If I were 20 years younger, I might feel differently about Spiderman, but here goes: I'm ambivalent.
My hat's off to the creative genius who pulled the story of Arachne, the hurbristic weaver, out of Greek mythology to give her a grand role on Broadway as Spiderman's ancestor, mentor, and muse.
On one hand, I reveled in the special effects, the flash, and the panache, just like nearly everyone else in the audience. Never before have I seen human beings "fly" (the aerial flight fight between Spiderman and the Green Goblin will always be with me), nor have I seen live theater that so artfully blends a comic book medium with actual theater. The chameleon-like sets had a magical life of their own, blending light and digital art like nobody's business. I could wax on and on about the splendiferous costumes and the impeccable dancing. The way that the director spliced two human dancers together to create an eight-legged arachnid, and the other scene in which dancers used four life-sized puppet legs, all wearing stolen shoes, captivated me. Truly, this was more than a play; it was an experience.
Alas, this is an experience that I will perhaps see once in my life; I do not have a hankering for a second experience, and perhaps I can blame it on my age, although I'm not yet a crusty old man, and my sense of what a Broadway show should be.
When I leave a show, I expect to hear the songs echoing in my head. This is the hallmark of a great score, and I didn't get this from Spiderman, which is disappointing because I went in with a bias; I was a hardcore U2 fan back in 1983, and I have most of their albums. U2 created the show's soundtrack, and Julie Taymore planted an electrified band bristling with high octane guitars practically on center stage. They seemed out of place to me, and this made me wonder about the ego of The Edge, allowing him to vicariously and visibly share the action with Spidey, Peter, and MJ.
If only we had more cohesive story-line and a credible, despicable villain on the order of Scar from The Lion King. If only the music weren't so loud and if only I weren't blinded a few times by lights that should have been on a baseball field for a night game. This is where I sound like the old man I don't want to become.
I wish this show only the best. I hope that it pulls hundreds of thousands of young people into its spellbinding net, people who otherwise wouldn't invest the money or time to see a Broadway show. Hopefully, if they get jazzed about Spiderman, they will be open to experiencing the classics like Sunset Boulevard, Camelot, and Ragtime - shows that have a story and a score.
