How Spiderman The Musical Lost $60m

<p><br></p><p>The most expensive musical of all time, <em>Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark</em>, finally opened on June 14th, 2011, after completing a record-breaking run of 183 preview performances.</p><br><p>The show had been plagued by disaster even from its very beginnings when Tony Adams, the theatre producer who had approached Marvel to buy the stage rights to Spider-Man, died of a stroke just as the team was about to sign the contracts.</p><br><p>In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly look at how the original plot attempted to fuse together a 20th century comic book hero with an Ancient Greek myth; discuss where U2’s Bono and The Edge got their unlikely musical inspiration from; and explain why Saturday Night Live ended up running a sketch about a law firm specialising in Spider-Man related workplace injuries…</p><br><p>Further Reading:</p><p>• ‘How a Spider-Man musical became a theatrical disaster’ (BBC Culture, 2020): <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20201125-how-a-spider-man-musical-became-a-theatrical-disaster" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20201125-how-a-spider-man-musical-became-a-theatrical-disaster</a></p><p>• ‘Inside Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, the Broadway bomb that almost killed its cast’ (The Daily Telegraph, 2021): <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-to-see/inside-spider-man-turn-dark-broadway-bomb-almost-killed-cast/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-to-see/inside-spider-man-turn-dark-broadway-bomb-almost-killed-cast/</a> </p><p>• ‘Highlights From “Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark”’ (Playbill, 2011): <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajg78Xez-OU" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajg78Xez-OU</a> </p><br><p>#2010s #Comics #Music #Theatre #US</p><br><p><strong>Love the show? Join </strong>🌴<strong>CLUB RETROSPECTORS </strong>🌴<strong> to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode every SUNDAY!</strong></p><p>Plus, get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast.</p><p><strong>Join now via </strong><a href="https://url6.mailanyone.net/scanner?m=1pT2Lf-0009qi-5n&d=4%7Cmail%2F90%2F1676646000%2F1pT2Lf-0009qi-5n%7Cin6f%7C57e1b682%7C10917358%7C13772167%7C63EF986FDB77B8781C00E7AE89BE8ABC&o=%2Fphtp%3A%2Fats3.plCo%2FxecXQWW&s=1-saMneAG6Jlxwm-HSpmcJnDbt8" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Apple Podcasts</strong></a><strong> or </strong><a href="https://url6.mailanyone.net/scanner?m=1pT2Lf-0009qi-5n&d=4%7Cmail%2F90%2F1676646000%2F1pT2Lf-0009qi-5n%7Cin6f%7C57e1b682%7C10917358%7C13772167%7C63EF986FDB77B8781C00E7AE89BE8ABC&o=%2Fphta%3A%2Fptsootr%2F.cmenerRetspctosro&s=tfEv-TbMNzGzaXbO1_4ITwuG0Jc" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Patreon</strong></a><strong>. </strong>Thanks!</p><p> </p><p><strong>Tomorrow!: </strong><a href="https://url6.mailanyone.net/scanner?m=1pT2Lf-0009qi-5n&d=4%7Cmail%2F90%2F1676646000%2F1pT2Lf-0009qi-5n%7Cin6f%7C57e1b682%7C10917358%7C13772167%7C63EF986FDB77B8781C00E7AE89BE8ABC&o=pphtd%2F%2Fot%3Aclfomw.olopt%2FRcoseersrot&s=9p-CJByv4bA_k4hXBMAXG1F_oXk" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>podfollow.com/Retrospectors</strong></a></p><p> </p><p><em>The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.</em></p><p><em>Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Sophie King.</em></p><p><em>Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023.</em></p><p> </p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

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