Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

"Turn Off the Dark" redirects here. For the 1997 album Turn the Dark Off, see Howie B.

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Promotional poster
Music	Bono The Edge
Lyrics	Bono The Edge
Book	Original book by: Julie Taymor Glen Berger Book revisions by: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Basis	Spider-Man by Marvel Comics
Productions	2011 Broadway

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is a 2011 rock musical with music and lyrics by U2's Bono and The Edge and a book by Julie Taymor, Glen Berger, and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. The musical is based on the Spider-Man comics created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, published by Marvel Comics, as well as the 2002 film about the character, and the Greek myth of Arachne. It tells the story of the origin of the character, his romance with Mary Jane and his battles with the evil Green Goblin. The show includes highly technical stunts, such as actors swinging from "webs" and several aerial combat scenes.

In the year before it premiered, the show gained notoriety for its production troubles, related to both the difficulty of its stunts and frequent retooling of the book and score. Both rehearsals and previews went on longer than expected, and several actors were injured during the process. At the first preview performance, these technical challenges caused several lengthy interruptions. Previews were then suspended for a month in mid-2011 to overhaul the show after negative reviews from preview audiences and critics. Director Julie Taymor, whose vision had driven the musical, left the production at that time, and co-director Philip William McKinley was brought in to redirect portions of the show. The show ended up having the longest preview period (182 preview performances) in history.

Turn Off the Dark officially opened on June 14, 2011. Critical reception of the opening was better than for the earlier version, but mixed at best, with praise for the visual effects but little enthusiasm for the book and score. Turn Off the Dark is the most expensive Broadway production in history, and also holds the box office record for Broadway sales in one week, taking in $2.9 million over nine performances.

Description

Bono (left) and The Edge (right)

Although often described as a rock musical, the production "treads new ground" that some commentators have asserted "have effectively distanced it from its peers—and caused some confusion when it comes time to describe the show." The Edge stated that he is unsure of what description to use for the production, because "It is elements of rock and roll, it's elements of circus, it's elements of opera, [and] of musical theater." Bono, admitting that his description is a little "pretentious," has referred to it as "pop-up, pop-art opera," noting that Julie Taymor is calling it a "rock-and-roll circus drama." Bono has also described the production as "wrestling with the same stuff" as "Rilke, Blake, Wings of Desire, Roy Lichtenstein, [and] the Ramones." A 60 Minutes CBS special stated that it is being called a "comic book rock opera circus," although in that segment Bono noted that even using "rock" to describe the music is too narrow a description, because "We've moved out of the rock and roll idiom in places into some very new territory for us ... [including] big show tunes and dance songs."

The production was described early on as "the most technically complex show ever on Broadway, with 27 aerial sequences of characters flying" and engaging in aerial combat. The production not only features high-flying stunts, but also includes a "multitude of moving set pieces that put the audience in the middle of the action," and enough projections onto giant screens that Bono has said that it is like a three-dimensional graphic novel. The original story treated the origins of Spider-Man similarly to the story in the 2002 film, but wove in an involved story about a villainness based on the mythological Arachne. A "geek chorus" of four teenagers narrated the story. In the rewritten version, the plot hews closer to the comic book and film and trims and transforms the role of Arachne into a "kindred spirit in Spider-Man’s dreams".

Broadway production

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark had no out-of-town tryouts because of the technical requirements of the production, which were designed for the Foxwoods Theatre on Broadway. The musical began previews at that theatre on November 28, 2010. After many delays, the official opening gala night took place on June 14, 2011.

The creative team originally included director Taymor and choreographer Daniel Ezralow, with scenic design by George Tsypin, costumes by Eiko Ishioka and lighting by Donald Holder. An "expanded creative team", announced on March 9, 2011, includes Philip William McKinley, joining the production as "consultant" (when Taymor left the production). It also includes the addition of Chase Brock for additional choreography and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa for additional writing. Taymor retained her original credits in Spider-Man.

The opening night cast featured Reeve Carney as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Jennifer Damiano as Mary Jane Watson, Patrick Page as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, T. V. Carpio as Arachne, Michael Mulheren as J. Jonah Jameson, Ken Marks as Uncle Ben, Isabel Keating as Aunt May, Jeb Brown as Mary Jane's Father, Matt Caplan as school bully Flash Thompson, and Laura Beth Wells as Osborn's wife Emily.

