# FOURTH accident at the Broadway show Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 21, 2010, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fourth-accident-at-the-broadway-show-spiderman-turn-off-the-dark/564963 "2010-12-21T15:49:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fourth-accident-at-the-broadway-show-spiderman-turn-off-the-dark/564963/61 "2010-12-22T21:32:27Z")
Perhaps at this point, the producers may hope that people will come and cough up the $140 just to see how bad it is. It _really is_ The Producers. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fourth-accident-at-the-broadway-show-spiderman-turn-off-the-dark/564963/62 "2010-12-22T22:06:34Z")
> [@Pitchmeister](#): > > Whoops! I knew it was the most expensive show ever, but $65m? Dang, that beats Wicked 3:1 pretty easily (if that is so far the most expensive show, I might be behind on that as well). I believe the next closest in cost is Shrek at $24 mil. Which shows how out of whack this show’s budget is. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fourth-accident-at-the-broadway-show-spiderman-turn-off-the-dark/564963/63 "2010-12-22T22:15:29Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > I love one of the comments, it ends with this: Wow. Did you read the other spoilery review that’s in the comments? (Just scroll and look for a really long comment by “jay56”). It sounds so bad, and so very UN-Spidey in story that I think I’d be offended to read the story as bottom-barrel fanfic. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fourth-accident-at-the-broadway-show-spiderman-turn-off-the-dark/564963/64 "2010-12-22T22:25:01Z")
> [@Death\_of\_Rats](#): > > I believe the next closest in cost is Shrek at $24 mil. Which shows how out of whack this show’s budget is. The _Lord of the RIngs_ musical in Toronto was $30 million CDN, the West End version was re-written and was $25 million U.S. In Toronto it only ran March-September 2006. It lasted a bit longer in London. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fourth-accident-at-the-broadway-show-spiderman-turn-off-the-dark/564963/65 "2010-12-23T15:33:48Z")
Spidy: $67 million and countig. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fourth-accident-at-the-broadway-show-spiderman-turn-off-the-dark/564963/66 "2010-12-23T15:37:51Z")
> [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](#): > > Wow. Did you read the other spoilery review that’s in the comments? (Just scroll and look for a really long comment by “jay56”). It sounds so bad, and so very UN-Spidey in story that I think I’d be offended to read the story as bottom-barrel fanfic. It sounds pretty terrible, but it’s not like there isn’t a spider-spirit in the Spider-Man mythos already. Make Arachne the secret identity of Madame Web and you’re good to go. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fourth-accident-at-the-broadway-show-spiderman-turn-off-the-dark/564963/67 "2010-12-23T15:41:15Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > It sounds pretty terrible, but it’s not like there isn’t a spider-spirit in the Spider-Man mythos already. Make Arachne the secret identity of Madame Web and you’re good to go. Didnt Straczinsky make Spider-Man owing his powers to a spider totem? Anyway the whole Arachne plot as it is described looks like one of the worst attempts to shoehorn a more “presentable” myth into Spider-Man, clearly revealing a lack of interest or passion in the main character in the first place. That’s a good recipe for failure. ---
**Author:** ![Aeris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Aeris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeris)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fourth-accident-at-the-broadway-show-spiderman-turn-off-the-dark/564963/68 "2010-12-23T16:17:03Z")
Well I’m glad at least one other person brought up Julie Taymor. I effing hate her. I don’t know why. Perhaps it’s that she trys to hard to be “artsy” and fails at being effective. Take Lion King for example…I wasn’t thrilled. Okay okay I know everyone is going to say “Did you see it in New York? It was AMAAAZING in New York!” Well blow me. No I didn’t see it in New York. I don’t have a million dollars. I saw it in Pittsburgh which has awesome theatre, venues, blah blah blah… The show was good. I enjoyed it but I didn’t come out of there having some sort of orgasm from it’s awesomeness. So with that said, I never have high expectations for anything associated with Julie Taymor. Thus Spider Man…really? How stupid are they? I hope Actor’s Equity rips her a new one. She is responsible for the safety of those actors! I mean so are a lot of people but I blame you Julie Taymor! Not only because I actually feel you are at fault but also because I hate thee! ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fourth-accident-at-the-broadway-show-spiderman-turn-off-the-dark/564963/69 "2010-12-23T16:38:05Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > The Feds are interested in this too. > > [http://www.popeater.com/2010/12/22/spider-man-musical-safety-measures/](http://www.popeater.com/2010/12/22/spider-man-musical-safety-measures/) What I have gleaned from that article is 1) so much money has been spent on this abortion they HAVE to forge ahead and put the damn thing on. Unless someone gets killed, they have to try to get some money back from…2) the rubes who are talking about it, even in the sticks, and the rubes who bus it into the big city have dollar to spend on Spiderman stashed away in their fanny packs…3) Hey! Spiderman has been mentioned on SNL! The ultimate recommendation, yeah, like anyone is still watching that has-been zombiefest…This whole thing is just embarrassing, on one level. THIS is what draws the tourists, this stupid Tijuana pony show? Yeah, after they’re done buying crap at the Disney store or whatever in Times Square and grabbing a bite at the Olive Garden or whatever, go to ooh and aah at Spiderman, they heard about it on SNL. Real playwrights, producers, musicians, and actors must feel just swell about the whole thing. (It’s like there’s a zoo full of tigers, pandas, giraffes, and elephants, and the people who run the zoo decide put up a big, stupid, computerized animatronic animal display that makes noise, staggers around, and falls apart, and that’s what the tour buses bring the rubes to see. This is a crude analogy, but I haven’t had my coffee yet.) ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fourth-accident-at-the-broadway-show-spiderman-turn-off-the-dark/564963/70 "2010-12-23T16:52:16Z")
