Spider-Man, Spider-Man: he’ll float back down to the stage when he damn well can. Last night’s Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark preview was apparently fraught with technical issues, keeping audience members in their seats for about three and a half hours thanks to five long delays and an extended piano number from the Green Goblin. Here’s a timetable based on the rather kind accounts of Spider-Man‘s preview (a six-year-old liked “parts” of it!).
- 6:30pm – Show is scheduled to begin.
- 6:54pm – Show begins.
- 7:2opm – The evil Arachne is left above the crowd for seven minutes. “Give it up for Natalie Mendoza, who’s hanging in the air!” the stage manager tells the audience.
- 7:30-8:15pm – With wires dangling over the audience and scenery missing from the stage, three more pauses are called, the last leaving Spidey stuck in the air a few yards from the stage and the stage manager forced to call a halt over the speaker.
- 8:19pm – The crew gets on stage to pull Spidey back by his feet, Act I is abandoned and intermission is called early.
- 8:50pm – Bored with the ongoing intermission, the audience begins a slow clap. “I know, guys, I know, I beg your patience,” pleads the stage manager.
- 9pm – Act II begins, only two and a half hours after the show was supposed to begin. Though no pauses are called, Green Goblin is forced to improvise at the piano for a couple minutes while technical issues are resolved.
- 9:50pm – Stage manager again asks for a break, inspiring walk outs and one seriously cranky lady. “I don’t know how everyone else feels, but I feel like a guinea pig today — I feel like it’s a dress rehearsal!” Lady is booed and show quickly continues.
- 10:09 – Act II ends!
Woof. That might sound like a rough night at the theater, but considering it’s been over three years since the first reading, some would say it’s a miracle this project has even made it to the stage. Though earlier technical troubles forced the musical to delay previews by two weeks, Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark is still scheduled to open on January 11th.