Due to the physical demands of the role, Carney originally shared the role of Spider-Man with Matthew James Thomas, who appeared in two of the performances each week. He now shares the role with former Degrassi star, Jake Epstein.

Planned productions

Producers have stated that they plan to open two resident productions of the show in London and Hamburg, Germany. Spider-Man producers were recently scouting European cities for the ideal venues. According to rumours the musical will likely play large arenas rather than traditional theatres. Rick Miramontez, a spokesperson for the production, told Playbill.com, "We have no further comment on the matter, but to confirm that [producers] Michael Cohl and Jeremiah Harris are en route to Europe to scout theaters.".

Synopsis

Act I

At Midtown Manhattan Magnet High School in Queens, New York, local teenager Peter Parker gives a book report about Arachne, Goddess of the Weavers ("The Myth of Arachne"). As Peter gives his report, Arachne descends to the stage and tells the audience her story ("Behold and Wonder"). Thousands of years ago, Arachne was a skilled weaver who became conceited and boasted that she was greater than the goddess Athena, who challenged Arachne to a weaving contest. During the contest, Arachne created blasphemous images of the gods. Furious, Athena destroyed Arachne's work. Devastated, Arachne hung herself, but Athena took pity on Arachne and transformed her into the world's first spider. Now Arachne is cursed to wander the universe and weave her web for all eternity.

After class ends, Peter's ex-best friend Flash Thompson and his gang gleefully torment the Straight A Student ("Bullying by Numbers"). Peter has a crush on his popular next door neighbor Mary Jane Watson, but they both have unhappy lives. Mary Jane has an abusive father and suffers at home while Peter suffers the torment of bullies at school ("No More"). Peter has lived with Uncle Ben and Aunt May ever since his parents Richard and Mary Parker died in a plane crash when he was a baby. A few days later, Peter and classmates go on a field trip to the genetics laboratory of scientist Norman Osborn and his wife Emily, who explain what they hope to accomplish with their genetic research ("D.I.Y. World"). While Peter takes pictures of the lab for the school newspaper, the Osborns put the whole lab on lockdown as a dangerous genetically altered spider has escaped. While the students and scientists panic, the spider lowers itself onto Peter's shoulder and bites him ("Venom").

Peter soon becomes aware that he has spider-like powers as a result of the spider's bite along with a muscular physique, 20/20 vision and the ability to emit web strings from his wrists. He uses his powers at school to defeat Flash and his friends in a fistfight ("Bouncing Off the Walls"). After seeing Flash give Mary Jane a ride, Peter decides to buy a car to impress her. He heads out and enters a wrestling tournament, where he defeats champion Bonesaw McGraw for the grand prize of $1,000. Peter returns home only to learn that Uncle Ben has been shot by a carjacker. Ashamed of his recent selfishness and realizing he's powerless to save his dying uncle, Peter has an emotional encounter with Aunt May unaware that Arachne is watching over him. Arachne encourages him to use his gift to defend the innocent from evil ("Rise Above"). Peter vows to avenge Uncle Ben's death by using his powers to save the world and notes that "with great power comes great responsibility".

Peter then makes a costume with the colors that Arachne described to him. Red for every heart of the innocent that bleeds and blue for the sorrow of endangered citizens before swinging through the city on his webs, fighting criminals and saving innocent civilians as "Spider-Man". The Daily Bugle then begins to publish articles about Spider-Man while Peter is hired by editor-in-chief J. Jonah Jameson as a freelance photojournalist. Meanwhile, Norman Osborn begins thinking that Spider-Man stole his research as the military organization Viper Worldwide presses him to accelerate his project ("Pull the Trigger"). Norman contemplates the dilemma with Emily while Peter shares his first romantic moment with Mary Jane ("Picture This"). Norman then decides to experiment on himself, causing an electrical surge that results in Emily's accidental death. Norman goes insane and mutates into the "Green Goblin".

Act II

The Green Goblin comes up with a plan to genetically alter other humans as he did himself ("A Freak Like Me Needs Company"). Through his experiments on his former employees, he manages to create six villains: Carnage, Electro, Kraven the Hunter, Lizard, Swarm, and Swiss Miss. That night, Mary Jane tells Peter that her love for him has grown and he admits that the feeling is mutual ("If the World Should End"). The Goblin and his new alliance of criminals – calling themselves the "Sinister Six" – go on a rampage through New York ("Sinistereo"). Spider-Man quickly defeats the Sinister Six as the citizens of New York cheer him on ("Spider-Man!"), unaware that the Goblin has managed to escape. The Goblin arrives at the Daily Bugle and tells Jameson to print his plans of dominating the world through genetic mutation. The Goblin also tells Jameson that he gave Spider-Man life, making Jameson believe Spider-Man is in league with the Goblin and therefore giving Spider-Man an even worse image from the Bugle. Later that night, Arachne comes to Peter in a vision and explains that she is his guardian along with the reminder that being a hero is his destiny and he cannot escape it ("Turn Off the Dark").

