FORGET Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield or maybe even Tom Holland, Reeve Carney is Spider-Man… or was when I jetted across the pond to see Turn Off The Dark in New York.
Costing £44.5 million to stage with additional weekly running costs of £750,000, at the time the production was the most expensive ever to swing onto Broadway. Despite this, it wasn’t without its problems. Much has been written about cast injuries, creative changes and delayed openings, so it was with more than a little trepidation that I headed to the Foxwoods Theatre on West 42nd Street, back in 2012. I needn’t have worried. To misquote Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben, “with great power comes a great musical.”
Fresh, inventive and breath-taking, Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark was everything modern musical theatre should be. Carney’s vulnerable super hero was the perfect beau for Rebecca Faulkenberry’s feisty Mary Jane Watson and if ever a reminder were needed that there should be no disappointment in seeing an understudy, look no further than Jeb Brown; manic, sympathetic and with effortless audience rapport, even now I can’t imagine a better Green Goblin.
Musically of course, the piece is a rock opera – what else would you expect from U2’s Bono and The Edge – but it’s not all jangly guitars and throbbing bass. The title track is evocative, haunting and mesmerising. Beautifully fragile, the composers’ Celtic roots colour the delivery. A Freak like Me Needs Company on the other hand, is a rousing tongue-in-cheek anthem, while Rise Above has a glorious hook.
The highlight of the show, however, is the battle to the death between Spidey and the Green Goblin. Fought out high above the heads of the audience, Spider-Man launches himself from platforms at dress circle level to soar through the air, a spectacular finale that guaranteed a standing ovation ever time.
Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark really was an amazing experience and well worth the visit Stateside, but I wonder when, or if, we will ever see it back on a stage again.
