Lead producer Michael Cohl announced today that SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark will begin preview performances on Broadway on Sunday, November 14, 2010, at 3 p.m., with Opening Night set for Tuesday evening, December 21. Directed by Julie Taymor and featuring a book by Julie Taymor and GLen berger, and new music and lyrics by Bono and The Edge, SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark will open at Broadway’s Foxwoods Theatre (213 West 42nd Street). See below for a first look at the set!
Mr. Cohl also announced that joining the previously announced Reeve Carney as ‘Peter Parker/Spider-Man,’ are Tony® Award nominee Jennifer Damiano as ‘Mary Jane Watson’ and Patrick Page as ‘Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin.’
Flying and choreography rehearsals for select cast members began on July 19, and the full company will begin rehearsals on August 16.
Drawing from more than 40 years of Marvel comic books for inspiration, SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark spins a new take on the mythic tale of Peter Parker, a teenager whose unremarkable life in Queens is turned upside-down-literally-when he’s bitten by a genetically-altered spider and wakes up the next morning clinging to the ceiling. Bullied by his classmates and tortured by an unrelenting crush on next-door-neighbor Mary Jane Watson, this science geek discovers he has suddenly been endowed with astonishing powers. He soon learns, however, that “with great power comes great responsibility.” Maligned by the media, buffeted by financial woes, and stretched thin by the expectations of the world-at-large, Peter now must struggle to navigate the perilous and peculiar demands of being a web-slinging superhero. With the characters in SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark ranging from old familiar favorites to supervillains never-before imagined, Spider-Man’s battles will hurtle the audience through a story both recognizable and unexpected, culminating in an eye-popping, ultimate test for this iconic figure.
SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark features music and lyrics by 22-time Grammy® Award-winners Bono and The Edge of U2 with direction by Tony® Award-winner Julie Taymor (The Tempest, Across The Universe, The Lion King) and a book by Julie Taymor and GLen berger (Underneath The Lintel). The creative team includes Daniel Ezralow (Choreography), George Tsypin (Scenic Design), Academy Award®-winner Eiko Ishioka (Costume Design), Tony® Award-winner Donald Holder (Lighting Design), Jonathan Deans (Sound Design) and Teese Gohl (Musical Supervision). Casting is by Telsey + Co.
SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark is produced by Michael Cohl, Jeremiah J. Harris, HELLO Entertainment/David Garfinkle, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Land Line Productions, by association with Marvel Entertainment.
American Express Cardmembers will be able to purchase tickets during an exclusive pre-sale offer beginning August 14, 2010, via Ticketmaster.com / (800) 745-3000. Any ticket buyers who previously purchased tickets to SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark and were fully refunded will be contacted by Ticketmaster and given priority access to purchase again. Tickets will be available to the general public in September, also via Ticketmaster.com / (800) 745-3000.
Tickets are priced from $67.50 – $135 for weekday performances and $67.50 – $140 for weekend performances.
More SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark news, including general public on sale date, will be announced shortly.
—-
Julie Taymor (Co-Book Writer, Director). In 1998, Taymor became the first woman to win the Tony® Award for Best Direction of a Musical, and also won a Tony® for Best Costumes, for her groundbreaking production of The Lion King. The musical has won three Molière Awards including Best Musical and Best Costumes, garnered Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Drama League awards for Taymor’s direction, and myriad awards for her original costume, mask and puppet designs. Taymor made her Broadway debut in 1996 with Juan Darién: A Carnival Mass, nominated for five Tony® Awards. Other theatre work includes The Green Bird, Titus Andronicus, The Tempest, The Taming of the Shrew, The Transposed Heads and Liberty’s Taken. Taymor’s feature film directorial debut, Titus, starred Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange and Alan Cumming. In 2002, her biographical film Frida, starring Salma Hayek and Alfred Molina, earned six Academy Award® nominations, winning two. She took on the music of the Beatles, and earned a Golden Globe® nomination for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, in Across the Universe. Julie’s next film, The Tempest, will have its North American premiere at the 48th New York Film Festival in October 2010, following a world premiere at the 67th Venice International Film Festival. Taymor’s visually exhilarating adaptation of the William Shakespeare play features an all-star cast including Helen Mirren, Russell Brand, Djimon Hounsou and Alfred Molina, and will be released by Touchstone Pictures on December 10. Beyond the theatre and screen, Taymor has directed five operas internationally including Oedipus Rex with Jessye Norman, for which she earned the International Classical Music Award for Best Opera Production. A subsequent film version premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won her an Emmy® award. Taymor also directed Salomé, The Flying Dutchman, Die Zauberflöte (which has been in repertory at The Met for six years), The Magic Flute (the abridgEd English version of Die Zauberflöte, which inaugurated a new PBS series entitled “Great Performances at The Met”) and Elliot Goldenthal‘s Grendel. Taymor is a 1991 recipient of the MacArthur “genius” Fellowship.
