Bono’s ‘folly’ savaged as Spider-Man finally opens

After a record 183 previews in seven months, $70m in production costs and countless well-publicised technical glitches, the musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, written by Bono and The Edge, finally premiered last night on Broadway and was immediately panned by the critics.

The New York Post asked: "And what do you get after $70 million and 183 previews? Silly string and paper streamers". The New York Daily News commented: "The problem with expensive leftovers is that they are bound to go bad".

Bloomberg's Jeremy Gerard said the new director, Philip William McKinley, had done little to improve "the muddled myth-making" of his predecessor Julie Taymor, who was fired earlier this year so that her script could be re-written and the production saved from the brink.

Gerard admired the flying scenes - as Spider-Man and his nemesis, the Green Goblin, "swoop and jab" above the audience's heads - but complained that you have to wait an hour for it to happen and the sequence lasts only three minutes.

One surprise at last night's premiere - other than the fact that nobody was injured - was the sight of Taymor (above, right) being welcomed onto the stage at the curtain call.

She got a standing ovation from the audience at the Foxwoods Theatre which included Spike Lee, Liam Neeson, Steve Martin and Bill Clinton, some of whom may have been behind the chants of "Julie, Julie!"

Bono, after kissing and hugging her, said: "By the way, you're looking hot, Julie".

Some might say this was the least she deserved from the U2 singer and guitarist  who bankrolled the bloated musical, and reportedly had a part in replacing her with new director McKinley and writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa.

David Rooney writes in his review for the Hollywood Reporter: "With Taymor serving as scapegoat, U2's Bono and The Edge, who wrote the forgettable music and lyrics, have been largely exonerated for their role in this $70 million folly. But it's their mediocre score, as much as anything, that makes this third-rate entertainment."

Despite the kisses and ovations, we don't yet know what Taymor, a respected director who has won two Tony awards, thinks of the rewrite of her baby. But last night, she did nothing to distance herself from it. When asked if she missed being a part of the show, she replied: "I am a part of this."

Now all she has to do is work on the critics. Only a handful had anything nice to say, and even then their praise was faint.

Ben Brantley wrote in the New York Times that the first time he saw the show, earlier this year, "it was like watching the Hindenburg burn and crash". Now it was a little better.

"I would have recommended Spider-Man only to carrion-feasting theatre vultures," said Brantley. "Now, if I knew a less-than-precocious child of 10 or so, and had several hundred dollars to throw away, I would consider taking him or her to the new and improved Spider-Man." ·