Producer of Spider-Man Musical Not Climbing Walls

After the first preview performance Sunday, “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” had to be halted five times because of technical glitches, two subsequent shows have each been stopped only once.

That downward trend comes as a relief to lead producer Michael Cohl. “Clearly that is the objective. That’s what I expect and I’m sure it’s going to happen,” he told The Associated Press. “We’ve worked out 80 percent of our bugs. We’re way ahead of the game.”

But the show will have to go on at least through the weekend without actress Natalie Mendoza, who has been sidelined after being hit in the head by a rope during the first preview. Mendoza, who plays Spider-Man’s evil love interest Arachne – a part written by director and co-book author Julie Taymor – will be out “for a brief period” but remains with the production, Rick Miramontez, a spokesman for the show, said Friday. Mendoza’s understudy, America Olivo, filled in for the first time Thursday, though there was no note in the Playbill about the replacement.

Cohl said the reported $65 million megashow will open as planned Jan. 11 at the Foxwoods Theatre following an unusually lengthy six weeks of previews. He also doesn’t expect any changes among cast members or in the script.

“There won’t be new scenes or other scenes cut or anything. They’ll be what I call tweaking,” he said. “We’ve got a great cast, we’ve got great understudies. We’re launched, in that way.”

But he warned preview audiences may have to endure at least a few bumps along the way, such as when two actors were stuck suspended over the crowd Sunday, or, as in Thursday’s performance, Spider-Man got trapped on the balcony.

“If the bugs were worked out, we wouldn’t have to have 42 previews,” Cohl said.

The show is the brainchild of Tony Award-winning director Julie Taymor and U2’s Bono and The Edge, who wrote the music. More than eight years in the making, delays and money woes have plagued the show’s debut.

Besides timing troubles, two onstage accidents injured actors during rehearsals, including one who had both his wrists broken while practicing an aerial stunt. Red-hot interest prompted many media outlets to gleefully report on the show’s rocky debut and predict failure. Conan O’Brien has even spoofed the show on his telecast, complete with Silly String and low-budget costumes.

“Listen, they’ve mocked a lot of things and been wrong,” said Cohl. “‘Billy Elliot’ stopped five times on it’s opening preview, by the way. So we’re tied with ‘Billy Elliot.’ I only hope we do as well.”

The show has been built specifically for the 1,928-seat theater, meaning a traditional out-of-town tryout to fix glitches wasn’t possible. Cohl said he considered delaying previews until the production had gelled better, but the cast and crew had to bite the bullet eventually, even if they risked bad initial press.

“I think it was the right thing to do. You have to create, develop and launch the show independent of whatever the press or the media say, want to say, do or don’t say about your show. We had been in the theater long enough, we had been teching long enough, we’d been rehearsing long enough. There are some things you have to do,” he said.

“It’s like a spring training baseball game. At a certain point, you have to stop practicing with your own team. You have to stop practicing and doing everything quietly in your own theater and you have to bring an audience in and you have to do it.”

The show’s massive costs – a 41-member cast, 18 orchestra members, complicated sets and 27 daring aerial stunts, including a battle over the audience – mean the large theater will have to virtually sell out every show for several years just to break even. The weekly running bill has been put as high as $1 million.

Cohl said the glitches haven’t apparently hurt the show at the box office. The production sold more than $1 million worth of tickets within 24 hours of the first preview and this week’s shows have been sold out.

“Ticket sales are fantastic and if we’re not the top, we’re one of the top two or three selling shows in New York, period,” he said. “And, therefore, we’re doing great. Everything else is just speculation.”

Cohl declined to offer a breakdown of costs or discuss specific numbers. “It is an expensive show. It’s not a secret. We have a high break-even but we have high hopes,” he said. “If people love it, the money and the box office will all take care of itself.”

The third preview on Thursday was marred by only a few mishaps: One dancer needed to be rescued by two stagehands after she failed to descend properly, a section of the fly’s LED malfunctioned, a TV screen prop went on the fritz, there were a few harness fumbles and the show was halted for four minutes in Act 1 when a stuntman playing Spider-Man was stranded on the balcony.

Cohl took to the stage before the show began and warned the audience that mishaps were possible. “This part of my job, as we get better and better in the show, will disappear. So, hopefully, after tonight, I’ll be fired from doing this,” he said.

The crowd took the glitches in stride, cheering the stranded Spider-Man and clapping after stunts were completed without a hitch. Thanks in part to the brief pause, the show’s run time was down to three hours, including an 15-minute intermission.

Other Broadway shows have struggled with getting their sets and stunts to work during previews, including “Mary Poppins” in 2006 when their house set went off track and “Titanic,” which was plagued by numerous technical problems during its monthlong preview period in 1997. Both went on to be hits.

Cohl, a veteran concert promoter and recent theatrical producer, said that if and when the Spider-Man show becomes a hit next year, he won’t gloat and consider it a told-you-so moment.

“All I want to be able to do is sit in my room after having a good hug with Bono, Edge and Julie and just kind of go, ‘Yes! I was right.’ It’s got nothing to do with anybody being wrong or anybody else who tries to say that we were wrong or mock us. Everybody’s entitled to their opinion,” he said. “For me, it’s just about competing with my own mind.”

Click here for the Spider-Man on Broadway website.