Two In The Think Tank - 228 - Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark

Episode Date: March 4, 2020

Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark was the most expensive Broadway musical of all time. The story of this ill fated musical has it all: drama, death, intrigue and of course Bono... enjoy!Our website: dogoonpod.comSupport the show and get rewards like bonus episodes: patreon.com/DoGoOnPod Submit a topic idea directly to the hat: dogoonpod.com/Submit-a-Topic Twitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: [e-mail] out our other podcasts:Book Cheat: https://play.acast.com/s/book-cheatPrime Mates: https://play.acast.com/s/prime-mates/Listen Now: https://play.acast.com/s/listen-now/Our awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader ThomasREFERENCES AND FURTHER READING:The Letterman clip we paused the recording to watch: https://youtu.be/5RgR0-EWuNYhttps://www.syfy.com/syfywire/spider-man-turn-off-the-dark-the-greatest-geek-flop-on-broadwayhttps://www.broadway.com/shows/spider-man-turn-off-the-dark/story/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/spider-man-turn-dark-playwright-919624https://www.avclub.com/playwright-glen-berger-on-why-the-surefire-spider-man-m-1798250603https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/theater/reviews/spiderman-review.htmlhttps://www.wired.com/2015/01/geeks-guide-glen-berger/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man:_Turn_Off_the_Darkhttps://www.independent.ie/irish-news/u2-hail-late-producer-as-spider-man-strikes-gold-26808018.html

Hey everybody, Jess and Dave, just jumping in really quickly at the top here to make sure that you are across all the details for our upcoming Christmas show. That's right, we are doing a live show in Melbourne Saturday December the 2nd, 2023, our final podcast of the year, our Christmas special. It's downstairs at Morris House, which usually be called the European beer cafe. On Saturday December the 2nd, 2023 at 4.30 pm, come along, come one, come all and get tickets at dogoonpod.com. Peloton is ready when you are.

And with up to $700 off your Peloton bike plus purchase, there's no better time to bring it home for the holidays and work out your way. Unleash everything, it's your workout, your rules. As long as you show up, Peloton's instructors will help you show off and keep you coming back for more. For Peloton's best offer of the season, head to onepeloton.com all-access moveships separate terms of law. This episode is brought to you by Progressive.

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National Average 12 Month Savings of $744 by new customer surveyed, who saved with progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary, discounts not available in all safe and situations. Are you working way too hard for way too little? There's never been a better time to consider a career in IT. You could enjoy a recession-resistant career in a rewarding field, with plenty of growth opportunities and, often, flexible work environments. Go to mycomputercareer.edu and take the free career evaluation.

You could start your new career in months, not years. Take classes online or on campus, and financial aid is available to qualified students, including the GI Bill. Now is the time. Mycomputercareer.edu E-D-U. This week's episode of Do-Go-On is brought to you by our shows at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival that start this month! I'm excited man! I'm excited!

Great, two excitements and one... Yeah, I'm just playing it cool. Yeah, you are cool. You are super, super cool. Now we are doing four live podcasts. And you were saying the first ones, first two, and he really sold it out? Yeah, the first two are really going like gangbusters. The third one, I don't know where the people are.

I mean, you want to shift some units. The dates are March 28th for the first week. Should we break Maceo out of the glass ball? Yeah, maybe we should. We need an emergency, Nick Mason. The prop of the sales. March 28th, April 4th, April 11th, April 18th. They're all Saturday afternoons,

two o'clock at the European beer cafe, which would have been at the last couple of years. We absolutely love it there. We hope to see you there. Tickets are on sale at comedyfestour.com.au. And it's not just four shows, you know? The comedy festival's not just for the weekends. It's not at all.

No. There are Wednesdays, for example. And on those Wednesdays, who could we see? You can see Jess Perkins and Matt Stewart, separate shows. Well, one after the other the six PM for Jess, seven PM for me, and they're called almost, and Monkey House, respectively. You'll never guess which is which.

And you can get tickets to those from companyfestival.com.au, that's all three shows. Yeah, check it out, type our names in, we'll come up. I'd love to see people do the triplums at a days. Yeah, that'd be sick. I'd love to see some hero do that I mean you get a high five. Have you do that? Yeah And I before I go to Melbourne where I am now. I'm going to Brisbane

For the Brisbane Comedy Festival. I think it's only five shows from the 10th to the 15th. That might be six six isn't it Dave? so Assuming I'm doing all of those days, which I think I am at the powerhouse, and it's gonna be so much fun, it's basically the first summer to a wonderful show,

and I'm gonna be having a good time. Yep. So you should come and look at me. And those tickets are available at MatsShieldComedy.com slash gigs. Slash gigs. Type it in, Mats shows will come up.

We'd love to see you there. And if not, have a great life. And I think for Jess's and my shows get a discount with podcasts. Yeah, use the promo code podcast for 20% off. I don't know what my percentage is. Hopefully it's the same as you do. I asked your producer, it's 20% off.

Okay, great. I wanted mine to be the same, because I didn't want you to get more of a discount than me. I'm glad that's good. I'm like, Jess, 20% that sounds pretty generous. You idiot. Oh God, you... That means you can come see my preview show for like $15.

That is so cheap. The first four? Come to the first shows, they're the ones that are loose and fun. Yeah, they're really fun. You should come to those and they're cheaper. Figure out the shows with us. Yeah, give us like help us grow. Play along.

You know by the end, I'm just going through the motions, you know, come to the last show, it's going to be average. Because I'm just waiting for that. I've never had a job like that. Just get drunk. No, of course, you know, because it's not a Sunday. It's a Sunday, and then- You should always end on the Saturday.

Every year they've been one of the least fun shows. Yeah. I don't know why that is. Well, it's probably because of the thing you just said. Anyway, let's do the show. Woo! This podcast is part of the Planet Broadcasting Network. Visit planetbroadcasting.com for more podcasts

from our great mates. Hello and welcome to another episode of Do Go On. My name is Dave Warnke and I'm sitting here with Matt Stewart and Jess Perkins. Hello David, hello Jess. Hello Matt, hello David. Hello Matt, hello Jess. We did it. Did we do it all? Yeah. We've all said it right? Yeah. Okay great. Did we all touch hands? No. No. Okay. Not with the current state of world virus. And on to the day, stop asking. Yeah, every five minutes, is that too much? Yeah. All right, I'll back it off to every 10.

Every 10 is reasonable. Thank you. Should we talk, oh, sorry. Sorry. I forgot, I forgot my new rule. Hold, hold. It's good to be back here in the studio once again. Yes, I was just telling just before you arrived that I'm excited for this, I was like, hmm, at work, I'm a day job thinking, I was just telling just before you arrived, Matt, that I'm excited for this.

I was like, hmm, at work, I'm a day job thinking, I'm excited to pod with you guys tonight, mainly because the responsibility of reporting, is not up to me this week. It is, Matt, Stuart. It is. Dave's feeling a bit loose and silly. Yeah.

Should be hold hand. Oh, that's different. So, um, this, the way the show works is one of the three of us research a topic. This week it's me and we get onto the topic with a question. I'm going to ask that question now. As is protocol. Okay.

What is the most expensive Broadway musical of all time? Most expensive. The producers. The Phantom of the Opera. No, it's neither of those. It's not a particularly successful one. But it's expensive. Yes.

Sister Act Two, back in the habit. Oh, did that get, make it to the stage? Probably. I don't think many sequels get a Broadway. Okay, what else is on Broadway? Okay, wicked. That was very popular. That was the movie that stunk.

Yeah. Box office-wise. What does the Broadway show better? Oh, yes, one of the most successful ones in history. Crazy. Okay, what else is on Broadway? Well, Clue. The Clue is, it's based on a comic book.

Oh, is this the Spider-Man? Yes. Spider-Man turn off the dark. By the music, by Bono. Yes. Oh, no, don't tell us, you've done a report that's based around Bono. That is back for once before live in Dublin. Only, you know, it's not all Bono. Okay. Is it also the edge? Yeah, the edge is involved. Thank goodness. A little bit, but I don't talk about them all that much, to be honest. So this was suggested by Josh Shevel, or Shevel,

and James Acker. And yeah, it's been fun. It's been fun reading and watching this musical. I just bumped into, I just did a gig round the corner and bumped into him all the way out, Mesa and Bri Williams, comedian and podcasters. Yes. Yeah, also one of the drums at Tram. And Bri Williams, comedian and podcasters. Yes. Also one of the drugs of Tram.

And Bri goes, I just said the words, do go on to Maceau and I said, I'm just about to go do it, do go on. And she goes, what are you doing it on? I said, spot a man into the dark and she said, oh my God, I saw it. And she and then we talked, that's why I was a little bit later than I should have been

because the three of us talked about it for a while. Great! So she actually saw the production because it's famously not many people saw it, is that why? It's expensive, is that why? No, that's not necessarily true, they did have quite a few come through, but anyway, I'll probably talk about it. Probably tens of hundreds, really, as in over 1,000.

I think 1,000 saw it, but you were like, because it wasn't on forever. Tens of thousands. Tens of thousands. I'd say. Wow. I did it. So. I did numbers. Yeah, you did numbers real good. I did it. Let's me begin. Please let me. In August 2002, it was announced that the stage musical based on Spider-Man would be produced for Broadway after Marvel Comics approached veteran theater producer Tony Adams to buy the stage rights. The following month, Adams and his business partner David Garfinkle flew to Ireland and

recruited Bono in the edge of YouTube famed to write the score for the show. So, I was going to do two that were phones. Why did you have to fly? It did sound like they're wondering the country's hard until they captured the edge and Bono and a net. And a big sack. Drag them back. We got them, boys, we got them.

That's the dream. So they, I mean, yeah, and kind of an interesting choice in some ways, because I'd never written any musicals before. But they had the theme to Golden Eye. They've always been a big band, like pretty much from when they began almost, they've been huge. But at this point, they were still super huge band, right? They were just a couple years off their worldwide smash hit album, all that you can't leave behind, which sold approximately 12 million copies. And they were about

to release the equally huge worldwide number one album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. In short, they were a massive get for the production. Huge get. That was a big net. Yeah. Really big. That big.

I feel like two football fields, that's how big it had to be. That's too big for two men. I know, that's how big the edge is. Wow. See that big man, have you ever seen him? No. There you go. Never. Yeah, they can't get photos of him that big man, have you ever seen him? No. There you go. Yeah, they can't get photos of him.

That's the biggest. I've seen photos of his thumb. I'm almost like a get. That's like the size of a human, his thumb. Whoa. He's a big man. I had no idea. How does he play guitar?

No, it's a big guitar. Big guitar, yeah. Hmm. Cool. That is cool. He puts, that's not my one. What Dave? Oh, it's called CD. He plays his guitar one string at a time I was trying to think something like he puts his pants on one look at a time

I couldn't quite make it work. Yeah, and here we are okay that would work better for Base player Adam Clayton Adam Clayton. At the suggestion of Botto, Julie Tamor. So, so who? Bono. Bono. Bono.

Bono. We've got Bono. No, I said Bono, we want Bono. Oh. Who's this in the sack? I don't know what Bono. Let me out on Bono. Got him from Irish L.B.