Maligned by the media and suffering financial woes, Peter wants to spend more time with Mary Jane after missing the opening night of her play and begins considering to take time off from fighting crime. Upset over Peter's constant excuses and not wanting to lose the best friend she ever had, Mary Jane suggests they take a break from their relationship ("I Just Can't Walk Away (Say It Now)"). Hurt, Peter decides not to resume his heroic acts as Spider-Man and gives his costume to J. Jonah Jameson telling him that Spider-Man has quit. He later takes Mary Jane to a night club and impulsively proposes to her. While there, the Green Goblin intercepts the city's TV signals and sends a message to Spider-Man threatening his loved ones. Peter takes Mary Jane to his apartment and breaks off their relationship for good so that his enemies won't target her. After telling Mary Jane that he will always love her, Peter takes a walk and realizes that he needs to be a hero not only for Mary Jane but for the world ("The Boy Falls From the Sky"). Spider-Man then recovers his costume from the Daily Bugle and goes after the Green Goblin.

The Goblin sits at a piano at the top of the Chrysler Building and humorously boasts to the audience of his plan to destroy New York City ("I'll Take Manhattan"). Spider-Man arrives ready to fight, but is soon unmasked when the Goblin reveals he knows Spider-Man's true identity. Peter attempts to revive the good-natured Norman within the Goblin, but to no avail. Peter engages the Goblin in combat, but before he can finish him the Goblin reveals that he has Mary Jane, who now dangles from the Chrysler Building. A flying battle over the audience takes place and when it seems all hope is lost, Spider-Man webs the Goblin to his piano. The Goblin, not realizing this, thrusts the piano over the side of the Chrysler Building, taking him down to his death. After Spider-Man saves Mary Jane, she tells him not to leave and reveals that she has guessed who he is. Peter removes his mask and they embrace. The two contemplate their new life together before sirens begin wailing and Spider-Man swings away ("Finale – A New Dawn").

Musical numbers

Act I:

• "The Myth of Arachne"†† – Peter
• "Behold and Wonder"†† – Arachne, Weavers
• "Bullying by Numbers"†† – Peter, Bullies, High School Students
• "No More" – Peter, Mary Jane
• "D.I.Y. World" – Norman, Emily, Peter, High School Students, Lab Assistants
• "Venom" ††– Bullies
• "Bouncing Off the Walls" – Peter, High School Students
• "Rise Above" – Peter, Arachne, Citizens of New York
• "Pull the Trigger" – Norman, Emily, Viper Executives, Soldiers
• "Picture This" – Peter, Mary Jane, Norman, Emily

Act II:

• "A Freak Like Me Needs Company" – Green Goblin, Sinister Six, Ensemble
• "If the World Should End" – Mary Jane, Peter
• "Sinistereo" – Reporters
• "Spider-Man!"†† – Citizens of New York
• "Turn Off the Dark" – Arachne, Peter
• "I Just Can't Walk Away (Say It Now)" – Mary Jane, Peter
• "The Boy Falls From the Sky"† – Peter
• "I'll Take Manhattan"†† – Green Goblin
• "Finale – A New Dawn"†† – Citizens of New York

† "The Boy Falls From the Sky" was written by all band members of U2.
†† Not on the Broadway cast recording

Original Broadway cast

• Peter Parker/Spider-Man – Reeve Carney
• Mary Jane Watson – Jennifer Damiano
• Norman Osborn/Green Goblin – Patrick Page
• Arachne – T. V. Carpio
• J. Jonah Jameson – Michael Mulheren
• Uncle Ben / Others – Ken Marks
• Aunt May / Others – Isabel Keating
• Emily Osborn / Others – Laura Beth Wells
• Flash Thompson / Others – Matt Caplan
• MJ's Father / Others – Jeb Brown
• Alternate Peter Parker/Spider-Man – Matthew James Thomas

