Spider-man Turn Off The Dark

At the Foxwoods Theatre located at 213 West 42nd Street. It began previews on November 28, 2010 and opened on June 14, 2011. It is an open ended show. The show runs for two hours fifteen minutes with one intermission.

Rock music and lyrics by Bono and The Eagle.

Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962).

The story is about Peter Parker (Reeve Carney) and how he got his Spider-Man powers. Peter is bullied at school being the class nerd. He has a crush on his neighbor and classmate Mary Jane Watson (Rebecca Faulkenberry). Peter's Uncle Ben (Ken Marks) and his Aunt Mary (Isabel Keating) are raising him. After he is bitten by a spider and gets his super powers his life changes. His uncle is killed and he decides to make good use of his powers to fight evil.

Most people know the Spider-Man story. Either you have read the comic books or seen the movies so there are no surprises in the plot. However it is still enjoyable to watch.

I just loved the set designed by George Tsypin. It's amazing, some scenes are one dimenson, like a comic book effect. Two scenes that I especially liked were when Peter and Mary Jane are walking( they are not, the floor is moving) home from school the houses change like a book page turning, over head a New York City subway trains is going by. Another is when the Green Goblin (at this show played by Timothy Warmen) is on top of the Chrysler building. First your on the roof and next your looking down at the road and cars are going by. There are so many different scenes that you wonder were they are all kept. Very little furniture is used.

The aerial scenes are fun. Spider-Man, The Green Goblin and Arachne (Christina Sajous) are the characters in the air or dangling from the ceiling.

Reeve swings around the audience in the first act. There are other actors doing Spider-Man continually giving the feeling he is all over the place. The second act The Green Goblin and Spider-man have a fight above audience. This the most scary given the accidents that happened in the beginning run of the show. It's amazing they finally got it together. It was breath taking.

This is a great show to see. The first act is good but the second is even better, there is more excitement. The Green Goblin creates six scary bad guys and calls them the sinister six. Their costumes are outlandish.

Reeve and Rebecca compliment each other. The scene in the second act where they are dangling from the ceiling which is suppose to be a fire escape. The song they sing "If the World Should End" was a touching number. "A Freak Like Me Needs Company" was cute and funny. Two other songs "Turn Off the Light" and "Rise Alone" were very inspiring melodies.

This musical has a large cast, some actors do several roles.

This is not a a Pulitzer Prize winning story but it's still fun to see. Especially for the changing scenes and aerial feats.

Review by Rozanna Radakovich

Photos by Annazor