He was the L. equivalent. I had him in that case out the front. At the suggestion of Boda, Julie Tamor was brought on to direct. Tamor was an acclaimed theatre director, most famously bringing the Lion King movie to the stage, winning the Tony Award for Best Direction in a Musical in 1998 for Efforts. And I believe she was the first woman to win that award. And I think the Lion King musical, we're talking about tens of thousands of tickets, I think that sold like over a million tickets. Oh yeah yeah yeah, the Lion King was crazy. Yeah. So so far so good, everything is body working. Yeah. They're nailing everything as they go.

We've got all the best people on the job. You've got a great producer in Tony Adams, world famous rock stars to write the music. And like the most popular superhero character. Yeah. Frequently voted the most popular Spider-Man. Yeah, that's right. So at this stage, it feels like it can't fail.

It's too big to fail. Too big to fail. The sink. The ship. One sink. But it does. The sink. The ship. One sink. The sink. One ship.

I won't ship this sink. I'll ship everything but the kitchen sink. That's my point. For I defy cliches. So yeah, I want to warn you that doesn't keep going well. Okay. Okay, just ahead though. But are you enjoying our fun moot though,

or are you finding it a bit tedious? I'm loving it. Can I just, just, just confirm, just Botto live. Or do we lose Botto? Botto lives. Botto lives, that's the sequel. Just Botto man, Botto lives. I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean,

I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I've seen it written down. But I, October 2005, the key players were ready to make it all official. The creative team met with the producers at the Edge's apartment in Tribeca. Is that an area of... It's an New York City, yeah. To sign the contracts. For that, for like an American doing a show and acting on that contract.

Yes, for me. Contracks. Come on down, sign the contract. Oh, yeah, okay. It was that then. Yeah, that was must've been what it was. So with the paperwork out, the edge went into another room to fetch a pen.

Oh, no. When he returned, produce a Tony Adams and suffered a stroke. Oh my God. Oh my gosh. Before. How long did it shake to find a pet in his house? It's probably massive.

Yeah, it'll be a big deal. We say apartment, it's probably got eight bedrooms. Yeah. Yeah, totally. And he couldn't remember which one had the pens in it. Yeah, so he was gone. He was checking them all. He went to the pen room.

And there was no pens. No pens, he thought, oh my god, I have to fire my pen keyboard. Gee, you've got here. So he died not long after. Oh my god. Goodness. Only 52 years of age. And he never signed the contract didn't sign a contract because

Edge didn't have fucking pens ready Now probably wouldn't have helped the real sliding doors moment Like maybe looking back they probably should have seen it as a bad That's a no and you leave the room and come back to the man is dying. Yeah, yeah This is a curse that's awful. Yeah. Wow So this was the first major blow to the production. Adams was the major driving force behind the production and had great theatre production experience.

I've said production three times in that sentence, which felt good. That felt right. According to an extensive article in The New York Times by Patrick Healy and Kevin Flynn, which I referenced a bit, they wrote, Others might have abandoned the project, but the Spider-Man team decided to go on with Mr. Adams partner, David Garfinkle as lead producer. Great name. Garfinkle. Garfinkle. An able entertainment lawyer. He is the Aldi Garfinkle. And Abel Entertainment lawyer, Mr. Garfunkel, had little producing experience and he

seated artistic decisions to Miss Tamer, a perfectionist who's aesthetic included never repeating herself. So this is Tamer from The Lion King. So that was just so he lived by it, she would never repeat it. As in like, conversational, or her style of physical. I think in music. Like, she would never repeat any tricks As in, like, conversational, or her style of physicals. I think in music, like she would never repeat any tricks or anything in a music. I was like, I can never say the same word.

I'll have a grilled cheese. Sorry, what was that? I never repeat myself. So, you figure it out. Working out. That's the first time I've ever said that. That is actually my ethos. I can never order the same thing twice.

Mr. Garfinkle did not take the tack that Disney had while working with Ms. Tamer on their hit musical Deline King. Her genius flourishes best under supervision, apparently. And in this setup, she was let to go hog wild. Where is creativity works best under someone else in the strict rules? Yeah, no, that's an interesting, isn't it? I think they're basically saying she's got a, she's a genius, but she needs to be reigned in by like a Yin and Yang sort of support.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because otherwise, she's just like, I've spent $100 million on foil. You're like, no, no. Do you think that's me? Which one, the genius or the strict supervisor? You know. You know which one I'm asking about.

I'm not sure. Am I the genius and you guys rein me in? Oh. Do I work best when you can put boundaries on me? I've stopped you from buying foil before. $100 million worth. I can't really bank it up to the podcast. A million times over. Yes, we are worth $100 million. Yeah. Can't nearly bankrupt at the podcast. A million times over.

Yes, we are worth $100. Thank you. So neither do we have answered there, so I'm the one who rains in, aren't I? I'm not sure. I don't think you imagine every part of the person has one and the other. I think you just don't want to tell me the truth. I don't know, I'm not sure. I don't think it's that obvious.

I would say we all have elements of both. Do you want it in your case? I think we all have elements of genius is what I just said. And I stand by. I would agree. Yeah, I would agree. Dave, do you agree?

Oh, yeah, so yes. I mean, Dave genuinely would though. Dave would be like, yes, I think I'm a little bit of a genius. Yeah. I'm just a little bit. Just and I are self deprecating. Yeah, you're just sincerely calling yourself a genius. And this is us reigning you in. Okay. The article goes on to quote, Jeffrey Seller, a veteran Broadway producer, who's never

worked with Tamor directly, but he said, Disney knew to stand top of Julie and ensure they were all working towards the same goals. It paid off royally. So he's basically saying the same thing. With the creative team being let off the leash, the script got a bit out of control and so did the sets and seemingly all other elements. And then he morphed into a monster. And then he he flies to the moon. We're going to get the real moon on stage. In 2009 Evan Rachel Wood was cast as Mary Jane and Alan coming as the Green Copeland. I don't know that. I don't know anything about

this. This musical to be honest. I didn't know anything better either. Cool. I had seen one famous clip from Letterman where they performed on there, and I had forgotten about it. And I've since the last few weeks, I've been watching it a lot. It's real great. You've got to watch it. I'll put a link to it on our social media.

It's like because it's great or because it's bad. I don't know. All right. I can't, I'm not sure. I think it's both. I think it is great, but it's also ridiculous, but it's bad. I don't know. All right. I can't, I'm not sure. I think it's both. I think it is great, but it's also ridiculous, but it's great. Yeah, yeah, that's the perfect. Is it bad?

I don't know, it's great. That is the perfect. I'm loving watching it. Vendiogram. It's great and it's terrible and I love it and I hate it. And I don't know. That's perfect. That's making me feel everything.

Yeah, that's art, baby. Love art. Oh yeah. So which, I haven't heard of Evan Rachel Wood. Oh, okay. Who's she? She's an actress, an actor. That makes sense, actually. Yeah, she's done a bunch of things. It's a great name, Evan Rachel. Yeah, it's cool. Never heard of a woman ever? You probably know her face, I reckon. She's been in lots of things. The only, for some reason I'm blanking and the only thing I can think of is across the universe. Yes, which was directed by Tamor. Oh, right, okay, cool.

I think. There you go. I made that up. I don't know. I think that is true. That was a Simpsons reference. I did one. I did one.

Jacob. Jacob, I did one. That means nothing to most people. That's a patron-only thing. You've lost the audience. No, you've lost the confidence. Well, that audience can buy their way back into that joke by heading to patreon.com slash.

That's a Patreon who on the Facebook Patreon group, he audits our weekly Simpsons references and puts them in a post and writes them. Oh, I know. Actually, he's a lot of pressure on him now because he started it and now he's sort of, into it. I'm so into it. I'm so into it. I'm so into it. I'm so into it. I'm so into it.

I'm so into it. I'm so into it. I'm so into it. I'm so into it. I'm so into it. I'm so into it. I'm so into it. I'm so into it.

I'm so into it. I'm so into it. I'm so into it. I'm so into it. I'm so into it. I'm so into it. I'm so into it. I'm so into it.

I'm so into it. I'm so into it. I'm so into it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't usually beat the boys to a Sincens reference. And it was a pretty weak one, but. It was a classic. Yeah. Classic Homer going in for the, he's kind of saying, is Mr. Burns and what's your first name, Mr. Burns? I don't know. So Evan Rachel Wood, Alan Cunning, two big stars of now,

I know Alan Cunning, but yeah, they're two pretty big stars into the key roles. But as 2009 went on, the production found itself in debt of around $25 million. Whoa. And a realistic opening date for the show was nowhere in sight. That's a lot of million dollars. Yeah. Okay.

I think I mentioned this later, but maybe I should tell you now for perspective. A normal, broadway production costs around five to 15 million. Okay. Just to set it up, get it going. To put it on. Yeah. This one. Put it on, right.

This one I haven't even started in debt, 25 million. Shit. So it's ground or a hole and it isn't anywhere yet. Shit. And obviously, the only way to get the money back is to put it on and sell the tickets on my God. And so the tickets are now $1,000. And we still need to sell 1 million. For the cheap seats.

It soon became clear that Garfinkel wasn't going to be able to raise the extra capital required. And he was perhaps in over his head. So in late 2009, he was replaced by concert promoter Michael Cole, who also had a little Broadway background, as well. He was one and also the man who whose company made the production sets, Jeremiah J. Harris. What? They came in to be the main backers. Jeremiah wasn't J. Harris. It's a great analysis.

I really thought you'd come in with the bass there, but okay, I'm more sure with the reference. Jeremiah wasn't on Fred and mine. Jeremiah was a bullfrog. I'm feeling it. I'm feeling it. And I'm feeling it. Joy to the world. It also, Jeremiah, J. Harris, Jo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o- I'm a Jamison. Actually, it's not that close. Was J.J. Yep. J.J.

Very close. I've slipped into a dimension, right? I understand anything other if you say. So Peter Parker's character is like a rots for a newspaper, and the editor of that newspaper is J.J. Jonah Jamison. J.J. Yeah.

What I said, I think. Joey Jojo. Shemma Doo. Yeah. Shemma Doo. That's a worst name ever I think. Joey JoJo, Shemmadoop. Yeah, Shemmadoop. It's a worst name ever. Hey, Joey JoJo. It does sound like the writer just thought about it. Yeah.

But it's funny that none of these producers have had any Broadway background. But this guy, Jeremiah J. Harris, literally made theater backgrounds. He was a set. So is that... Is that count? Is that count? Is that something? That's good stuff.

Harris was quoted in the time saying, Michael and I took over a show that was dead, was sinking. We got pumps running in the first couple of days. We raised 30 million for the show. Whoa! Sam, he made it sound like he raised that in days. That can't be right, right? But anyway, so he was a big deal in the music world and got, they got cash together pretty

quickly. So we're back on track, maybe. He then went on to imply Garf Funkel. Garfinkl, right? Garfinkl. He then went on to imply Garfinkl screwed up the show and called him a schmuck saying, you can quote me on this. And we have.

We do. Schmuck. Schmuck is so good. And you've already taken away his musical. Yeah. And away from his dead partner, too. I mean, come on. He didn't have many nice things to say about Garfunkel.

And if that didn't break out already, Garfunkel's reply. He said, oh, come on man. No, he said, I'm happy. He said, I'm very happy these guys came in to help the show. I don't have an ego. I just care about the show.

