U2’s Spider-Man Broadway Musical Panned By Critics
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Tuesday, 08 February 2011 |
Written by James Conlon
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Producers have been left in a sticky situation [apologies] after the opening night of the Broadway ‘Spider-Man’ musical was widely panned by American critics. The show has currently been delayed on five separate occasions due to technical difficulties and cost over $65 million to produce, but it would appear that the production is still failing to deliver.
Ben Brantley, a theatre critic for the New York Times said: "Spider-Man is not only the most expensive musical ever to hit Broadway; it may also rank among the worst.”
He added: “I'm not kidding. The sheer ineptitude of this show, inspired by the Spider-Man comic books, loses its shock value early. After 15 or 20 minutes, the central question you keep asking yourself is likely to change from 'How can $65 million look so cheap?' to 'How long before I'm out of here?"
In addition to the production itself, the U2-penned score was criticised on almost every count following the show’s opening press night. Richard Lawson declared that “...the music is lazy and awful - it's like listening to the scraps left on the floor after U2 recorded 'Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me'"
However not everyone was entirely critical about the efforts from Bono and The Edge. Elisabeth Vincentelli showed a relative optimism about the production, stating: "Though Bono and The Edge seemingly recycled a few old lyrics and riffs, they've also written some solid pop songs. The best are performed by Peter and Mary Jane, and they soar with U2's trademark grandiose angst."
The show is set to open for public viewing on March 15th.
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