Bono (Music & Lyrics). The lead singer of U2, Bono was born Paul David Hewson in Dublin. He met The Edge, Larry Mullen and Adam Clayton at school, and in 1978 U2 was formed. Acknowledged as one of the best live acts in the world, U2 have sold over 170 million albums and won numerous awards, including 22 Grammys®. Bono and The Edge have also received 4 Golden Globe® nominations including a win for “The Hands that Built America” from Gangs of New York, which was also nominated for an Academy Award®, Best Original Song. In their first year of eligibility, U2 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Bono is a long-time activist in the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa. He has received a number of awards, including the Legion D’Honneur in 2003, Time Magazine’s Person of the Year in 2005 (alongside Bill & MeLinda Gates), and an honorary British knighthood in 2007. Bono lives in Dublin with his wife and children.
The Edge (Music & Lyrics). Guitarist with U2, The Edge was born David Howell Evans in east London. A year later, he and his family moved to Malahide, Co. Dublin, where he attended Mount Temple School and met Larry Mullen, Bono, and Adam Clayton. In 1978 U2 was formed. Described as one of the most influential guitar players of his generation, Edge’s crystalline minimalist guitar playing is the hallmark of U2’s music, and one of the most original and distinctive guitar styles in rock and roll history. Acknowledged as one of the best live acts in the world, U2 have toured the globe countless times, have released 14 studio albums and won numerous awards, including 22 Grammys®. One of the principle songwriters of U2, The Edge has also written extensively for other projects, often in collaboration with Bono, including music for movies (Captive, Gangs of New York and GoldenEye); for animation (The “Batman” TV series); and for the stage (A Clockwork Orange by the Royal Shakespeare Company). Marked out by their politics from the beginning, U2 were awarded Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award in 2006. In 2005, The Edge co-founded Music Rising, a charity initiative which provides musical instruments for the musicians, schools and churches of the Gulf Region. The Edge lives in Dublin with his wife and children.
GLen berger (Co-Book Writer). GLen berger’s plays include Underneath The Lintel (over 450 performances Off-Broadway, 150 productions worldwide); O Lovely Glowworm (Portland “Drammy” Best Script Award) and Great Men of Science, Nos. 21 & 22 (L.A. Weekly Best Play Award). Glen has also collaborated with Frank London (of The Klezmatics) on two new musicals: On Words and Onwards, and Loewe-Award winner A Night In The Old Marketplace. In television, Glen has won two Emmys® (twelve nominations), and has written over 200 episodes for children’s television series including “Arthur,” “Curious George,” and “Fetch w/Ruff Ruffman.” He is a New Dramatists alumnus.
Reeve Carney (Peter Parker) stars as the young prince Ferdinand in Julie Taymor‘s upcoming film adaptation of The Tempest and also starred in the film version of the acclaimed novel Snow Falling on Cedars. A veteran of the music world, Reeve recorded an album with Peter, Paul and Mary at the age of 8 and was asked a few years later by Michael Jackson to sing on one of the tracks of HIStory. Now, Reeve is the lead singer and lead guitarist of CARNEY, the up and coming rock band that recently toured North America. In CARNEY, Reeve is accompanied by his brother Zane who shares lead guitar in the band, Aiden Moore on bass, and Jon Epcar on the drums. CARNEY’S newest single “Love Me Chase Me” was released this summer and the band’s first full length album, entitled “Mr. Green,” was released in May 2010 on DAS Label/Interscope. For more information on CARNEY, please visit www.CarneyTheBand.com.
Jennifer Damiano (Mary Jane Watson). Jennifer Damiano received a Tony® Award nomination in 2009 for her performance in the critically acclaimed, Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway production Next to Normal. She also performed in the show’s previous productions off-Broadway at Second Stage Theatre and regionally at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. which earned her a Helen Hayes nomination. Jennifer has been working professionally in New York since she was 12. When she was 15, she made her Broadway debut in Spring Awakening as the youngest member of the original cast. Additionally, she has appeared on the CW television series “Gossip Girl.”
Patrick Page (Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin). Broadway: A Man For All Seasons (Henry III); The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (The Grinch); The Lion King (Scar); Julius Caesar (Decius Brutus); Beauty and the Beast (Lumiere); A Christmas Carol; Kentucky Cycle. Off-Broadway: Rex; Richard II; Duchess of Malfi. Regional: 25 years-including Associate Artist of The Old Globe Theatre and The Shakespeare Theatre Company. Recently: Cyrano (Craig Noel Award) at The Old Globe and Iago (Helen Hayes Award) at STC. TV and Film: “Law & Order: SVU,” “One Life to Live,” “All My Children,” Substance of Fire. www.patrickpageonline.com.
Set Rendering of Oscorp Labs