Oh, last year. These guys are smart. Oh, I'm really glad you guys are here. Thank you so much for helping out. Please, I just really want the show to be great. Then he just seems like his two

gentle of a soul for the cut, wrote world of Broadway musicals. Anyway, so he's out. Ah, is he coming back? Please tell me he comes back at the end. No. I really like him. And as far as I know, he sailed in a space,

on a space sailboat. That was one of the scenes that never took him to the school. Yeah. But he's like, we've already done some under actual working space sailboat, may as well use it. The delays in production led to both Evan Rachel Wood and Alan Cumming having to quit.

Alan Cumming in particular left due to his character on the good wife becoming a regular. And by the following year though, when asked about leaving the production, he said, quote, my God, that was a lucky escape. Jesus crossed. Talk about dodging a bullet there. Brutal. He really ramped up there, didn't he? Exclamation marks capital letters.

Schmucks everywhere! Coming was replaced by a Patrick Page and Genithin. Genithin. Genithin. Oh boy. Any genithin's out there? You are now Genithin. page and Jenathon, Jenathon. Jennifer, Jenathon. Oh boy. Any Jennifer's out there, you are now Jenathon. You have never heard of her girl called Evan or Jenathon. And I am Jenethika. Jenathon, Demiano replaced Evan Rachel Wood.

Reeve Cahney ended up playing Peter Parker and TV, Capio played a Rackney. Are we supposed to recognize his name, so is that the point that the A-listes were replaced by... I believe these are all some sort of actors. Oh, I know. But yeah, the A-listes aren't there anymore, anyway. All of these actors were also had also left the production

within a few years. Was it a bit of a... Are they presumably your contracted and you're saying no to other jobs? Yeah, yeah. Anyhow, Cole was very good at raising funds, but he didn't have any interest in overseeing the artistic side of the production. According to the Times, left largely to their own devices, missed Tamer hired top dollar

stars to design the sets and costumes and a choreographed the show. The costume team alone had 23 people, four designers, four shoppers and 15 dresses. If the show works, all the money will be a moot point, Miss Tamer said later. If it doesn't, it'll be a tragedy. Oh boy. Oh wow, he's really flying high.

Oh, I'm so nervous. Yeah, it's a lot of belief, I think. Is that a fairly brazen use of the word tragedy? Do you feel like not Kay? All right. Yeah. This is when, to the early 2000s, I think when you were thinking

too about tragedy by that time. This isn't a post-911 world, so... She should know better. She should know better than to just throw the T word around. Yeah. Well, it brought away tragedy. Oh my god, I'm so sorry. Yes, of course.

I'm sure that's what she was mean. Implied. Yeah. As well as directing Tamor also wrote the book, which in musicals is the script basically. And the... Yeah. It's alright. Not the lyrics.

Not the lyrics on the song. Not the lyrics on the song. Not the lyrics in the song. So all the story stuff. Right. She added a new character to the show who I've mentioned just before. Speedy moon. Speedy moon. Yes.

Spider-Man. Is that deep, the most? The most. The counterpile. I don't know, I don't know, Mooney. He's more of a vampire. But he's speedy.

Uh, no, you're close, but it was not speedy Moon. It was a villain named Arachnie, based on a character from Greek mythology with the same name. Arachnie. Yes, well done. Why do you think when Spider-Man's got such a rich history of bad guys that we all know and love, which she just make up a new one? Well, she's a genius. Look, Dave, she's a genius. She's a genius.

You're raining her in a little too much right now. You've got to just, you've got a little... I thought they liked her to be rained in. Yeah, but not too much. You've got to rain in just a little bit. Don't blanket the genius. It was like, you know, was just locker in a box. See how she goes. Dave, that's, that's tip. Which way? I don't know which way.

Do you have like a coffin? You're gonna put it in a coffin. You're gonna put it in a barrier alive. Horrishes. Unstressable situation. That is true. No, he has one in the room here. Put her in a box.

Put her in a box. Walk it up. Three weeks to come, any festival. Can you put me in a box? Yeah, honestly, you'll come out the other side. Angry at me, but also thankful. Yeah. I'm always angry at you, but thankful for you.

Oh, thanks Dave. Oh God, my back really hurts, but I've come out with some really funny jokes. Enjoy. So this is Tamer explaining the Iraqi decision. Tying the story back to mythology was the main thing that movies haven't done, which is something I really wanted to do.

A lot of the Spider-Man films, the one thing the main thing they haven't done is tie it back to mythology. But I also only just got Iraqi and Spider-Man. Right. I'm like, hmm, that's weird. Now I get it. It's a spider thing. But so she's watched

the very successful films. Yeah. I need to do what they didn't do. Yeah. And the one thing they did do, as you said, is have Greek mythology. What a fun idea is that in her mind, this is the main thing they didn't do. She's comparing every film to to Hercules. Right, yeah. The main thing they did do, tie it back to Greek mythology. Yeah, and see how great that was. Yeah, what is it like Hercules in Manhattan or whatever that Arnold Schwarzenegger movie was? Oh, yeah! I don't know, I only did that report last week

and I can't remember, I think that was right. Anyway, Her Quarco is on to say, it's something you can do in the theater. Go into this absolutely dream dreamlike, mythic place out of time between reality and the dream world. That's where I live. You can see that in everything I've done. I live in a box in a dream world.

Oh, gosh. She's great. Big fan, love genius. Genius, unbridled genius is so fun. So good. The character complicated the show's story as there was already an archvillain in their story named the Green Goblin.

Oh yeah. Anyway, rehearsals began in July 2010 in nearly all elements of the show the team tried to break new ground, which is something they were very proud of. The edge and bono and the rest of the team were breaking new ground. Everything.

If there's an easy way that's already been done, let's make it harder. The audience are on the stage and we'll perform in the seats. No one's done it before. I'm using a new type of guitar. It's made with knives. Go edge, beep! Ah! Fuck!

It sounds great. It's so beautiful, the emotion. I can feel your pain in the way that you play. The bono's like, and I'll be Mirabal, man. He's painting himself silver. Bono, just just a reminder, you're not in the show. What? I'm a what?

So all this new ground that are breaking obviously added to the expense as well as uncovering new problems. Yeah, it just holes. They put holes everywhere. I don't know what they're like. They put a lot of archeological sites were ruined. The one thing that I've seen in theater that I haven't, it never done with holes in the stage.

But in random spots, that I change every night, just add a little bit of drama for the actors. Where they normally put an X for the actor to hit a mark. That's now a hole. That's a hole. And you will break your ankle. Yes, you do. Hit the hole and don't say,

you wouldn't hear this note. Ah! That's the edge. Who is now known as Mirable? In most, according to the times, in most productions, performers fly in parallel planes. This is one of the big new things they did. So when you're talking about the acrobatics, sort of stuff flying across the ceiling of the venue, most productions perform as flying parallel lanes,

you know, on the same parallel to that. So you're not gonna hit each other. Yes, like children on adjoining swings, the times, hopefully, explains. But the aerialists in Spider-Man cross lines, they intersect, so they can, for example, battle in the air. One character riding on the back of another,

like something from a movie or a dream. What? A sex dream. Oh yeah. To pull this off, the producer's hired 35 stage hands, and the man who coordinated the flying for the Spider-Man movies. They hired seven stage managers, where an average musical has three or four. The aerialists were sent out west for training, and the back of the theater was packed with

enough computers to travel to track travel to the moon. So they're, sorry what? There's two things there. They were sent out west. Twenty million butter. Ah, California, I'm guessing Hollywood. They sent them out west. All right, the New York. Back in the wild, wild, wild, yeah, yeah, they sent them back in the... They got to learn to run a before, I can ride a man. Hahaha. Hahaha. Hahaha. And the other thing is, that enough computing power to what track... Track control to the moon, yeah.

What they brought in, like all those NASA computers in the late 60s. And they're mostly using it just to outfit to socials. I guess so. It was just a social media. That's the time using a bit of hyperbally, I assume, but maybe that is literally... I wouldn't be surprised if that's literally the case. Matt, it's pronounced hyperbolic. Oh, sorry.

It was embarrassing. Oh. Oragono. So, yeah, this is a thing that potentially, you know, so there's existing systems where they could fly parallel and it would be fine, it would just be like, we'll just get a system that's already in place. But they've gone, no, we're gonna invent a new system because it's never been done.

There's, it would normally be done with pulley systems and stuff. In this case, it was mechanical. So if one small part of the system failed during the show, people are just stuck hanging. And the show has, and that happened. I mean, the system works for a reason, right? Yeah. Well, I suppose there's also, you also want to innovate. I mean, the system works for a reason, right?

Yeah. Well, I suppose there's also, you also want to innovate. I do get that, but I mean, these acrobats have been trained on this method of the lane, so the lane. So they're all. And they've all of a sudden had to hire so many more people just seven stage managers sounds crazy. Yeah, it sounds confusing.

Yeah. So clearly, a lot of effort was going into the Making the flying sequences a huge spectacle, but Bono knew these wouldn't be enough to make the show a success saying that if Wow moments only come from the stunts and not from the soul or the heart We will all think that we've failed. No, I'm sorry to see why the Irish crowd mood me off stage Yes, you were just during that sentence I don't know if you saw it Matt, because you were looking at your computer

that Jess rolled her eyes so hard that they went backwards, came down again, then sort of went to the center of her, of her brow like she was looking at a magic eye in anger. Yeah, I felt right. It's very true. That sentence. From the soul or the heart.

Oh, you think these tricks are good, do you? Yeah, of course I fucking do bono. Not here From the soul or the heart. Oh, you think these tricks are good, do you? Yeah, of course I fucking do bono. Not here for the soul. I would love to hear some of the lyrics. Do you have a letter on your head? Oh, that's my brother. How could there be so? How could there be so?

How? Just how? I just made myself laugh. It's very, oh, I'm just playing. It's a wrong accent. I'm sorry. Without having a show to sell tickets to yet, the production continued to bleed money, and the opening of previews continued to be pushbacked time and again.

As such, Cole, the producers set a date for the preview, round of the show, to begin in November, whether it was ready or not. At this point, the budget had blown out to approximately $65 million. What? And he said before, 15 is a pretty, that's a high mark. Yeah, 15's high. Shit.

So this is breaking records. At this time, the edge and bono were busy with you too, and missed the first preview shows as they were on tour in Australia. That was busy with us. Yeah, they were down here. That was busy with Dave and I. Oh, yes, great.

Sorry, you're doing a YouTube thing. That's good. Oh, no. I don't know. I'm thinking about that as a confusing, and I don't want to let them ever run them in a trouble before. Confusing to me, because I also said they were down here in Australia. Yeah, I know, sorry.

And then I, and then my head exploded. I didn't get it. I didn't get it in quick enough. As he's always the way. But yeah, I assume what they, what were you guys up to? Haven't got the tape. Yeah. Haven't got the tape up.

Yeah, I remember the mentioning that they were missing those previews, but the tape we had was sensational. Yeah, how big was the edges tape? Oh, so big. Yeah, what about the other one? It was a pool. We're at a higher swimming pool. Feel it was a tape. We had to hire a swimming pool and fill it with tea. And he sucked it dry.

