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Monday, November 15, 2010

Theater / Nerd Turn Off the Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 1:12 PM

Oh, man. I usually hate it when fanboys whine about a comic book adaptation before they see the adaptation. But the internerds are up in arms about this Vogue slideshow of shots from Julie Taymor's upcoming musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, and I don't think I can bring myself to play devil's advocate on this one. This looks terrible:

Screen_shot_2010-11-15_at_12.43.07_PM.png

That is supposed to be Carnage, who is a dumb, derivative character anyway. It is not the dumbest photo in the slideshow. When I first saw these photos, I thought it was a weird fan collage involving a photo from a fashion shoot and a badly homemade action figure. I was halfway right. It doesn't help that the Vogue story accompanying this slideshow is titled "KA-POW!," which is the laziest journalism cliche of all time. But how can you look at this project and not think of Batman and Robin?

To cleanse your palate, I now link to a video showing the making of that incredible GQ photo shoot starring Lea Michele and a couple of other people who are not Lea Michele.

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Comments (12) RSS

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I think the time has come for the inevitable Turn Off the Dark Death Pool. This production won't be stopped until (or even after) someone gets killed. It's just a questions of when. And who. And how.

Posted by rodolfo on November 15, 2010 at 1:23 PM

Swiss Miss? Really?

Posted by Michael Wells on November 15, 2010 at 1:25 PM

Well, for what it's worth, I don't get the sense these haute-couture monstrosities are actual costumes from the show. It looks more like a typical Vogue "let's dress the models/subjects up in the most ridiculous and expensive pieces of crap we can find!" photo spread.

The hideous villain costumes, OTOH...

Posted by COMTE

on November 15, 2010 at 1:29 PM

Why is Venom red?

Posted by sirkowski

on November 15, 2010 at 1:37 PM

It's been many years since my palate was cleansed by a Barbra impersonator.

Posted by gloomy gus on November 15, 2010 at 1:37 PM

wake me for the dr. strange musical.

Posted by Max Solomon on November 15, 2010 at 1:38 PM

I recall people saying Spider-Man would suck because of a) Sam Raimi, b) Tobey McGuire, c) it looked campy, d) Kirsten Dunst, e) comics suck. $2 billion or so later in that franchise, it's still going and about to start over, and they're prepping yet another Spider-Man cartoon now to boot. People have a bottomless appetite for Spider-Man so far and always have since the 1960s.

I recall people saying that the Lion King musical looked ridiculous and stupid as well when that started, and Taymor is still laughing all the way to the bank all these years later as the productions are an unstoppable machine now.

It might tank, or we might be seeing the Spider-Man musical in the Paramount in 10 years.

Posted by Joe Szilagyi

on November 15, 2010 at 1:45 PM

I think it's entirely appropriate to dress Spiderman in a ball gown. He is, after all, the world's biggest pussy, and the world's biggest drama queen. He's kind of like Tyra Banks, only less powerful.

Posted by Fnarf

on November 15, 2010 at 2:15 PM

@8 Thank you for that! The best characterization of Spider-Man that I have ever read. Ever.

Posted by Squirrel Girl on November 15, 2010 at 3:08 PM

Costumes by Eiko Ishioka? She's a genius. I can't watch Bram Stoker's Dracula without being stunned by her (Oscar-winning) costume design.

Posted by Free Lunch on November 15, 2010 at 6:43 PM

@10 That's kinda the problem with the whole show; a show with Julie Taymor directing, Ishioka costuming, Bono and The Edge composing, etc etc etc SHOULD be a great show. Instead, it looks like it's probably going to be the most expensive and notable flop in Broadway history. Sad!

Posted by TenrSinger on November 15, 2010 at 9:59 PM

I hear after Mary Jane battles Swiss Miss, she gets attacked by the Land O'Lakes butter woman.

Posted by bobbyjoe on November 15, 2010 at 11:48 PM