Throughout the run, cast replacements have included Timothy Warmen (September 2011) and Dan Sharkey (January 2013) as Mary Jane's Father, Rebecca Faulkenberry (November 2011) as Mary Jane Watson, Christina Sajous (November 2011) and Katrina Lenk (May 2012) as Arachne, Emily Shoolin (January 2012) and Laura Beth Wells (Return; June 2012) as Emily Osborn, Matthew Wilkas (January 2012) and Jake Odmark (January 2013) as Flash Thompson, Robert Cuccioli (August 2012) as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, Jake Epstein (December 2012) as Alternate Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Stephen Lee Anderson (January 2013) and Ken Marks (Return; March 2013) as Uncle Ben. Christina DiCicco will replace Katrina Lenk as Arachne on April 23.

History

Early development

According to the New York Post, Bono began composing Spider-Man after Andrew Lloyd Webber joked, "I’d like to thank rock musicians for leaving me alone for 25 years – I’ve had the theater all to myself"; Bono and Taymor "decided to give Andrew a little competition".

In August 2002, Marvel announced that Tony Adams would produce a stage musical based on the Spider-Man comics. Adams approached Bono and The Edge to be involved with the project; in turn, they enlisted Taymor to direct. In October 2005, Adams suffered a stroke while the creative team was assembled to sign contracts; he died two days later. Patrick Healy in The New York Times described their situation:

Others might have abandoned the project, but the Spider-Man team decided to go on, with Mr. Adams's partner, David Garfinkle, as lead producer. An able entertainment lawyer, Mr. Garfinkle had little producing experience, and he ceded artistic decisions to Ms. Taymor, a perfectionist whose aesthetic included never repeating herself. Mr. Garfinkle did not take the tack that Disney had while working with Ms. Taymor on their hit musical, "The Lion King": her genius flourishes best under supervision.

Delays and budget overruns

Readings of the musical were held beginning in 2007, but the production was delayed several times. By early 2009, the Broadway production ran $25 million into debt, the New York Post reported, and work on it was suspended. The budget for the project was reported in March 2009 to be a record-setting $52 million. On August 31, 2009, The Walt Disney Company announced plans to buy Marvel Comics. Despite the previous Broadway success of their Disney Theatrical Productions subsidiary, Disney made no move to assume control of Spider-Man, or help the production financially. In late 2009, Bono asked Michael Cohl to step in as producer, and by May 2010 Cohl had raised the money to proceed with the project, much of it from Jeremiah J. Harris, former Chairman of Live Nation, who is also listed as a producer. Meanwhile, the musical was eventually scheduled to open at the Foxwoods Theatre on February 18, 2010, but the production was delayed again until fundraising could be completed.

By November 2010, the production was estimated to cost $65 million. In addition, the show's unusually high running costs were reported to be about $1 million per week. A new opening night of December 21, 2010 was scheduled, but this was delayed until January 2011, reportedly due to "a tremendous amount of creative commotion behind the scenes" as more time for rehearsals were needed. In December 2010, the official opening was again pushed back, to February 2011, "to provide more time for the creators to stage a new final numbers, make further rewrites to the dialogue and consider adding and cutting scenes and perhaps inserting new music. ... Ms. Taymor and the producers have concluded that Act II has storytelling problems that need to be fixed." A "final postponement" was made once again, pushing the opening to March 15, 2011, in order to "allow Taymor to fine-tune the production and instate a new ending".

The New York Times reported that the show's opening would be delayed for the sixth time, until summer 2011. This latest delay included a shutdown of previews. The shutdown lasted from April 19 to May 11, 2011, in order for the new creative team to implement changes; preview performances resumed May 12. In March, Cohl and Harris said they shut down previews because they felt "the story needed some work, the songs needed some work, and the sound needed some work", and that they "were going to concentrate on those three areas over the next three and a half weeks." They also announced that injured Spider-Man stunt performer Christopher Tierney would be rejoining the show. By April 2011 the capitalization was reported to have grown to $70 million, and as of the opening, it was reported as $75 million, compared to the typical $5 to $15 million for a Broadway musical.

Cast and creative team replacements

"My GOD, that was a lucky escape. Jesus Christ! Talk about dodging a bullet there!"