Dude, he just sucked it. He sucked it. One slurp and we thought, can we get you another T? The edge. And we were thinking, please say no, please say no. We've only got one pool. And he was polite for a business and I thank you. But then later he was like, you know what,

I will have another team. We were like, for! We'll know it. We had to, we. Takes a long time to steep a pool. The edge. And we, you know how many I will have another team. We were like, for! I can know it. We had to, we... Takes a long time to steep a pool. The edge. And how many kettles we had to use? Dave, how many kettles it was at the end?

1706. 1706? I said, can we lose six of them? Could you have slightly less teeth? Dave said no. Can I put some cold water in? Yeah. Yeah, at all hot, you know?

Yeah, cheesy. The edge knows how to suck. That sounds to be true, but it sounds like they also were just, they were in and out all the time, because it is. They'll be like, we're gonna be in town for an afternoon and we can pitch some ideas.

Here's some ideas we've had, and then they're flying off again. So they're writing the music and the lyrics for the musical, and they're hardly ever around apparently. Because it by now has been years Hasn't it? Yeah since the I'd say yeah exactly 2002 was when it the ID began and We're up to 2010 now eight years. It's a long time In the spot of my character. I haven't done anything for eight years

Well, I worked at a supermarket for that for longer than that. Better the supermarket you in and out, though. I can pitch a few ideas. I was trolley too. I'm flying off to do a tour. You're going to go do a tour of Peru. I'll push a couple of trolleyes here, but I've really got to go push some trolls in Peru.

So you could maybe just get your people to call my people. Pass on some notes. It's a great idea. What if we make the trolley's red? I know they're silver now. They have been for a long time, but let's paint them red. Okay, bye. I make them upside down so the wheels are on the top. Bye, bye. So yeah, they were not really around that much. Maybe luckily for them that Australian Tourment, they missed out on seeing the disastrous opening week of previews, or weeks. According to the weeks of disaster, oh no.

Well, yes. According to the Guardian, the first preview had to be stopped five times. What? What? Did he use time? One of the seven stage managers comes and says, sorry, sorry guys, we've got to reset.

Sorry, sorry, sorry about that. Sorry. Do they do any dress rehearsals, or are they using the previews for that? So first time anybody's been in a costume. Well, there's a lot of pressure to get it started, I think. I mean, we're rehearsing for a long time. People aren't even off-book yet.

They're still holding scripts on stage. Just wanted to show that I need the phrase, off-book. Off-book. Prompt. Prompt. Lime. I know the phrase off-, which means skiing something.

So. Huh. Guess we all know things. Dave, what do you know? I know it's phrase jacked off. Oh, OK. And what it means. What it means?

I won't repeat it. Something a bit. Something to do with our skiing. Yeah. Not a man. After rails. Yeah. Not a man off the rails. Yeah. Taking a few slopes if you know what I mean. What is that?

No, I don't know what you mean. No, I'll have to be in the middle of it. I'll have to be in the middle of it. I thought I was close and now I've got no idea. No, I've got no idea. I thought it was ski related. Now I'm convinced it's not at all. Okay.

Uh, act one ended prematurely with Spider-Man stuck dangling 10 feet above audience members the New York Times said. Just give us a push. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Oh my god. So if it's a pulley system, you know, you're just pulling a rope, but this is like the computers frozen. Oh Such a better you just dangling up there for a bit now. But the good news is our NASA just made it to the moon Tell me watch it all the way there the New York Post warned that at various points overhead stagewires dropped on the audience They're real immersive experience. Oh my god. So cables are falling on the audience. Yeah. That's bad. Sorry, sorry. Sorry to get technical with your drama degree over there, but that's bad. Okay, so this isn't how it should go. No. Okay. Why are staying roof?

Right. That was one of the directors notes in the the end of it. Cast, gather around, I've got some notes. Question mark. Why are staying roof? What do we think? What do we think? I don't know. I saw that show report that, though. And then Tamer comes and goes, no, I did that once before. I don't repeat myself. I don't repeat myself.

Why is on the audience? Yeah. I've had him in the room before. Yeah. Yeah. The Guardians Hermione Hobie wrote, at the preview performance I attended, bits of scenery fell over.

Fuck. There were ominous studs, and a stage hand came on to fiddle with Peter Parker's harness as he was singing a duet. No. I'm not a take-in-you-out of it a bit. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Oh, this really took me out of the sea.

Because it's always... Where Peter Parker is singing a duet. I was so in that sea, until I saw that stage head. Fiddle. Fuck, Peter Parker's C of Jewish. I was so in that C until I saw that stage head. Fiddle. Fiddle of Peter Parker's Han. I just remembered that there's no such thing as a spider man. Or a Jewish. And that I'll always be alive.

So they just started filling with his harness. Yeah, little fiddle. One of my favorite things is when you watch a pro band, like a one with a huge show and they change guitar every song, they break a string, the roadie comes out, give them a new guitar, or they restring it whilst the person's still playing and they don't even look back,

like I don't even worry about it. I love that. Well, let's throw the guitar, you know, 15 meters to the side of the stage and the roadie catches it. Yeah. It's like that, but you're dressing the Spider-Man costume. I'm also imagining a very obvious looking harness. Like, I imagine Spider-Man and quite a shit Spider-Man costume

and then over is like a very obvious black straps that go across the thighs, then up around the hips, then one across the middle here. I think that, well, yeah, you can't like a skin skin type Spider-Man who can't hire a harness. I think it was pretty obvious that they were, I listen to this podcast called You Talking You Too To Me. Yes. And they did an episode about this.

It was like a two-hour episode and they didn't mention it. Like the episode was about this musical and I think they started talking about it about no-one at Huffing, which is their way. But they talked about it like it was pretty big clunky looking harnesses. Right. I don't remember, like it wasn't, there was a scene in Wicked where one of the characters flies and it like you don't necessarily see the harnesses.

Big flowing sort of, which dresses does that help? Yeah, and I think like, I think it's probably something on a belt or something and the stage hands coming out in more suits and just attach something to it. Like a bad touch of a gun. Pull it to it, I imagine. Like everyone else does. Yeah, and people picked her up.

Yeah. Real people. Yeah. In the December 20 preview, stuntman and actor Christopher Tienis Harness wasn't attached to the safety cord. Oh my God. This meant he fell 30 feet through the stage

into the orchestra pit, leading to a fractured skull, fractured shoulder blade, four broken ribs, and three broken vertebrae. 30 feet. Yes. Isn't that wild that he's survived? That feels... And he survived.

He survived. He returned to the production. No! So he broke his back. Yeah. skull and his ribs and yet, fuck! That night's performance was abandoned. So that was in front of an audience. Oh my god! Imagine seeing that I would be sick. Oh, the sound of him hitting the ground with me. Everyone would be like, Whoa, this is amazing.

Oh, no. No. And the reaction of people around you, you're like, oh no, that is real good acting, or I think this is not. He's gone into the orchestra pit near to see him. Whoa. Whoa.

No. He wears his head, landed in a tuberous and I'm like, brum brum brum brum. Oh, I'm so like, oh fuck you'd be shit-n-yourself. Everyone there would have been, but yeah, amazing to me that he went. I think there was him or one of the other guys that got injured, he went, said afterwards.

One of the other guys that got injured. Yeah, he posted about it on his social media apparently and said, someone said, oh, what happened because he showed himself in cast and stuff. And he goes, oh, I'm not sure how much I can say. But anyway, these things happen. You know, no one's fault. I think it's not one fault.

I think that's one fault. I think that's one fault. Surely there's a dedicated person to safety. I feel like one of the seven, you know, there's such a huge team. Maybe the team's too big. Yeah, it absolutely is. Nobody can get their job done. I thought you were the one who was meant to, it absolutely is. Nobody can get their job done.

I thought you were the one who was meant to, yeah, they can't even walk past each other. I'm trying to get over there to put the, oh no, he's up. Oh no, he's down. They've also got one office with one computer. But it is also tracking. And you can play Frogger. Yeah, so it's pretty sick, actually.

Let me have a go. My go. OK, guys, we're going to need to put together a roster for Frogger. It's a roster, okay. That's fun. Thank you. That's a fun backstage there. Yeah, it's fun.

We're having a good time. People are falling from the sky, but we're enjoying ourselves. Really great time. 30 feet. Far out. So Bono missed all that because he was down here hanging with you too and that big pool of tea. Come on Bono. Was it Bono's job?

Bono, where were you? You're supposed to click the safety harness on it and you nearly killed a man. No, no, I was playing stadiums in Australia. Damn it, I knew I was meant to be somewhere. He didn't see a show until five weeks into previews. And when he did, he noticed the sound quality in the theatre wasn't up to scratch. The music producer was called in to remake the sound system. So we had to come in and just fully redesign it.

This is like the theatre they're doing it in, Foxwood Studios, what it was called, is a heritage-listed building. And they're making all these new tracks on the ceiling and stuff. So all that's super expensive as well, because they've got to have professionals in to not damage any of the heritage-listed ceilings and all that sort of stuff as well.

But apparently the set got so big, I think I heard this on the, you're talking to me as well, where the set got so big that it basically got built out in front of the sound system. So the set is blocking the turn coming out properly. And Bono, I think maybe was the first to notice it or the first one to go like this is not good enough. But the sound sound...

Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!

Bono's like, what's with that? Oh yeah! Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! The bottom is like, what's with that? They're like, oh yeah! I want you to be here. I want you to be here. I want you to be here. I want you to be here. I want you to be here.

I want you to be here. I want you to be here. I want you to be here. I want you to be here. I want you to be here. I want you to be here. I want you to be here. I want you to be here.

I want you to be here. I want you to be here. I want you to be here. I want you to be here. I want you to be here. I want you to be here. I want you to be here. I want you Peter Parker. Yeah, well done. Thank you. So, you came in basically goes, oh, this is a problem you need to fix, and then they're off on tour again with you too. Why is it in butter, being butter, boom. Despite the troubles, ticket sales were good. And during its first full week of 2011, it had the highest box office gross on Broadway

with over 1.5 million in sales. Wow, that's good, really good. Yeah, the preview shows. that's good, really good. Yeah, the preview shows. That's good. Really good. I was just thinking like, if it ran like that for a year, they'd make all their money back. That's like, sometimes these shows run for 20.

Yeah, that's right. So as it's starting to get out there, the team is starting to feel good about it. And they're talking about that publicly. Well, there's been a lot of trouble, but it's starting to feel like it's coming together. We can see how this can turn into a success now. Oh, boy.

The preview shows, as I'm sure you two theater kids would know, but I don't know how much I knew this. They're really there to eye out kinks and reviewers don't come in until they officially open. But they're still writing about the production though. Yes, you basically normally do it. It's almost like you're doing it publicly, but not officially.

And so you're not being judged on it really. And customers don't pay full ticket prices as well. Right. Throughout the whole- Much like the preview shows, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Yes, it's so early, nice. It's early night to the cheaper.

There's no reviewers there. Little boo, stinky reviewers. And I was just all the other kings, I feel it. But I'm like, you guys, you might have two or three previews. What do they got? Like six months of previews. Yeah, I think they get in hundreds of preview shows. Hundreds.

Wait, I have four. That's crazy. I mean, my show is not a theater production, to be honest. I do not, and sorry for the spoilers. I do not fly from the ceiling in any stage. Do you do not? Well, a lot. Yeah, okay.

You want to keep it on the down there, I know. Yeah. I know you. You know what I'm like. Power techniques. No. No, couldn't possibly. Uh.

