Sunday, November 8, 2009

Update: Spider-Man is a Go - Again

As I stated in my blog on Friday, a meeting of the creative and producing teams of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark were to have met that day, November 5. Apparently they did, and it looks like things are moving along again. And it looks like things are murky enough that it might not happen still. However this turns out, the press people associated with the show should be commended for keeping a relatively tight lid on the negative stuff and spinning what comes out in such a way that it all sounds positive, but they leave themselves an out.

On the murky side...

  • No firm opening date has been chosen because, they say, it all depends on when things get started up again. February 25, 2010 seems highly unlikely, but they are still selling tickets starting that date to American Express cardholders only.
  • No date for further public sale has been given. Probably as they say because a firm date has not been chosen, and if they only have to refund/reschedule AmEx customers so be it. This way tickets are still on sale, but not fully on sale, either.
  • Full financing is still not in place, but "due shortly," at which time production will resume.
  • A promise made that Turn Off the Dark will happen in 2010 now begs the question: in which season? 09-10 or 10-11. Does Spidey really want to go head-to-head with Love Never Dies?
On the "it must be going ahead" side...

  • The actor chosen to portray Peter Parker/Spider-Man is Reeve Carney, a virtual unknown, but a singer with an album coming out shortly. Press pictures being what they are, they sure picked a sexy guy. You can see that "geeky" (Peter Parker) is possible, while "conflicted superhero" is an easy jump to make, too.
  • Previously announced stars Alan Cumming (The Green Goblin) and Rachel Evan Wood (Mary Jane Watson) are still attached.
  • A new producing structure has been announced, with Michael Cohl named as Lead Producer.
The casting of all three leads is less surprising given that all three have worked with director Julie Taymor on some of her films. Carney, a recording artist, Wood, who sang quite a bit in Across the Universe, and Cumming, a Tony winning musical actor, all make sense vocally, and at least on paper seem right for the roles.

As of this writing, here are the principal players in Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark:

(The Hero: Reeve Carney as Peter Parker/Spider-Man)

(The Love Interest: Rachel Evan Wood as Mary Jane Watson)

(The Villain: Alan Cumming as The Green Goblin)



(The Creative Team: The Edge, Julie Taymor, Bono)




When all is said and done, someone will have great material for a book. Let's just hope it is a coffee table book commemorating a huge hit musical instead of a seedy tell-all about the nasty inner workings of theatre!

I'm more and more intrigued about how this will play out. What do you think? Leave a comment!

Jeff

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