Wednesdays punchline – Bono Calls ‘Spider-Man’ Musical ‘Pop-Up, Pop-Art Opera’

According to U2 bandmates Bono and The Edge, who composed the production’s score, that’s because comic books and rock and roll music are a natural fit. “There’s always been a thing with punk rock bands and comics,” Bono told MTV News during an interview last week. But, “It went much better last night than expected,” said producer Michael Cohl. “You see it in Roy Lichtenstein’s work, all the pop artists’ work; they all sample from comics.” Featuring high-flying stunts and a multitude of moving set pieces that put the audience in the middle of the action when Spider-Man battles Green Goblin, Carnage and the rest of the show’s villains , “Turn Off the Dark” is treading new ground. It survived only a year before closing. “We don’t want to see him in harm’s way.” Mr. Abdo flew from Minneapolis to New York on Monday to see the second preview, slated for Wednesday, in what he called a long-planned gesture of support for Mr. Carney. He said he was confident in the musical’s overall safety, but added that Mr. Carney is an actor and rock singer—not a stunt man—and he wanted to take a look at the conditions under which his client is working.

“We don’t really know what to call it, because there are so many aspects to it,” he explained. “There’s some uncharted territory in this,” he said. I think that’s what it is.” The Edge acknowledged a similar difficulty in comparing “Turn Off the Dark” with anything that came before it. “It is elements of rock and roll, it’s elements of circus, it’s elements of opera, of musical theater,” he said. “We’re comfortable with what we’ve seen, so at this point we don’t have plans to return back to view any more maneuvers,” Mr. Rosales said. “It is so many different things, and when we started the process, we promised we’d do something that hasn’t been done before. And really, we, I think, have managed to do that.” Check out everything we’ve got on “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.” For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.