I'm trying to find one of the suggested act he gave me a James Acker one of the guys suggested it said that Give me a number for preview I was in previews for 182 shows Which is another record That is crazy. I mean, how many shows would not ever put on that many as a official? If you do one a night, that's six months of shows. Yeah. And they did not.

So, yeah, this was stretched out for a while. So anyway, so they're trying to iron out these kinks in the previews and they keep extending, pushing back the official opening because there's more and more kinks. Throughout the whole process, the script's being edited. New songs, I think might have been being written through part of this stage. Although I did read one of the writers said, no songs were taken out, the edge and bottom

I really believed in their tunes. It sort of seems like- Even though I weren't really there to see them though. Yeah, it seems like if you did go to see one of the preview shows and lived to tell the tale, you went across by a cable all the time. If you then went and saw it out of preview, it would be two completely different shows. Yes, 100%. And I do talk

about a reviewer who saw it early and later and... Wow. And he compares the two experiences. You know, a later show. There wasn't even a Spider-Man. He wrote him out. So the cast during during the previews. The cast often rehearsed one version of the show in the afternoon before performing a different version that night. What the fuck? So they might be there there is scripts being edited. So they're rehearsing the new style, but it's not ready yet. So they got to perform the other show, the older version of the show, that night. So it's very confusing.

I imagine to be in the cast. As a general rule, the critics, like I said, don't review a show when it's in preview mode, but because the production suffered so many delays, critics seem to collectively break this convention of waiting, and they all started reviewing it during the preview run. When the major theater critics published reviews in Feb, Rewari, they were nearly... Oh, I've heard of him. February.

Can someone sell it? Just like Feb. Feb, I did and then I felt like a coward, so I tried to finish February. February. Forget about the sneaky art. Is the sneaky art, so all it... It's not really, it's like real soft February. Forget about the sneaky hour. Is the sneaky hour silent? It's not really. It's like real soft February. If you just say February, people, I'm pretty, I'm pretty sure I'd drop the hour. February. When I say February. When the major theatre critics publish reviews in February, they would, you know, hang on, say it with a bit of confidence, you can do

it. When the major theatre critics publish reviews in February, they were nearly universally negative. Oh, nearly, okay. Yeah. Fogging on that nearly. Scola, Daniel Mendelsson noted, many were critical of Tamehaw's attempt to bring in the myth of Iraqi into the Spider-Man story. Saying it turned the show into quote,

a grotesque hybrid. And meant the plot was bloated by having two unrelated main villains in Iraq, near and green goblin. Oh, they kept the green goblin. Yeah, I don't think- That's too villain. And I don't think the story is intersected at all.

That was just, apparently it was a lot to take in for audiences. They're like, what is happening? Oh, man. According to a review at the time in the New York Times, Ben Brantley wrote, for a story that is also inspired hit action movies, it is remarkably static in its telling. He went on to say that it may rank among the worst Broadway musicals of all time.

Which is pretty, that's pretty damning. I mean, it's hard to try and find the quote to put on your poster from that. This may rank as the worst world one in capitals. May. According to the Guardian, the producers were furious about the preview reviews with... We have preview reviews. Preview reviews. Preview reviews.

Saying, we have one of the world's foremost theatrical artists at the helm of this production and she is creating something exciting and groundbreaking, says Cole, the one of the producers. Why any critic would feel that they have the right to determine when the show is ready for a review is beyond me. As far as I'm concerned, the show is ready when Julie says it's ready. Oh, wow. You obviously the critics disagreed. The addition of Arakni wasn't the only part of Tamar's book that came in for a canning

though. Another one of our inventions was the geek chorus. Okay, Dave, this sounds up your alley. Oh, by Daggerus' theory. Oh, spiderman. How are ya? Oh, oh no, I spilt cheese on my sandwich. I'm a Jagger sister, an Oh spiderman. How are ya? Oh, oh no, I spilled cheese on my sandwich.

I mean my chest, I spilled cheese on my sandwich. And then I'm a jock and I will, I'm in the jock course, and I will give you a wedgie. Oh, oh no. Yeah. Run. And then like the 30 people dressed as nerds, run. Is that how it goes?

No. Do you say geek chorus or Greek chorus? Geek. Do you say geek? I was thinking that's some sort of a pano, right? Yeah, well, yeah, there's a Greek chorus. Yeah, that's how ancient Greeks, and they would bid they'd sort of narrate the show

for the audience, so the ones sort of. So that's basically what the idea was. Only this was four comic book geek characters who acted as the shows and the raiders. Cool. But I mean, that joke really only works if someone refers to them as the geek chorus. Otherwise, you have to, maybe they do, maybe. Please welcome the geek chorus, get it? It's a play on Greek.

I agree. You guys get theater, yeah. According to Tamor, the four characters represented Bono the Edge, fellow book writer Glen Berger and herself. So they sort of written themselves into the show and on the way. And she's a genius. Dave, she did like a cover of the Greek chorus. Yeah, I got it.

That's clever. She modernized the Greek chorus, geek chorus. Yeah, she did. And then put herself in there. Yeah, sort of. Or someone sort of representing her. This is her talking about the creative process when they did catch up. She said, we wouldn't be at Bonnose House in France or another one of our places.

The four of us all tossing out ideas and setting up tape recorders to make sure our thoughts were captured. We were like our own geek band and we loved having that spirit in the show. Just as got a great groomer son of a- Hangin' out at Bono's house in France. We're gonna get, we're all saying great things. Geek Corus, hope you got that on tape.

Oh, on tape. According to the Times, critics trashed the device, one calling it utterly superfluous. The Geek chorus was soon written out of the show. Oh, no. So it didn't see, it didn't survive to opening night. Right, so they're pissed off about the reviews, but they're also going, oh, this is good feedback.

They've got a point, thanks for the feedback. Yes. Four. We thought this was great until everyone said it wasn't great. We said, hmm, one of the something in that. There were many other elements that were criticized for being confusing. For instance, in the second act,

there's a song called Deeply Furious, where Iraqi dispatchers her spider women from their astral plane to still shoes from a shop in Manhattan. Are you fucking kidding me? If it doesn't have soul, what's the point? Go get those shoes ladies. Well, I mean, I think that's a tame or flourished there. I'm not blaming Bono for that one.

We need eight per person because we're spiders. So that- And we love shoes and shopping. Astral plane, like where's where the gods live or whatever. And then she sends down her sort of spider people. Women. Women to get shoes. Yeah.

I'm a shop. That's what we do. That's what women do. We shop. And steal. And then- And then- And then there was a big number,

big choreographed number, where they all dance in high heel shoes, or the spider women. Audience. I'm imagining them, in a, sorry. No, you're right. In a black suit, like a, like a morph suit, but then just like pipe cleaners

strap to their backs to look like extra arms. Can I just say that for me, this is what I imagine all musicals are. Yeah. In any other context, that scene would win 10 times. Yeah, I wasn't confused. I mean, she has won Tony Awards for Direction. Oh my God, Spider-Women with shoes,

that would get a standing ovation for 15 minutes and some theaters. I think some people like to turn up. They turn on it and then everyone's on on kicking it. Yeah. With their eight legs. Eight legs. But audiences were really confused by this

little part of the show and others, but this one wasn't apparently notably confusing. So to clean it up, the whole go, steal the shoes, and then we'll have the tap dancing scene or whatever. To clear that up, they didn't get rid of the dancing, what they did is they changed the line to... I descended from the astral plane with the help of human shoes. The earthbound Iraq need announced that according to the Times, that didn't seem to help audiences much.

So according to the Times, that didn't seem to help audiences much. So instead of the line about, go steal some shoes, she said, I descended from the astral plane with the help of human shoes. It's the Thomas that got that bad. I don't understand. I really want to get my hands on the recordings of them in France, Bono's house. One of them was like, all right, how about we rewrite it? We just say they got to earth with the help of shoes

and everyone to start. Wait, wait, wait, yes. Yes, human shoes. Love it, put it in. It's not horse shoes. It's so wild, I'm doubting that that's real. Where did I get that from? I'm pretty sure a reliable source, but fuck, that's funny. I think that was from the times.

That's insane. Oh man. What do you mean? With the help of human shoes. Got it. There we go, nailed it. That's our story dog wearing shoes yesterday. It was probably one of the highlights of my week.

And it said, I'm walking down the street with the help of human shoes. They've got all these water. Stop drinking during the show. I think that's really good. I get thirsty, but at the same time, I laugh at you guys. I think I've maybe got this written down somewhere later, but talking about how the costumes,

that's one thing that they were like, Tony nominated the costume. Okay, I mean, there were four people whose job was shopping. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, at first I was just gonna steal. Right, so the costumes are good, despite in my imagination, they're very bad.

Oh, you've gotta watch this letterman clip. Okay. I don't know, good. In my imagination, they're very bad. Oh, you've got to watch this letterman clip. OK. I don't know if they're good or not. They're big and wild. You show me, and I'll tell you. Should we just pause now and watch it? Yeah. All right, everyone in the show notes,

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Yeah, so we just watched it. What did your first instinct there? I hated that. Okay. I hated that a lot. Well. But this, there was a lot going on. Too much.

The music was just, I couldn't, I couldn't sing anything of any of it back to you. It was my melody. It was just, oh, the freaks in, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum It's looked a little underdressed to me. I think they should put on touch here. What about the science ladies who are wearing sparkly lab coats? Alright, that's my kind of science. That's my kind of science. So yeah, we recorded us talking over it a little bit if you're on Patreon, so you should be able to see that decided in there. Otherwise, yeah.

Little Patreon commentary. You can just look at the bloody link in the show notes to watch it yourself and I reckon you should. So yeah, that was the main guy, Dave pointed out which I didn't even know, the Spider-Man's not in here. Yeah, Spider-Man does not appear on stage at all and David Letterman comes out the answers. You can see all these guys in Spider-Man.

And it's like, hang on, what? That's crazy. The guy who's playing the green goblin. Yes. He's great. And you were saying Matt that the reason that he was the showcase character was because he actually was popular with audiences unlike anyone else maybe. I think he was the one that critics would talk about as being

one of the standout performers. He's very good. Yes. I think I'll talk a little bit about his tongue green. Yeah, I think he had a, that must about that. Wait, was he tongue green? Yeah, I think he had a, that must have been a bit based on Gene Simmons from Kiss. He had the big long tongue. And he had, it's sort of the top-not thing going on.

Yeah. Prostatic, you reckon? Top-not, or tongue. Tongue. I don't think you could talk with a prosthetic tongue. That's true. I reckon you'd probably, you probably just, he'd gargled something early that made his tongue look green.

Can you imagine Alan coming in that role? Yes. Yeah, I can too. Actually, yeah. I can imagine Alan coming in that role. Filly suit every night. Alan, no. This is how I get into character get out of my dressing room.

The other characters. The other characters started to complain that your suit smells. I never wash my suit. You're understudy who asked to come in and play. You're wrong. The other study that Paul, Paul Youngman. Paul Youngman.

Probably a man. Probably a man. Sorry. So I'll kick back into the report from here. The show took a lot of the criticisms on board and continued to rewrite the show with Harris conceding that while we don't agree with everything that critics said, we're not stupid. Oh my god. Well then you shouldn't...