—Alan Cumming, on his decision to leave the musical

Evan Rachel Wood and Alan Cumming were cast as Mary Jane Watson and the Green Goblin, respectively, in June 2009, but Wood left in March 2010 and Cumming the following month when the show was delayed. The new original cast was announced on August 16, 2010. During early previews Mat Devine, Gideon Glick, Alice Lee and Jonathan Schwartz played a group of characters known as the "Geek Chorus". After revisions, the characters were cut from the show.

In February 2011, playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa was asked by the producers "to help rewrite the script". He had written several stories for Spider-Man comic books and had revised the book for a production of It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman. On February 21, 2011, Paul Bogaev (a 2004 nominee for a Tony Award for Best Orchestrations) was hired "as a consultant to help improve the performance, vocal and orchestration arrangements, and sound quality of the songs and numbers."

In early March 2011, Playbill and The New York Times reported that the producers had considered whether to "work with an expanded creative team" or have Taymor leave the production. Soon thereafter, Taymor left the production. Philip William McKinley joined the show as "consultant", and Chase Brock joined as co-choreographer.

Cast injuries and additional replacements

"[Joan Rivers]' stand-up act...lately has begun with a moment of silence for 'those Americans risking their lives daily – in 'Spider-Man' the musical'."

—The New York Times

Five people have been injured while working on Spider-Man. After two stunt doubles were injured during various flying sequences in rehearsals, safety inspectors from the New York State Department of Labor reviewed these scenes in the show and, in February 2011, cited the show for two workplace safety violations. The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined the show $12,600 in March 2011 for three serious safety violations. The Actors' Equity Association also looked into the incidents. One of the injuries occurred when Spider-Man stunt double Kevin Aubin broke both wrists. Another actor "had broken [his] feet on the same move a month earlier."

Natalie Mendoza, who was originally cast as Arachne, suffered a concussion during the first preview performance on November 28, 2010, when she was struck in the head by equipment in the wings. She did not report the accident to producers until November 30. She appeared in the second performance against her doctor's advice; the role involves several flying sequences, including one in which she is spun upside-down. Mendoza later felt ill, and America Olivo, her understudy, played the role during her nearly two-week absence. Mendoza returned to the show for the December 15 evening performance. Following the preview of December 20, 2010, when Spider-Man stunt performer Christopher Tierney was injured and hospitalized, Mendoza suspended her performance. On December 30, she announced her permanent withdrawal from the show and was replaced by T. V. Carpio.

In that December 20 preview, Tierney fell more than 20 feet (6.1 m) off a piece of scenery when his harness was not connected to the safety cord, leaving him to freefall through the stage and into the orchestra pit. Tierney was hospitalized at Bellevue Hospital Center; he was released for rehabilitation on December 28. The December 20 performance was ended prematurely. After rehearsals for stricter safety procedures involving the harnesses, the show resumed with the evening performance on December 23. Tierney was released from New York University's Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine on January 5, 2011. He returned to the show for rehearsals on April 25, 2011 and performed in the show on opening night. Meanwhile, Carpio was injured during a March 16 performance, reportedly hurting her neck, and left the show for two weeks.

Promotion

Performances

On September 10, 2010, Carney and his band performed "Boy Falls from the Sky" on Good Morning America. Carney, Bono, and The Edge all performed on the May 25, 2011, final episode of American Idol Season 10 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, singing "Rise Above." Carney and Damiano performed "If The World Should End" on the 65th Tony Awards telecast in June 2011.

The show has twice appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman. On March 2, 2011, the cast performed "Rise Above", as featured in Julie Taymor's version. On July 18, 2011, the cast, led by Patrick Page, performed "A Freak Like Me Needs Company".

A short performance of this show was featured in the 2011 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, with Spider-Man battling villains, while the ensemble performed a medely of "Bouncing Off the Walls", "A Freak Like Me Needs Company", and "Spider-Man!".

Television

Syfy is Turn Off the Dark's lead media partner, offering tickets to the show as prizes and airing commercials for the production. CBS' 60 Minutes aired a feature on the production on November 28, 2010, the production's first preview performance, in which Lesley Stahl chronicled the creation of the musical.

Reception

Press coverage and critical response

The show's first performance, on November 28, 2010, "garnered what was most likely the most press coverage of a first preview in history." Reactions to the first preview described the musical as "visually stunning," despite technical glitches that resulted in several stops and starts during the performance. By January 18, 2011, a reviewer reported that there were no delays during the preview he saw. He praised the stunts and ballads "that evoke the yearning grandeur of U2 – though their more upbeat material tended to be nondescript" but felt that the "plot of the second act twisted into tangled knots." Radio and TV talkshow host Glenn Beck championed the production after attending the preview showings several times.

