An Evening With Spidey

It’s the show that has made headlines in both the theatre and pop culture world. It’s the butt of every joke and for a while no one knew when it would actually open. They went through cast changes, on stage injuries and over 100 previews until it finally opened last June at Foxwoods theatre. Yup, I’m talking about Spiderman. I’ll admit, I was hesitant about this show and skeptical about purchasing a ticket once I had learned of all the mishaps that were happening at the theatre. But, a few weeks ago, I finally broke down and bought a ticket.  It’s one of the few shows that I have yet to see and my friend and I thought that it would be interesting to just go and give it a try.

That evening we went to the theatre wondering what the show would be like, how would the effects be etc. When the show started, I wasn’t exactly blown away to start.

The book isn’t so great. It’s hard to tell if they were trying to write it like a comic book or if it just flat out sucked. But, I’m not going to be a Brantley so I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they were trying to capture the essence of comic book writing.

I really wasn’t a fan of the music either as I felt that it didn’t reach it’s full potential and at times I felt that it was too loud. I felt that at times there was no volume control. Some of the songs were in fact pretty good, like “Bullying By Numbers” but love songs between Peter and MJ seemed too forced. The actors seemed tense and it really didn’t feel like a love song, as there was no passion or emotion in their voices.

The costumes were nothing absolutely spectacular with the exception of Arachne and the Sinister Six. Their costumes were amazing and they really brought out the essence of the characters.

Visually, it was spectacular. The sets are very reminiscent of a comic book but at times there is just too much going on that it would drive me crazy. If I was working backstage on that show I don’t know how I could make it through it 8 times a week. The video sequences in the second act were really interesting.

I wasn’t very impressed with the some of the casting however there were a few standouts. Patrick Page who played The Green Goblin, T.V. Carpio who plays Arachne and one of the bullies Matt Caplan were incredible! I love T.V. and Matt’s voices as I was so drawn to them when they were onstage. Patrick Page is just incredible, he not only has a great voice but he has good comedic timing and made an awesome villain!

Of course you can’t talk about Spiderman without mentioning the flying. It’s incredible and a spectacle in and of itself! It was really interesting to see the characters actually flying and having a battle over the audience!

All in all, I feel that Spiderman is more of a tourist show/attraction as is seemed that was the majority of the audience. But it was a successful night as no one was injured during the show!