You wouldn't have made a bad show in the first place. It's hard, it's so tricky because he's like, where the money people, they did their job very well. They raised a record amount of money for a musical. They just didn't, maybe they weren't honing everything in like they could have or something. It's hard to know. But really, it sounds like the guy who had all those skills is the guy died of a stroke of a star.

Yeah. Oh, imagine. Yeah. People looking down, shaking his head. From the way people write about it, if he was still around, it would have all been very different. In early 2011, Roberto Aguera-Sacasa was enlisted by producers to help rewrite the script. So they're like, we need to do bigger changes than just like fiddling around the edges.

We need to make wholesale changes. Why is this time the cast of memorised so many different versions, different acrobatic bigger changes than just like fiddling around the edges. We need to make wholesale changes. Why is this time the cast of Memorize so many different versions, different acrobatic moves? Not long after Roberto was brought on, Taymore left the production. So I think it's sort of unclear if she was left or she pushed or if she, or what happened, but yeah, she was out. And do you have any idea if she went on to do other stuff? Because before this, she said, acclaimed genius to Lion King,

that's a big credit to your name. But then you go from huge hit to big, obviously. Maybe you could say flop. Yeah. Something with a lot of trouble. Did that ruin her career? Or can she go on to be a genius in other words? She, I think the Lion King has still been her biggest thing,

but she has continued on with more children's books. There's always children's books. Can we be a genius in other things, like children's books? She, since she's made films and she's, what did she made since then? She did a mix of us not the many years of 14. The glory is this year, which I don't know what that is. And she's worked on a bunch of other stage productions,

including a few different Shakespeare turns, like a mid-Summer's Night's dream. That's all right. Too many programs. No, it doesn't look like she's done too many things since. But she's also, oh no, she's 67. So maybe she's just slowing down naturally. It's hard to know.

But it's slowing down naturally. But she's still making stuff. Yeah, no that's good. I just wasn't sure, because you know, it might have just ruined her. Yeah, that's not right. Yeah, I don't, I hope for you it hasn't. Cause it's a teamwork thing,

and this one didn't quite come off, but. Well, hopefully she just gets like 0.5% or whatever from the Lion King musical. Yeah, just bankrolled over it. I think she ended up suing the producers for this and settled out of court. So I think, you know, I don't think she's struggling for cash anyway. She won a, she got like a half a million dollar grant for Anyway, she won a, she got like a half a million dollar grant for, it was called like a genius grant or something from some art body. Of course it was.

Yeah. That's why she applied. Ha ha ha. She's like, hmm, that turns out my alley. I'll take one of those. Yeah. A very clever person grant. No, thank you.

That's not quite me. It's not quite right. It's not quite right. That's cute. The show's official opening continued to be pushed back. And when it was pushed back for the sixth time, they also shut down previous for nearly a month. Cole and Harris explained that the shutdown was due to the fact the story needed some work,

the songs needed some work, and the sound needed some work. So the show needed a fair bit of work. Yeah. The lighting needed some work and the sound needed some work. So the show needed a fair bit of work. Yeah, the lighting needed some work. For the ushers and no way they do. They're great. Yeah, I agree. Honestly, they are ready to go at a moment's notice.

They're the highlight of the show. You ask them which row is A, they'll tell you straight away. No worries. Wow. Sci-fi wire noted that with all the changes and with no money or time to spare, scenes would be scrapped, but the sets remained and had to be used in new ways they weren't intended for. Songs were appropriated for new meanings

and moments in the show, regardless of whether it made sense. Characters were dropped or had their roles decreased, not literally dropped, although that is also true. Except for the Grand Goblin, who ended up becoming the main villain of the show, what this led to was a mixed bag for the senses. Some scenes would look spectacular, while others seemed unbearably cheap. When it became clear that Page's performance as the Grand Goblin was one of the show's best assets, a new song was written called A Freakluck Me Needs Company, which is what we saw on the late show with David Letterman.

And in it, it includes the line, I'm a $65 million circus tragedy, actually, more like $75. So it's just like calling, they've written into the show, the budget. So you know, having a bit of a sense of humor about themselves. Because during this whole time, apparently it's just in everything, late night monologues are talking about it every week and it's just a big industry joke. I feel like I've seen it parodyed in a sitcom. I wanna say Kimmy Schmidt maybe.

Yeah, I think it has been on Kimmy Schmidt. It's been parodyed on a bunch of things. The Simpsons has referenced it a few times as has robot chicken. Right. And Saturday night a whole lot of times. The official opening finally came around on June 14th, 2011

at which point the budget had grown to $75 million. By far the highest budget of a Broadway musical ever. Oh my God. As I said before, for comparison, normal budgets between five and 15 million. According to Vulture, the website not the Spider-Man villain. The next most expensive Broadway musical

is number two, is 2008 Shrek the Musical. So this is the number two, $25 million. Fuck me. You can say three Shrek musicals. Yeah. And I wish we had more Shrek musicals. It's playing Melbourne. I know.

So they've made that work. So I imagine they've made their money back if they're touring it internationally like that. Vulture broke down, again, the website, broke down where the money was spent, including over nine and a half million dollars on sets and costumes. So nearly more than some whole budgets

were just on sets and costumes. Nearly 4.5 million to rent Foxwood's theater for the two years before the performance has even began. So they're renting out this super expensive space without being able to get any income back from it. Around 2.2 million on flying equipment, over 400,000 on props and over 3,700, 370,000 on puppets. What about paying the actors and all the staff? Much smaller costs, I think. Three dollars a piece. Wow.

Do you want to do it for the love? You got to do theatre for love. Oh. Remaining what I said before, Dave, that they sold 1.7 million in tickets that week and it was a real good week for them. The weekly production budget also blew out to around $1.3 million, meaning the show had to regularly break ticket sales records have any chance of recouping investment.

Oh my God, what are you thinking? So just that week you'd have to make back that money's week. The money from that week. That's how I read it, like you need to be, you need to, so to make it back 75 million, you really got to be dubbed like, it's got around for 80 years and break a record every week. Yeah. Which they did with a gross of $2.9 million for the week of December 25, 2011. So there was this period where I was looking pretty good. That was the highest one week take for any show ever, beating the record set by a wicked.

I would love to know how much the tickets were. They weren't, apparently weren't cheap. They were, so... Fuck! Yeah, it's very interesting. There were $2.3 million. That's all one ticket. They were just, you know, they were just, with that budget, it was so hard to ever make it success. And that's what the full quote before, where one of the second producers called him a schmuck, the earlier guy said,

do you think this is a $30 million show, which is what we've basically made it, or a $65 million show, but that's because of all the money that was wasted before we got here. By the schmuck and he's still going, I loved it, I loved it. The show received a few award nominations,

including like I said before, Tony nominations for costume and scenic design. The only actor to receive nominations was Patrick Page, who played the Green Goblin. He was nominated for outstanding featured actor in a musical at the drama desk awards. So apparently when he wasn't nominated for a Tony, he left the production. Some said he was sort of hanging around, because there was some buzz around him. As soon as the Tony nominations were announced, he didn't get nominated. He didn't

get nominated until he left. Because I think it was a bit of a shit show, I guess, that it was hanging around. Yeah, that's a reason for it. Yeah, it had built up my career by the time. Yeah, and then if you win a Tony for a performance, maybe you'd probably stick in it. Yeah. And that would be good for the show as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Twin win.

The show was generally reviewed more favorably after the script re-write. Brantley, who I mentioned before, was scathing in his review of the preview season, revised his thoughts saying, quote, so is this a cent from jaw dropping badness to mere mediocrity a step upward? Well, until last weekend, I would have recommended Spider-Man only to carry on feasting theatre vultures. 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 Spiderman. It's a pretty good praise. It's a long quote to put on the side of a subway car, but they did it. Yeah, it's a, well, what would you put in there? I would consider taking him or her to the new and improved Spider-Man. Linda Buckwald from stagegrade.com said, critics actually miss some of Julie Tamer's ambition. Crazy as they may have thought it at the time. Critics agree that the show is improved in that it makes much more sense. However, now they are mostly just finding it a ball.

Bona when the edges score is almost universally panned, while Patrick Page's green goblin and stunning visuals remain for most critics the best reasons to see the show. I also saw someone mentioned that it had this cool sort of 2D effect, sort of like it's off the page, I guess, of a comic book, which I obviously, on the only clip I've seen, that Letterman clip, and that doesn't seem to be the case there, but maybe the sets are that way or something? I think that review there of Patrick Page,

like him being the only redeeming quality, I would love that. I would, I love being a big fish in a small pot. Right. Love that, some people are bloody, you know, I love being a big fish in a small pot. Right. Love that some people are blooded, you know? I wanna get out there and make myself it. Fuck that. I wanna stay with these mediocre dummies and appear great.

Is that what you're doing here? I think that's what you might be saying. No, that's what I'm saying about this. And also, it's done. It makes sense where you're hanging around. Yeah. Why else would you hang around? Look how good I look on this podcast.

We make you look good, I think. Maybe look really good. Yeah, that's a compliment that you're paying us, right? Yeah, you make me look good. Improvise all about making a scene partner look good. And if anything, a podcast is really just a long form. Oh, long form, in fact. We're basically doing a Harold right now.

I'm doing Harold. Look at me, I'm doing Harold. Am I saying the right? And scene. Thank you. So they've lost the only thing about the show that people like because he left. Yes. Here is a list of injuries. Oh my God. So I mentioned before that stuntman Christopher Tieni fell 30 feet breaking multiple bones. Terrifying. But then he recovered and returned to the... No, no, come back, sue them. Vulture notes that there were many other injuries on set, including Kevin Orben, who

broke both wrists when he was catapulted from one end of the stage to the other in October 2010. Brandon Rubindor broke a toe that same month doing the same stunt as Orben. No, not a toe. Natalie Mendoza, who played, in previews played the villain, Erakni. She suffered a concussion during the first preview on November 28, 2010, when she was struck in the head with a piece of equipment while standing in the wings. And then this is the most full-on one.

On August 15, 2013, Daniel Curry, a stunt double, got his right foot stuck in a stage lift, and then a trap door closed on the foot, breaking the foot and both of his legs and necessitating quote unspecified amputations. Oh! Isn't that? What the fuck? Oh!

I'm so confused why that guy, the one who broke every bone, went back. Yeah, I guess it's stuntman. I think, yeah, they're just kind of mad. Don't go back. Sue them for negligence and get a better job. I think you're misunderstood. This is in America.

It's not a very litigious society. Interesting. So but that guy lost his feet possibly his legs. Oh my god. Like it feels like someone should be able to find out unspecified amputations. That's so awful. Anyway yeah that is obviously that's I mean in some ways it seems like it's like you know and died, but that still like goes, Jesus, that feels like a night, like brutal nightmare. Anyhow, all good things must come to an end. And by September 2013, the box office grossed slip to 621,960 dollars, so less than half the running budget. The slipping ticket sales, as well as understandably struggling to secure injury insurance,

meant the show was closed on January 4, 2014, ending one of the most tumultuous, Broadway runs of all time, with investors losing an estimated $60 million. Oh, God. Oh God. My God, that sucks. The show is in for me. Has led to it being spoofed in popular culture, like I mentioned before, Simpson's robot chicken, SNL, and also Sesame Street. Oh my God, even Sesame Street 7 and a Swing.