Most of the major theater critics published their reviews of the first version on February 7, 2011; nearly all of them were strongly negative in tone. Although reviews during the preview period are unusual, the critics decided that the ever-expanding preview period was so long, and ticket prices were so high, that they should not wait for the official opening. An analysis in The New York Review of Books by classics scholar Daniel Mendelsohn followed up the complaints of other critics that Taymor's attempt to graft the classical myth of Arachne onto the comic book story turned the show into "a grotesque hybrid" and overloaded the plot with two unrelated main villains in Arachne and Green Goblin.

In a scathing review of the first version, The New York Times critic Ben Brantley had said that Spider-Man may "rank among the worst" Broadway musicals. In his review of the revised version, Brantley wrote, "So is this ascent from jaw-dropping badness to mere mediocrity a step upward? Well, until last weekend ... I would have recommended Spider-Man only to carrion-feasting theater vultures. Now, if I knew a less-than-precocious child of 10 or so, and had several hundred dollars to throw away, I would consider taking him or her to the new and improved Spider-Man."

In the show's first incarnation, the average rating from critics was "F+", while the revision garnered an average score of "C+". In a roundup of the reviews, Linda Buchwald commented, "critics actually miss some of Julie Taymor's ambition, crazy as they may have thought it at the time. Critics agree that the show is improved in that it makes much more sense, however, now they mostly find it a bore. Bono and the Edge's score is almost universally panned while Patrick Page's Green Goblin and stunning visuals remain for most critics the best reasons to see the show."

Theatre review aggregator Curtain Critic gave the production a score of 50 out of 100 based on the opinions of 20 critics.

Box office

Despite poor reviews and bad publicity, Spider-Man has been very successful at the box office. Ticket sales the day after the first preview on November 28, 2010, were more than one million dollars. During the first full week of 2011, Spider-Man had the highest box-office gross on Broadway, with a total of $1,588,514.

The New York Times' Patrick Healy stated in February 2011 that Spider-Man had become "a national object of pop culture fascination—more so, perhaps, than any show in Broadway history" due to media coverage and late-night comedians' monologues on the musical's many delays, injuries, and creative issues. He speculated that the musical would not have staying power through repeat viewings like other hit musicals, after "tourists and parents with children" watched it for "bragging rights at dinner parties or on the playground". The New York Post columnist Michael Riedel opined that month that the musical would be short-lived: "Depending on how much more money its backers are willing to lose, my hunch is that 'Spider-Man' will stagger through the spring, pick up with the tourist traffic in the summer and then collapse in the fall. It should be gone by September [2011]."

Spider-Man survived beyond September 2011, with ticket sales improving during the summer. About half of its audience comes from beyond the New York metropolitan area, including many foreign tourists. In November, its producers stated that the show earned about $100,000 to $300,000 in net income each week, which means that Spider-Man will have to continue playing for at least five years to recoup the $75 million cost. The show may add new scenes and perhaps a new song each year to persuade fans to attend it again as "a whole new [comic book] issue".

The first week of January 2012, the Broadway League reported that the show had taken in $2,941,790 in ticket sales the week before, the highest single-week gross of any show in the history of Broadway. The record was previously held by Wicked, which took $2.2 million in a week the previous year.

In popular culture

To offset some of the costs of the show, dozens of tie-ins have been produced.

During the 2010 Tony Awards, host Sean Hayes ran on stage dressed as Spider-Man, struggling comically to sing through the mask. After the first preview performance, Conan O'Brien featured his own "preview" of the show, demonstrating how the show could have been more inexpensively produced, in ways that included using Silly String for web-slinging stunts. The cover of the January 17, 2011 The New Yorker featured a cartoon showing multiple actors dressed as Spider-Man wearing casts or a head brace or in rehab, parodying the cast injuries in the show.

The musical has been parodied several times on Saturday Night Live. On the December 4, 2010 episode, Andy Samberg played an understudy playing Spider-Man due to injuries, hanging upside-down from the ceiling and failing to flip over, saying, "You'll flip for it!" The February 12, 2011 episode had a commercial parody for a law firm called Gublin and Green specializing in lawsuits related to Turn Off the Dark, with a lawyer portrayed by Fred Armisen. While none of the defendants receive cash, they do receive free tickets to a future showing of the musical. One of the testimonials in the advertisement comes from Bono, as played by Andy Samberg. In the March 12, 2011 episode, Taymor, who had just left the production, was satirized by Kristen Wiig.