The biggest thing that galls me about this is the notion that actors, singers and stuntmen are expendable. That’s why I’d like to see it shut down, losing some group of people $67 million - f@ck you if you think your art is worth someone else’s career ending injury. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fourth-accident-at-the-broadway-show-spiderman-turn-off-the-dark/564963/71 "2010-12-23T17:16:48Z")
Julie Taymor has a reputation for throwing everything at the wall and hoping something sticks. Yes, Lion King worked, but Spidy has a Telfon wall. ANYONE is fucks up on Broadway is blacklisted. Period. I betcha a zillion dollars Taymor never works in this town again. ETA: Most theatre people negotiate a “play or pay” contract, meaning they get paid for a minimum amount of time regardless of whether the show goes on. So closing a show doesn’t cut many losses. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fourth-accident-at-the-broadway-show-spiderman-turn-off-the-dark/564963/72 "2010-12-23T17:30:54Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > ANYONE is fucks up on Broadway is blacklisted. Period. I betcha a zillion dollars Taymor never works in this town again. I’m not a fan of hers and I think she’s responsible for a lot of what’s going on here, but do you really believe this? You don’t think any producer is going to want to hire her even though The Lion King is one of the longest running shows ever and has toured the world? How much money did the producers of that thing make? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fourth-accident-at-the-broadway-show-spiderman-turn-off-the-dark/564963/73 "2010-12-23T17:35:06Z")
I do. If she does get another show, the insurance rates will be astronomical. Unless they invest in the show, producers make a salary like everyone else. I think the Disney people have made a fortune, and Elton John and Tim Rice have made a bundle from the grand rights (monies paid to the composer and lyricist every time the songs are used). ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fourth-accident-at-the-broadway-show-spiderman-turn-off-the-dark/564963/74 "2010-12-23T17:35:46Z")
Annie-Xmas - ‘play or pay’ contracts mean that the actors are paid even if the show closes early. The theatre staff, stagehands and musicians, however, are not on such contracts, and their costs may well out-weigh the disadvantage of paying off the actors for closing the show early. There are accountants whose job it is to calculate the exact tip-over point between ‘unsuccessful yet viable’ and ‘past the point of diminishing returns.’ However, this is looking like there are four different performers with a damn good reason to sue, and if those suits are successful, the producers may wish they’d folded at $67 million. It seems to me “[Anna Karenina!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Karenina_(musical))”, the musical, closed after 46 performances. Not even a full 6 weeks… ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fourth-accident-at-the-broadway-show-spiderman-turn-off-the-dark/564963/75 "2010-12-23T17:38:26Z")
Ignorance fought. The four performers who were injured are set for life (one of them snapped the top off of both of his wrist bones. I did it with my left (non-dominant) hand back in March, and I cannot image how it would be to do it to both of them). ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fourth-accident-at-the-broadway-show-spiderman-turn-off-the-dark/564963/76 "2010-12-23T17:44:44Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > ETA: Most theatre people negotiate a “play or pay” contract, meaning they get paid for a minimum amount of time regardless of whether the show goes on. Even if the show is bankrupt? Where does the money come from. Insurance? ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fourth-accident-at-the-broadway-show-spiderman-turn-off-the-dark/564963/77 "2010-12-23T17:54:14Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Even if the show is bankrupt? Where does the money come from. Insurance? I do not know the specifics of the Broadway system; it may be different. In Canada, the producers must post a bond with Canadian Actors’ Equity Association and depending on the exact nature of the contract, the bond will provide for payment of an agreed-upon period. For most Canadian theatre, the rehearsal + performance period is around 6 to 8 weeks, and the bond covers all of it. (If a major theatre producer like Stratford Festival or Manitoba Theatre Centre were to actually go bankrupt, we’d all be so FUBAR that the bond wouldn’t make a very big difference anyway!) Long running shows like Les Miserables and Phantom had provisions for a month’s closure, if I remember correctly. At any rate, posting the bond is another expense assumed by the producers, and that money is held so that the actors are paid despite a production company’s bankruptcy. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fourth-accident-at-the-broadway-show-spiderman-turn-off-the-dark/564963/78 "2010-12-23T17:58:23Z")
NM ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fourth-accident-at-the-broadway-show-spiderman-turn-off-the-dark/564963/79 "2010-12-23T18:06:25Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > I do not know the specifics of the Broadway system; it may be different. In Canada, the producers must post a bond with Canadian Actors’ Equity Association and depending on the exact nature of the contract, the bond will provide for payment of an agreed-upon period. A surety bond. That makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fourth-accident-at-the-broadway-show-spiderman-turn-off-the-dark/564963/80 "2010-12-23T18:22:19Z")
Heh. Sort of a shame that Taymor is screwing up so very, very badly here. I haven’t seen her Broadway work, but I quite liked _Titus_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fourth-accident-at-the-broadway-show-spiderman-turn-off-the-dark/564963.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fourth-accident-at-the-broadway-show-spiderman-turn-off-the-dark/564963.md?page=5)