Yeah, the kickin' while you're down. The producers have long talked about touring the show internationally to help recruit the losses. A residency in Las Vegas has also been speculated about for a long time. And there was even a website that was put together. So I think it got pretty close. But as of 2020, still nothing has happened there.

The 2014 performance was the last that's happened. But if it toured internationally, would people go to see it? I feel like they would. I feel like it's so famous. I'd go to see the train. I'd go hoping it was bad. Which I think is what a lot of people went to at the time. Oh, that's so nice.

But there was a mix of some people. I mean, I've read a lot of quotes from people also saying, we loved it. It's so much fun. Some people went back again and again, but other people go, and we want to see someone fall from the sky. That's amazing.

Like I want to see a monster truck show or something, I guess. Hahaha. Same reason. Fuck him up. Tamor, like I said before, through the producers eventually settled with them. What did you say them for? I'm guessing it's like some sort of breacher contract

or something. Right. And she seems to blame Bono and the Edge the most for the show's issues. Why? So they've had a real falling out. They were quite close and friendly and I think. They were barely there.

They came in right for those sort of reasons. Okay, well, fucking, maybe a touch of fucking safety thing. Oh, yeah. I don't mean, I don't think she's blaming them for the injuries more than- Yeah, again, it was barred up. But I mean, like, of all the things that went wrong. Yeah, yeah.

There aren't critics who are like, I mean, everything's perfect, but the music's trash. Yeah. That's not what's happening here. Right. It's that you're changing the script. Fucking, ah! But I wonder if, I mean in her mind,

I wonder if she's like, if they were around more, we could have worked out a more coherent story. Maybe, I don't know. I'm just a messenger Jess, but also, I will defend Tamor to the death. And I will defend Bono to the dead now. I just naturally like a mole. I think I'll, I want to, I love a mole and I just want a mole to the death. And I will defend Bono to the dead now. I just naturally like a mole. I think I love a mole and I just want a mole to be successful.

Isn't it funny to have this underdog support for people like Bono in the end? I'm like, oh, everyone has a golden, you know, they're all right, are they? You're a real one. This isn't a go, but they're like multi millionaires. Can't these little guys just have a bit of success? They don't need your pity.

No, no, I don't know why I do it, but I really feel for them. Yeah. You're a real Garfinkel. Yeah, I am a bit of a Garfinkel. Just want everyone to have a good time. I really am. They just, I don't know why they, it feels mean that they attract so much hate. They pay so little tax.

Am I right Dave? Yeah. Hell yeah. Stick it to him. Okay. I'm going to finish with these words from the co-writer of the show Mr. Berger. He remains somewhat upbeat about it. He's probably been the one who's taught. You don't remember Mr. Berger. Mr. Berger. No, I don't remember if And we looked at each other like, well tell it pathically, Dave and I spoke to each other just then. So do you remember Mr. Berger?

They said, I do not. Well, I called him Glen Berger before, but no. Right. But then I thought maybe it was Miss De Berger. Christopher Berger. Yeah, I thought of Christopher Berger leaving him real. Do I tell this story every time he comes up when I, like, it's not, it's one of those you have to be there, but every time he comes up when I like this not that's one of those you have to be there

But every time he comes up, which is weakly at this stage when I was in backpacking it and we're in Prague No, we're in Krakow One of my mates that we got all the time we got the run of this bar We're behind the bar. We're playing the music we're pouring our own drinks. I don't know what happened I'll anyway Poland's great I don't know what happened. I'll anyway, Poland's great. And then, the lady and Red came on. My mate was around a Red T-shirt and he took his shirt off and put it on a stool and then just started slow dancing with the stool.

And I've never cried and laughed so hard. Maybe not until that pack of loose dog sort of in one of those bonus episodes. Anyway, I'm glad I recounted that to you guys. That's beautiful. That was the last moment. That's a lovely moment. That's lovely. And he fucked that chair. And the chair fucked him.

We went to Auschwitz that week. What a roller coaster. Yeah, wow. Wow. Big week. Miss Deburg or Mr. Berger? Ah, Deburger. Mr. Deburger.

Um, so he seems, he's the one that's been talking the most. He's written a book about it. He does, he's been on podcast and interviewed a lot. And this quote says, what gets lost in this story is how many people actually wound up loving the show. For a lot of people, because it was Spider-Man, it was their first musical ever. And for some, it was kind of a gateway drug. They were turned onto Broadway musicals in a way they hadn't been before. So he sort of saying, this is kind of save Broadway. In a way, in a way, in a way, in a way, well, in our way. In a way, I am the king of Broadway.

I am Mr. Berger. Bow down to your king, Broadway. I don't, did I mention, was this, Tonya off podcast, the reason it's called Turn Off The Dark is not clear from watching the musical apparently, but it was a phrase that one of the key decision-makers kids would say when he wanted his parents to turn a light on. Mom, he'd turn off the dark.

And they go, that's real cute. That is cute. Let's name this beautiful musical. What has I got to do with Spider-Man? Yeah, nothing. I guess the dark is badness is probably what they were thinking, but yeah, it doesn't seem to have any literal connection. Sounds bad. So do you have any idea what the plot was? Like the Spider-Man have to beat, is it like, you know, it ended well. It changed so much.

Oh, right, of course. It changed so much,, but in the end I think it was pretty much just based on the first two of the big Spider-Man movies. It's been all that time. Came up with their own superheroes, their own bad guys, all the scripting, and in the end they just went, print the script off for Spider-Man one and two, staple them together and hand it to the cast. We're good to go. I just, yeah, did I mention on the pot I've just bumped in a Bury Worms and they saw on the way here and Bury saw it and she said they never even say it's an origin story for Spider-Man, but they never even say with great power comes great responsibility. And Uncle Ben's role is very small in it.

So it's not exactly the same. Apparently they've merged a few of the storylines. I've read somewhere that it was the Grand Goblin's storyline was kind of the merge between the Green Goblin from the movie and the Dr. Ock storylines maybe. And I think at some point, the big fight between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin happened relatively early in the show. And then someone, no, let us again from you talking to you two to me apparently. So one of the stage hands or something said, you should have the big fight sequence at the end of the show.

And then people were like, yeah, that does make sense. Fuck, give this, give this stage hand a million dollars. Stop giving away money, first of all. I think it's Mr. Berger wrote this scene where they were up on the top of the Empire State Building and that's where the fight happened and a piano fell off. And that's how the Green Goblin died, I think. Pretty cool stuff. I really want to see this. And then he said, put it at the end and then went, genius. Genius.

Brace, Brace said it was, she was so excited to talk about it. And I said, so was it good? And she said, oh my god, no, it was awful. But it was really fun to watch. Yeah, okay, yeah. I would hate watch it. Like I love to watch bad films on Netflix. Right.

I live for it. Don't you and your friend have a special night where you do? Yeah, we did on Friday. You did, what is it? It's the best. Well, we watched the sequel to all the boys I loved before, whatever. It's called like, to all the boys I still love, PS still love you part two. Like it's fucked.

And it was, the first one was good. The second one, trash. It was so bad and then we watched something else terrible afterwards. One of our favorites that we've watched is a girl who has to move from California to Adelaide. Here we go. Love and the summer room.

I'm sorry for her. I'm assuming for a parent's work or something. And then she joins the gymnastics team at this high school and all the other high school girls are like very competitive because they want to get scholarships to college. Okay, first of all we don't call it college here. Second of all don't need scholarships. Um, why did it? Why was Adelaide written into it? So it's clearly an American script. No, there's one American in Adelaide. So it is an Australian movie.

Yeah? I'm guessing funded by the state of South Australia. Who knows? They're like, yeah, we need to do gymnastics. Tomorrow we're going to be performing for President Bush. I can't afford to go to college. Yeah, you can't, you can. You absolutely can.

Just bring break everybody. Anyway, it was great. That does sound great. And that brings us to the end of the report. That was a ripper. I had a great time with that. I had more fun hearing about that than I would sing the show.

Yeah, I would sit there and just cringe. I do find, yeah, musicals, I've got a weird relationship with them. I mean, I hardly have seen any, but when I have, they always feel a bit weird. The Grand Goblin vibe, it was kind of similar to the, not really, but a little bit similar to the Buffy the Musical bad guy, which is one of my only touchstones for musical stuff.

Also Annie, little orfan Annie, fantastic. Of course, you love little orfan Annie. I, little orfan Annie. Fantastic. You love little orfan Annie. Why do I smell wet dog? Great line. Even better than I've come down with the help of human shoes. Human shoes. I need to specify. So that brings us to the point of the show that everyone loves. It's called the fact quote or question section. The show and you can get involved in this. If you've got a Patreon.com such to go on pod, you can ask us a fact quote or a question.

You can't ask us two or those three, but you can tell us the other two. If you join on the Sinny Shamburg Deluxe Memorial Rest in Peace, edition level, and this week we have Phil Busui. How do I not know his name yet? Busui? Busui, is it? Phil Busui.

And you get to give yourself a title and Phil's given himself the title of Senior Executive of Bleeping Out, C Bleep. That's good. I would really love it if you could do that role, because then we could just start talking freely again. Yeah, we don't want to censor ourselves. As soon as we stop recording each week, I say,

Cut! Cut! Real owner. Phil, I'm going to need you. Phil, we need you, come in. Get Phil in. So Phil's given us a quote. And his quote is, outside of a dog,

a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog. It's too dark to read. Gracho marks. Good line. Had that on a bookmark at some point. As a kid, I thought that was so funny, and also thought I was very sophisticated

throughout the standing it. I think it is. I think that is a great line. Do you think I was sophisticated though for getting it? Yes. Fuck yeah. Knowing Gretro Marx's work, very sophisticated. I was able to post in the top two percent of society.

Yep. Thank you. I think you might even get a phone call from... Mensa? No, no, I was thinking my friend Trudy. She just loves those kind of quotes. Oh. Jack, thank you so much Phil.

Who's what? Please don't give Trudy my number. Oh. Okay. Smile. Jack of the angel. Jacobi. Thanks, Jacobi. Jacobi dangle. I think it's Jacobi dangel. Jacobi Deangel. Jacobi Deangel.

Jacobi Dangle. I think it's Jacobi Deangel. Jacobi Deangel has given himself the title writer, director, cinematographer, editor, producer, executive producer, best boy and actor of the Doo Go On movie. I think that might have been your title last summer and I love consistency.

I think Jacobi, when the Patreon group put together the birthday message for Jess and I, he was the one standing in front of the Hollywood set. He was. Yes. I think you might be a well connected movie mogul. Yeah. Do we appreciate that being on board? It's the kind of man we need on the team.

And the budget has already gone $75 million over. So we really need someone to put him in a box. Otherwise, it's gonna keep getting bigger. Jacobi's also given us a quote, writing, hey guys, I don't have anything too fancy this time around. This quote is from my favorite movie. See if you can guess it. Bracket, or use the internet bracket.

All right. No, I shan't be doing that. I will guess. I've got the internet already here. Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while. Around once in a while, you could miss it. Did you put that on a bookmark as well?

Is that Gratio Marks? Gratio Marks, lock it in. I had that on a bookmark. Is that first gump? No. That's the knife. Vindy is old. It's a replica.

Do you know Dave? Surely, you know. What was the actual quote? Can we hit him here again? Interceptance, please. Last moves, purifiers. If you don't stop and look around, what was it?