The May 23, 2011 episode of the satirical animated series Mad involved Taymor approaching the Smallville TV-series version of Clark Kent to cast him and the rest of the characters in Smallville: Turn Off The Clark. At the 2011 Tony Awards, host Neil Patrick Harris tried but failed to confine himself to as many jokes about Spider-Man as he could complete in 30 seconds, focusing mainly on the accidents plaguing the show.

The June 19, 2011 episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent concerned a high-flying Broadway musical named Icarus, where events similar to the events in the production history of Spider-Man turn tragic, leading to an actor's death. In Icarus, the creative team includes a high-strung director and a secretly bisexual rock-star composer.

In "Broadway Bro Down", the October 26, 2011 episode of South Park, Randy Marsh discovers that men take women to see Broadway musicals because doing so arouses the women into later performing oral sex on them. When Randy later learns that a boy has taken his teenage daughter to a Broadway show, Randy sneaks into the theater in a Spider-Man costume, and swings onstage, crashing into many actors and audience members, and damaging a water main.

The Ultimate Spider-Man episode "I Am Spider-Man" which first aired September 23, 2012 features a Spider-Man musical, with Flash Thompson playing the web slinger.

In Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, if Deadpool is fighting Spider-man, Deadpool says that he will "rough [Spider-Man] up like a Broadway musical!" If victorious, he tells Spider-Man that "maybe it would have helped if [he] turned off the dark!"

Simpsons Super Spectacular issue 14 features a parody of the musical featuring Bart Simpson's favourite superhero Radioactive Man. The story chronicles the many disasters that befall attempts to produce a musical featuring the hero titled 'Turn up the Silence'.

Awards and nominations

Original Broadway production

Year	Award	Category	Nominee	Result
2012	Tony Award	Best Scenic Design	George Tsypin	Nominated
		Best Costume Design	Eiko Ishioka	Nominated
	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical	Patrick Page	Nominated

Recordings

A Broadway concept album, produced by Steve Lillywhite, was released on June 14, 2011. On May 25, 2011, a single version of "Rise Above", titled Rise Above 1: Reeve Carney Featuring Bono and The Edge, was released digitally. The music video was released on July 28, 2011 and for the Billboard chart week of August 13, 2011 the single debuted on the Adult Top 40 chart at position 40, and peaked at position 34.

Jon Dolan for Rolling Stone gave the album a three stars rating out of five commenting: "Amid the all many disasters that beset the Broadway version of Spider-Man, Bono and the Edge's songs emerge pretty much unscathed by critics. Now that the show has been revised and restaged, this centerpiece anthem of struggle over adversity may become a metaphor for its slog towards redemption. "Rise Above" is a trademark soaring U2 ballad, with the elegant grandeur cranked up to Andrew Lloyd Weber levels. But show tunes need big voices too, and, singing next to Bono on this version from the forthcoming cast recording album, leading man Reeve Carney sounds like a nervous understudy." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic gave the album one star, stating that all the problems that plagued the production "obscured one key problem with the musical: the songs written by Bono and The Edge are dreadful." Erlewine summed up his review calling the songs a "murky, turgid mess, too concerned with atmosphere and narrative to reel in a listener and ironically not offering ambience or story enough to suggest that the musical would entertain."

Cast album

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Soundtrack album cast recording by Various
Released	June 14, 2011 (2011-06-14)
Length	51:35
Label	Interscope

No.	Title	Length
1.	"NY Debut (Instrumental)"	3:10
2.	"The Boy Falls from the Sky"	4:27
3.	"Rise Above 1"	3:53
4.	"Picture This"	3:38
5.	"I Just Can't Walk Away (Say It Now)"	3:26
6.	"Bouncing Off the Walls"	2:59
7.	"Pull the Trigger"	4:01
8.	"No More"	3:45
9.	"D.I.Y. World"	2:56
10.	"If the World Should End"	3:46
11.	"Sinistereo"	3:17
12.	"A Freak Like Me (Needs Company)"	3:41
13.	"Rise Above 2"	4:22
14.	"Turn Off the Dark"	4:06

External links

• Spider-Man On Broadway
• Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark at the Internet Broadway Database
• Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark at Broadway.com
• Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark at Playbill Vault