Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

The story of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

The musical follows Peter Parker as he is bitten by a genetically altered spider, gains extraordinary powers, and takes up the identity of Spider-Man to protect New York City. He falls for Mary Jane Watson while facing off against Norman Osborn, a scientist who transforms into the villainous Green Goblin, drawing loosely on the Spider-Man comics and the early 2000s film adaptations for its central story.

The production layered a second narrative onto that familiar comic-book plot, built around Arachne, the weaver of Greek myth who was turned into a spider by Athena. In director Julie Taymor's original preview version she was a major villain alongside the Green Goblin, while in the revised version that officially opened she became a guardian spirit who appears to Peter in visions and reminds him that being a hero is his destiny. That mythological framework, combined with elaborate aerial sequences and flying battles, was central to Taymor's original vision for the show.

The music and the makers

The songs were written by Bono and The Edge of the rock band U2, marking their first Broadway score. Julie Taymor, the director of Broadway's The Lion King, conceived the show's mythological framing, directed the original production, and co-wrote the book with Glen Berger. Early descriptions called it the most technically complex show ever on Broadway, with 27 aerial sequences.

After a troubled preview period, Taymor left the production in March 2011, and previews were suspended from April 19 to May 11 while creative consultant Philip William McKinley and writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, a longtime Spider-Man comics writer, reworked the staging and book ahead of the official opening. The overhaul cut the Geek Chorus of teenage narrators and trimmed Taymor's more abstract mythological material in favor of a clearer, more conventional telling of the Spider-Man story.

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark on Broadway

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark began previews at the Foxwoods Theatre on November 28, 2010, and did not officially open until June 14, 2011, after a record-setting 182 previews. The extended previews were marked by repeated postponements of the opening and by injuries to several performers, including a December 2010 accident in which a stunt performer fell into the orchestra pit because his harness had not been attached to its safety cord.

Reeve Carney starred as Peter Parker, with Jennifer Damiano as Mary Jane Watson and Patrick Page as the Green Goblin. Its reported cost of about 75 million dollars made it the most expensive production in Broadway history at the time, and at the 2012 Tony Awards it earned two nominations, for scenic design and costume design, but won neither. It closed on January 4, 2014, after 1,066 regular performances.

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark: frequently asked questions