SPIDER-MAN
Theatre
MUSICAL
AEA 29-HOUR REHEARSED READING
Director: Julie Taymor
Music and Lyrics: Bono and The Edge of U2
Musical Supervisor: Teese Gohl
Book: Julie Taymor and Glen Berger
Producer: Hello Entertainment/David Garfinkle, Martin McCallum, Marvel Entertainment
Casting Director: Telsey + Company
Rehearsals: Begin 7/2/07 in NYC
Reading: 7/12/07 and 7/13/07
Is a superhero musical a bad idea?
I can only think of one, and from what I've heard it's not very good.
But was that a matter of execution, or is there something inherently antithetical about the genre of superheroes and the medium of musicals?
My gut says yes, but trying to back it up with actual reasons is more difficult. After all, superheroes have succeeded in every other medium I can think of, so why not?
There's the technical questions, of course. Superheroes tend to play on big fields that would seem difficult to capture on a single stage, but Wicked is currently a hit, and that has flying monkeys, on-stage transformations and falling houses. And people have been performing Wagner operas for over a hundred years now.
There's the campiness of musicals, but come on. The nineties were six years ago, man. We embrace our campiness now. We adore our Superman Family collection. We LOVE the Adam West Batman! Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb!
There's the music bit, but music's been a part of superheroes from their first adventures off the page. How many of you don't hear John Williams's score when see Superman swoop in? How many of you couldn't break into the Spider-Man theme on a moment's notice?
Besides, doesn't it seem like a genre where beautiful young men and women in bright, form fitting costumes get into athletic confrontations with each other when not engaging in melodramatic internal monologue or hyper-dramatic declarations of evil intent seem MADE for the Broadway stage?
But before you say anything, I leave you with five words:
Kiss of the Spider-Man.
