WEB FEAT: The cast of “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” takes a curtain call last night after unveiling a redone version of the show in a bid to save it. (Amanda Schwab/Starpix)
Here comes Spider-Man — and boy, has he changed!
A revamped version of “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” opened in previews at the Foxwoods Theatre last night following a major face lift that was more Hollywood than Broadway — a serious makeover that included an almost entirely reworked script, additional songs and an enhanced love story.
The trouble-plagued $70 million musical — the most expensive in the history of the Great White Way — came back to the stage virtually unrecognizable after a nearly monthlong hiatus.
The minibreak for the eagerly anticipated show — whose opening has been postponed multiple times — followed an onslaught of reviews so biting, it would have been easy to think the Green Goblin had penned them.
In a nod to the show’s highly publicized troubles, lead producer Michael Cohl opened the web-slinging last night by telling the packed house, “Welcome to all of you: ladies, gentleman and uninvited critics.”
He said that much work had been done during the break.
“It’s almost a brand-new show,” he said.
Most people would think it was.
Almost every facet of the play has been completely transformed, from the opening act — in which Peter Parker now gives a book report instead of saving Mary Jane at the Brooklyn Bridge — to the original’s underlying Greek tragedy theme.
In its newest incarnation, its mythical pretensions — which irked many critics and left audience members scratching their heads — have been stripped out and replaced with a plot that hews more closely to Spidey’s original comic-book sensibilities.
Bono and the Edge contributed a handful of new songs.
But perhaps the most symbolic change comes in the metamorphosis of the character Arachne, who many believed the original writer and director — the since-ousted Julie Taymor — had created to represent herself.
In the play’s first version, Arachne is a controlling villain, who famously boasts, “I’m the only true artist working in the world today.”
But in the new show, Arachne has mellowed — morphing into an almost cuddly guardian-angel type for Parker.
In its initial run, the show was plagued with several serious accident to cast members, including a stuntman who fell 30 feet and fractured his skull.
Last night’s show produced no casualties — but continued its tradition of technical glitches. At the start, a group of women are supposed to be weaving a complicated web — but their looms malfunctioned and they could create only a single stitch.
In another mishap, the Green Goblin character was left hanging while waiting for Spider-Man to appear.