After a record-breaking 183 preview performances and a string of cast injuries, Broadway's favorite punchline, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, finally opened officially Tuesday. When critics famously ridiculed the $75 million musical during February previews, ranking it "among the worst" productions of all time, producers shuttered the show for three weeks of creative retooling before recommencing previews. Maligned director Julie Taymor has been replaced, U2's Bono and the Edge have written new songs, and the plot has been significantly reworked. Have the changes paid off? (Watch a PBS discussion about the show's debut.)
Nope. It's still "a bloated monster with bad music": With a show so fundamentally misconceived, it's naive to expect miracles, says David Rooney at The Hollywood Reporter. The revised version remains "terminally clunky" and "dumbed-down," a series of "mechanized thrills" with thinly developed characters. And let's face it: Bono and the Edge have produced a "mediocre" score that amounts to "third-rate entertainment." Simply put, "there's no compelling reason for Spider-Man to be a musical."
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