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Playbill of The Week: Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark

Nicole Cino
Feb 10, 2017
4 min read

6/53

I cannot hide my love for this show. Broadway and superheroes. My two favourite things brought together to create exactly what you would expect from Broadway and superheroes joining forces. This show was a crazy, wild ride from the day it was conceived. It's 2 1/2 year run was not as eventful as everyone assumes. Whenever I talk about Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark people always say "Didn't someone die in that show?" No, no one died. Injured yes, but death, seriously. I think this show didn't get the credit that it deserved, and yes it deserved some credit. It was fun and different, and got people who weren't Broadway fans interested in theatre, before Hamilton did it.

Now I saw Spidey a total of 4 times. Yes, I spent money on this show 4 times. To be fair the amount I spent on all 4 shows equaled one ticket, because I only see shows on the cheap. The first time I saw the show I saw the Peter Parker understudy, Matthew James Thomas. Truthfully I don't know if I would of had the love affair I had with the show if it wasn't for MJT. I had no idea who he was when I was reading the Playbill, so I was a bit nervous, but man did he do an amazing job. His Peter was the goofball that you want, with that underlying confidence that comes from hiding the secret of Spider-Man. His voice was something I hadn't heard a lot of on Broadway. It was clear and clean, but still had an amazing rock quality, without sounding like his voice was being injured. He was able to go from geeky to hunky(yes I'm gonna use this word) in the span of 2 1/2 hours with total believability. I understood his journey, and his performance made the somewhat disjointed storyline seem smooth and complete. Obviously he's so

mething special because he went on to appear as Pippin in the spectacular revival directed by Diane Paulus. I also had the privilege of seeing the amazing Matt Caplan as Peter Parker, as well as Reeve Carney who originated the role. Both men were fantastic and lived up to my Peter Parker love. But since Matt was the first, he holds a special place in my heart.

I luckily saw the show a month before it opened and got to see all of the original cast. Which meant I got to finally see the amazing Patrick Page at work playing the villain The Green Goblin. His song 'Freak Like Me' is probably one of my favourite campy moments of any show I have ever seen. His voice has the most magnificent timbre to it, a slight growl, deep and pure. He has one of my favourite voices in musical theatre, so to get to see him in anything is a treat. The most random of characters in Spider-Man is Arachne, she opens the show with a gorgeous silk performance and then disappears for a long time. Even though I saw the show numerous times, I'm still always confused as to why they kept the character after the second round of previews. But, it still is an amazing thing to see TV Carpio perform. I was a huge fan of Across The Universe which is where TV was most famously from. She was beautiful and effervescent onstage. She made a confusing, somewhat pointless character seem needed. She brought a gorgeous quality to the show, she put you in a trance. I was also extremely excited to see my favourite red-head brought to life by Jennifer Damiano. I had been a fan of Jenn's ever since I saw her in Spring Awakening. The fact that she was only a year older than me and doing exactly what I wanted in life gave me hope, and truthfully still does. Jenn has a list of roles that are now dream roles of mine, from Natalie in Next to Normal to Willow in Venice, and Mary-Jane Watson is not excluded from that list. I feel somewhat odd complimenting her because I get compared to her often. But her voice is beautiful and haunting, and she gave 'If The World Should End' so much raw emotion, that it will forever be a favourite.

This show had lots of problems, I will admit that. There were major bumps from producer and director disagreements, to actor injuries, to confusing storylines. But with all those problems the show was still able to stay on Broadway for over 2 years, enchanting audiences all the while. Each time I saw Spidey my favourite thing to see was all the little kids who were completely mesmerized by the fact that Spider-Man was flying around a theatre jumping in and out of the audience fighting The Green Goblin. What could be cooler than that? I have to say when Spidey was swinging around the theatre even my father's face lit up like a kid on Christmas. It truly was a sight to see. The shows rock score by none other than Bono and The Edge was a perfect pairing. It didn't take itself too seriously, which to be honest it wasn't allowed to. I think we sometimes judge shows a little too hard. We don't take them for what they are, and that is a major fault of us as viewers. Sometimes shows are just there for enjoyment and to make you feel like a little kid. I obviously enjoyed this show, and I just wish more people gave it a bit of a chance. I mean the actor who was injured stayed with the show till it's closing, that's gotta say something.