You can miss it. Mm. If you think I know it, is it terminated too? It's an F movie. Ferris Bueller. Oh, of course. I said it in a weird voice, which maybe not realize who it is.

Yeah, he says that to the audience. Mm-hmm. Great film. Great film. Annoying, I assumed it was just a movie I hadn't seen. Haha. But that's one of my favorite films. It's great. A lot of it.

I love a Samarit. Love it. What's it frequently? Who's seen it? Yeah. Bound. Didn't love it. No, no, don't dislike it. It's one of those ones that I've seen so long ago. Yeah, right., I don't dislike it. It's one of those ones that I've seen so long ago.

I know I've seen it. I know a couple of the famous scenes, but I can't remember that's from my own memory. I'll just pop culture. Bueller, Bueller, classic. Could have stuck on the phone. Pranking the principal something. So he's got a nice car. Yeah, Cameron's dead's car.

All right, I'll watch it. Let's watch it together. Come round, I'll put on some popcorn. Great, you're excited for that, but when I want to watch Terminator 2, you give me no acceptance. I'm up for it if there's popcorn. Very busy. We're doing it from my Patreon bonus episode. Love it.

Kane. It's gonna be so much fun. Who's got the comfiest catch? It's not me. Is your catch Who's got the Cunfee's catch? It's not me. Is your catch my comfy? No, it sucks. We're getting rid of it all we move.

Sucks so much. Sinks in the middle. No, what a shocker. Sucks. Sinks in the middle and a sea of spoon. Little Bob Blue and a man on the moon. Sinks in the middle sun. I don't know when. It sinks in the middle sun I don't know when it's in the middle sun

I know what in the middle sinks sink sink sink sink sink Sun my son's a thing why did you dedicate that to Jacoby my son I sent you to do Jac. Jacobi of all trades. So now we like to thank a few patron supporters and normally just has a little game to play. Oh yeah. Let's name their musical after something a child would say. Oh that's fun. Alright off, I'd love to thank from Victoria Meg Steven Meg Steven

The musical is I did a poo Sorry about that Meg, but that a kid would yell that a kid would yell that but it's gonna It's not gonna be just called I did a What's gonna be called I did a whoopsy Willie Wonka I did a whoopsy I did a whoopsy I did a whoopsy Willie Wonka I did a who in brackets. I did a whoopsy. I did a whoopsy. I did a whoopsy. I did a whoopsy. I did a whoopsy. I did a whoopsy. I did a whoopsy. I mean, there's too many people on this project.

Yeah, yeah. There's no bad ideas. There's no good ones, see you either. There are no bad ideas. Okay. Thank you so much, Meg. Good on you, Meg. Seven.

Thank you so much. We appreciate you. From also from Victoria, I'd love to thank Tim Williams. Why, we just gave you nothing there. Tim Williams. Tim, Timmy will. Timmy will. All right, Danger Mouse.

I did a wopsy. Good stuff. I don't know if you realize this, but that's one Dave just did. What do you mean? Okay, you want me to go again? Dave, give me Dan Jamass again. Okay, my musical that I produced with the sponsorship of Tim Williams is Danger Mouse.

Piscady. Oh, it made me hungry. So, kid would say, Danger Mouse Piscady. Pass me the Piscady. Fantastic, Tim. Great musical musical can't wait to watch it Obviously the Piscetti has very little to do with the film But that's okay and also the musical too. Yeah

I'll thank some people also please I would love to thank from Queen's land we've met in our shows in Brisbane. I would love to thank from a Queensland we've met in our shows in Brisbane. I would love to thank Jessica Rahajou. Ooh Jessica captain planet. Oh there's a spider in my bed. Classic kids. I mean these kids are really forming full sentences. I would say there's a spider in my bed.

If there was a spider in my bed. Right, well, if you give an example of what you actually wanted when you came out with this game, I would really appreciate it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, criticism. Just saying there's a very advanced kids. Sorry, sorry if I came out with this criticism. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no spider bad bad great. Yes, there we go now. He's getting it finally Thank you Jessica. Thanks Jessica. I would also love to thank from San Antonio

Is country one of David Robinson is one of your neighbors probably and he's talking to you Frank John Villarreal Don't wait I think you got it That's JV Wow, maybe you know his petty meals Australian basketball place for the spurs sure knows him. I'm sure Okay, so this one is gonna be a film called Batman No, please no, please that's nice going to be a film called Batman. No, please. No, please. That's nice. No, my friends just say yes, please,

and no, please, and our parents never corrected it, because it was very cute. I think no, please, great. No, please. Batman, no, please. No, please. Oh, that's good. That might almost make sense.

You could have one of the jokers, like a clownown people, being tormented, tortured, and he said, no, please. But it also leaves it open to the review of being like, yeah, no one was pleased. That man, no please, they got that right. Yeah.

This whole movie was a whoopsie. Ha ha ha ha ha. Thank you, Frank, we appreciate it. Dave. All right, I would like to finally bring us home with a thing in a couple of people now from Preston in Tasmania. I would like to thank Thomas Jewel. Thomas Jewel. Thomas Jewel, who of course is producing the Top Cat musical.

Top Cat. Can I have $5? Top Cat, can I have $5? Top cat, can I have $5? A story of rags to riches. Yes. And you've got to write it in that voice somehow. Yeah. No, it's just a different font. Yeah.

It should be easy enough to do. Winey font. Yeah. A real whiny font. Can I come to? Fall. Go a bit, go a bit. Thank you to all of our supporters. I'll do one more.

This one more, but I've just lost the page. Oh, well, I've got it here. If you want me to say it, and then you can say it again. All right, bring it up. Who we got? Who we got? Him I thinking. Wow, I don't know what all this means,

but from Portland, Oregon, first name round, second name, Hild Pacific. Round H Hill Pacific. Round Hill Pacific. Oh hang on, I think the name is after that. Meena Northrop. I like Round Hill specific. Meena Northrop.

Yeah, he's an adaptation from Portland. Trailblazers country. I wonder if she knows. I can't, can you remember any trailblazers plays? No. Eh, maybe that's bad. Okay. Meena, I didn't even know her.

That's a kid. That's a kid. Kid would say that. Kid would say that. And that's the name of the Dragon Ball Z musical. Dragon Ball Z. Meena, I didn't even know her. That was, yeah, I remember like a real small version

of like Bob Hope or something. Yeah. Child Bob Hope would have said. Little golf club. Yeah. Just walking around. Very cute. So cute.

So cute. Thanks so much to our supporters. Yes, thank you so much everyone. Do we have any members of the TripTitch Club this week? Yes, and Dave, did you see that on Twitter someone emailed us a font, a sparkly font of you? Yes, it was a place to hang your cape. Thanks so much for that mate. Thank you, David. Sadly will not be required. Wait, what is the stuff? Well, you may not be required. Stand down. I don't understand how that, what do

you mean not be required? I appreciate that though. Appreciate. You appreciate. Appreciate the thought. It's a thought the counts. Okay. But sadly, well not be required. Mate, you're confusing me. We have four inductees this week into the Lardy Duh. Yep. Triptitch club. Four. Black tie only. Got it. From Madison, West Virginia, probably. It's Tyler Thompson. Tyler Thompson. The one from T.

Hello Essex in Great Britain. Jordan Elmer. Jordan. From Ontario, Canada. It's Kathleen Neaves. Never's, Neaves, Naves. Wow. Never's Nives, Nives. Wow, how many huffins? Kathleen, Kathleen Nives.

And from from in summer or so, great, and as well, why? Well, why? Tyler Jordan, Kathleen, we're welcome. Ish, ish, ish, ish. Okay, I didn't know we'd do that every week, but I love it. Eesh, eesh, eesh, eesh. Okay, I didn't know we'd do that every week, but I love it. We don't do it every week. This week is party week in the club.

Eesh, eesh, eesh, eesh. There you go, hope you enjoyed that party. And everybody get out. Take some rubbish with you on the way out. Please. Many hands make light work. Thank you. Not too much to ask. Thank you so much, out. Please. Many hands make light work. Thank you. Not too much to ask.

Thank you so much, all of you, for you are, we are humbled by your presence. Thanks so much for coming in. It's good to see you in here. Hopefully you enjoyed touching the velvety things we have sprinkled around the place. So much. Yep. It's a lot of velvety. Touch it.

We have four professional velvet choppers. Yep. At all times. Yep. We are proud of you, Amigurian. That's right. We are so in debt. Our running cost here 1.5 million a week. So that brews? Is that bringing a scene to the episode?

What is it? What is it? People want to support us on Patreon. Let's not forget that they can get some bonus episodes on there, including our most recent one, which was a report on a very often requested topic. And that is golfer. This is made for all the way. Greg at the shark norm.

Yeah. What a roller coaster that was. That was a great fun report. It was really fun. We used to say that there were many episodes and sometimes people say, how long are they? This one went for an hour and most of them do so. If you want to get some bonus content any week and at the same time, support the show, you can do that at patreon.com slash do on pod.

And anyone that does that. And we'll also put out a little commentary of the David Letterman Spider-Man clip that we just put up. That's a bonus, just fun. I would not say that is something that is worth you doing, especially. No, I bet. It's there. We're not far off reaching our next goal on patreon at which time we will be recording

Frazing the bar. Oh, yeah, right the podcast that we have promised for years now We go through the filmography of Brendan Fraser. Yeah, I can't I didn't have never I don't have a say's now I'm guessing we'll find out you find that an episode one Faser phaser. Yeah, we have guessing we'll find out. We'll find out in episode one. Faisal. Faisal. Yeah. We're getting close. Yeah.

Relatively close. Wow. Relatively close. Yeah. What are we cousins? All right. That's good stuff. And also the signal that we are, or at least I like,

we gotta go. And beyond. Hey, you are beyond. Hey Dave, hey Jess, can we turn on the dark? That means turn off the lights. Oh no. No Matt, then we just need to get out of the room and then we can go to our homes. Ah, I just sit here in the dark normally.

Ah. What are you? What? Yeah no, I should. I should do both there. That's true, yep. Hmm, is that why you don't immediately turn off the dark when I ask you to? Turn off the dark.

Just a, one of you please turn off the dark. I can't see in here. Please, and can I have five dollars? I've done a whoopsie, need a brand new pants. And yes, it has been a good time. Yes, we've had fun, but all good things must come to an end. Please find us on Facebook and other social media's like Twitter and Instagram.

What's this one called? Do go on. I don't know. I do go on.com is the website. We own that. And our Gmail is the Gmail. Yes. Send us an email and merch is on the website.

Yes. Come and do it. Teacher, it's in pins. Lots of fun stuff. I think I'm gonna put my primates, beans on the website. Buy two shits. Yes, come and do it. Teach us some pins, lots of fun stuff. I think I'm gonna put my primates beans on there too. Great. So if people wanna do all their shopping in a one hot top spot. Oh, hot spot.

One stop spot. I really hope it. One stop spot. Just wrap it up, let's get the fuck out of here. It looks like you're in mind. Thanks everybody, until next week, I'll say thank you. One stop shop. Yes. On top of the shop. Yes.

And good bye! Bye, guys! Bye! Turn off the dark. This podcast is part of the Planet Broadcasting Network. Visit PlanetBroadcasting.com for more podcasts from our great mates. I mean, if you want, it's up to you. This episode is brought to you by Progressive.

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