep asking yourself is likely to change from 'How can $65 million look so cheap?' to 'How long before I’m out of here?'"

21 comments:

traditionalguy said...: Free speech in a crowded spider theater give no one the right to yell Raid's Here! The shock value of fairy tales is just not what it used to be. We need more movies and plays about love and war. Special effects destroying everything and killing millions is just boring.; 2/7/11, 10:45 PM
coketown said...: Throw more money at it. That fixes everything.; 2/7/11, 11:37 PM
Revenant said...: Sounds like this play needs a bailout. Or possibly a stimulus package.; 2/8/11, 12:12 AM
William said...: The Elizabeth Taylor movie, Cleopatra, was such an expensive,scandal plagued, overwrought failure that everyone wanted to see it. I believe the movie even turned a profit. A failure like this doesn't come around evrey day of the week. Perhaps a lot of people will want to see it simply because it is such a fiasco. If the North Star Lines had retained control of the merchandising rights, their good ship Titanic could have turned a profit.; 2/8/11, 12:33 AM
Methadras said...: The gays are ruining Spider-Ham!!!; 2/8/11, 3:13 AM
Ralph L said...: White Star Line; 2/8/11, 5:28 AM
Unknown said...: The last time Broadway did a show about a comic strip, it was 50 years ago and based on an acerbic, satirical strip named Li'l Abner that lampooned much of then-contemporary America.

Before Broadway attempts another show based on a comic strip, they might try to find one with a bit more substance.; 2/8/11, 5:39 AM
John henry said...: I think they will not be happy until someone is dead.

Given the track record, it is kind of amazing that this has not happened already.

I heard, on the No Agenda podcast, that one of the problems was due to NYC stage unions. They will not let Hollywood stuntpeople and gaffers work on the play. The NY folks apparently do not have the experience and ability needed to do the stunts safely.

John Henry; 2/8/11, 6:06 AM
Paco Wové said...: edutcher:

"Annie".; 2/8/11, 6:33 AM
KCFleming said...: "The songs by Bono and the Edge are rarely allowed to take full, attention-capturing form. Mostly they blur into a sustained electronic twang of varying volume, increasing and decreasing in intensity, like a persistent headache."

Thus encapsulating their last ten albums, although "toothache" would be more accurate.; 2/8/11, 6:56 AM
campy said...: The last time Broadway did a show about a comic strip, it was 50 years ago

Besides Annie, there's also It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman from 1966 and Doonesbury from 1983.; 2/8/11, 7:50 AM
Fred4Pres said...: I have not seen it, but Glenn Beck did (I heard him say it on the radio). He said the show is wonderful, worth flying to New York just to go see.

Now, I do not normally get my reviews of shows from Glenn Beck (I rarely even listen to Glenn Beck). But I do recall that Wicked got terrible reivews, but when I took my daughter to go see it I was impressed how clever and insightful that show really was.

So I wonder. Does the show really suck? Or does the show not cater to New York theater critics.; 2/8/11, 8:22 AM
Fred4Pres said...: Apparently the New York Times noticed Glenn Beck's review too.; 2/8/11, 8:27 AM
MadisonMan said...: What about You're a good man, Charlie Brown?

Re: Spider-Man. Is Max Bialystock the producer?; 2/8/11, 8:42 AM
bagoh20 said...: Imagine how different you are from a NY theater critic. Imagine how much you might disagree about a lot of things. Now, imagine trusting him to make all your decisions. Feel confident?

I find myself generally disagreeing with most of the conventional wisdom on movies. For example, I thought the remake of True Grit was ridiculously overacted. But Academy Awards are offered. I can't trust entertainment critics to pick my winners and I don't care who's right. But I wish I could find one I trusted. That would be very valuable.; 2/8/11, 9:27 AM
Anonymous said...: From that NYT link:

"Mr. Beck, who said he saw the show on Saturday, also praised the musical’s kooky portrayal of scientists who are preoccupied with global warming, such as Norman Osborn, whose experiments mixing human D.N.A. with that of spiders help trigger the main plot of the show."; 2/8/11, 11:33 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: This wasn't inspired by the comic books, it was inspired by the hype.

Not the same thing.; 2/8/11, 12:41 PM
Christy said...: Spidey was my favorite back in the day. I started reading when it was in the single digit editions. Wasn't it unusual in that he was the first superhero to have problems? He was poor, couldn't get the girl, and the Editor in Chief of the big newspaper hated him and editorialized against him. Batman didn't get dark until much later. Daredevil was blind, but he was a successful lawyer with special powers that made up for the blindness. No contest, Spidey was the first existential Superhero. Broke my heart when Stan Lee went to the dark side politically.; 2/8/11, 6:34 PM
lucid said...: oh, cripes. my wife bought us tickets. no wonder there were good seats, not cheap, available. maybe the show will close before our date.; 2/8/11, 7:05 PM
dick said...: Reading the comments to that article pretty much made the point that Glenn Beck made in what he said about the show. How many shows that the critics hated have gone on to run for ages lately.

And as for all the comments about Glenn Beck being an idiot and not a theatre person, he has at least as much right to speak about the theatre as Frank Rich, who is an idiot, has to bloviate about politics - plus he has a lot more supporters than Frank Rich does and also a lot more influence.; 2/8/11, 10:45 PM
Silent Eyes said...: Happy to see your blog as it is just what I?ve looking for and excited to read all the posts.
I am look onward to another grand article from you.; 6/29/11, 1:41 PM