So last night, after many months of blogging about the show as it was being made and thru all of the calamities and set-backs that have occurred since the show opened in previews last November, I finally got the chance to see Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark for myself. Based on all of the terrible reviews of the show, I must admit that my expectations were pretty low going in … but as a huge Spider-Man fan, I couldn’t help but be excited to see the show with my own eyes.

Now, please bear with me … I am not comfortable revealing big plot points or surprises about the show so as not to spoil the experience for any of y’all still planning to see the show, so my review will focus on generalities. Let’s start off with the good things about the show. Without question, the flying acrobatic and aerial stunts are amazing to see in action. As far as I know, no one was injured in last night’s show nor where there any delays, malfunctions or obvious mistakes. We sat 3 rows from the stage (actually, my aisle seat had no seats in front of me and the stage) in the “flying zone” and absolutely oohed and ahhed as the players took flight directly above us, behind us and all around us. If the show could be 2 hours of just flying acrobatics, it could be the best show ever. Whenever any of the characters, both good and bad, are suspended in the air — you feel that Broadway magic. Unfortch, the flying is only about 10-20% of the show. It’s the rest of the stuff that is problematic for the show.

Which brings me to the bad stuff about the show … I mean, where to begin. The music by U2 is far and away the worst thing about the show. None of the songs have melodies and the lyrics are trite and just garbage. I couldn’t even tell you which of the songs I liked because they were all terrible. I will say the Spider-Man theme music used in the show from time to time makes a great riff and works thematically but none (and I mean NONE) of the other music/songs are good. The story is just dumb. Act 1 is silly, Act 2 is better … but still silly. To me, the stage sets looked cheap … many of them looked like high school musical props. I kid you not, in one scene Peter Parker is actually wrestling with an inflatable balloon. $65 million dollars and that’s the best they could come up with? Act 2 featured really fantastic video screen sets … which I was impressed by. There needs to be more of those screens and less of the cardboard-looking sets that that are meant to look “comic book”y but end up just looking cheap. The costumes were OK but nothing as revolutionary as the ones that director Julie Taymor created for The Lion King. As a Spider-Man fan, I wasn’t really impressed with the way the characters were portrayed … Peter Parker comes across as flat, bland and not someone you really want to root for. Mary Jane Watson is really one dimensional and forgettable. J. Jonah Jameson is wasted in this musical. His character is so fun … just not so in this show. The most upsetting thing to me was Aunt May … they turned her into an annoying shrew rather than a loving mother figure. The best character, hands down, is the Green Goblin. He is suitably hammy, kinda funny and a total scene stealer. As for Arachne (yes, THE Arachne of Greek myth) the other major villain in the show, well, she never really made sense to me. When she and her minions sing the song about buying shoes for all of their legs … I literally wanted to stick pins in my eyes to make the awful go away. As for the other villains — Carnage, Electro, Kraven the Hunter, The Lizard, Swarm and Swiss Miss — they are used in the show more like props than actual characters. I doubt they were on stage for 10 full minutes.

The two children we saw in the audience looked bored (one girl fell asleep) and rightfully so … the story is totally uninteresting. If there ain’t someone flying around the theater in this show, there’s nothing else worth staying awake for. BUT, the aerial stuff is really really freaking cool. I’m not sure the ticket prices justify going just for the flying stuff but … I’m glad I saw the show and, to be honest, if changes are made to the show (as I hear they are), I would see it again.

The merchandise is really fun … but, again, you can enjoy all of it without even having to see the show (and it can be bought HERE). I picked up a few t-shirts and a hoodie. So, yeah … that’s my take on the show. The bad stuff is really, really bad … but the good stuff is really, really good. If you get to see the show without any injury or incident …

… then you’re deffo one of the lucky ones ;) For the most part, I really agree with the review published by The New York Times … $65 million dollars really does look nonexistent in this show. Here’s hoping they can figure out a way to turn this show into something really worth seeing. You can see glimmers of how awesome it can be … but they’re just not there yet. Maybe someday they’ll get it right.