I really feel bad for the guys at "Turn Off the Dark". They got hammered today pretty hard by all the major theater reviewers. Worst of all, the show hasn't officially opened. The producers of the spiderman musical that has cost more than $65 million (the most expensive ever) have postponed opening night six times so far due to virtually every problem that could go wrong in a production, from writing a new ending to acrobats falling and injuring themselves during the middle of a show. That was enough to infuriate the newspapers and have them review a show under circumstances they usually wouldn't.
The reviews were published Monday, which was supposed to be the date it would upen until producers moved the date again to March 15. The reviewers felt a compelling obligation to the public. The New York Times defended itself saying, "The show had been running long enough to paying audiences for judgement to be rendered."
With all due respect to theater etiquette. I completely support the newspapers' decision to go ahead with the reviews. They do have a point. I mean, they've been in previews for 66 shows. Why should the second top-grossing show on Broadway ($1.3 million a week) escape the clutches of reviewers? I do hope they didn't trash it just because they've been waiting impatiently for more than a year to see the show, but rather because it's as bad as they say it is.
I'm a fan of spectacle and U2. And even though the music is written by Bono and U2, and the reviews imply that no one should have to sit through the "most expensive and worst musical ever," I'll still go and bore myself to death if the reviews are true, or hope for a miraculous save from the production crew when they finally do open, even though the general consensus seems to be that this show is "beyond repair."
I really do hope they get their act together and see today's press as a wake up call. A show this expensive has to live up to expectations.
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