Friday, November 11, 2011

A Day of Wow...


Deadly Sins was all I hoped it would be. Cheesy sides and a constrant stream of dark haired women in their 20s. I did my best at being myself on camera. That is all I can do.
Afterwards, I went and grabbed Spiderman-Turn Off That Hot Tranny Mess rush tickets for Jeffrey and I.
Time killing in Manhattan with Jeffrey means lots of walking. I've been wearing myself to the bone lately, and I was thankful for the moments those long legs of his would stand still!
And then on to Spiderpig.
It was better than I thought it would be, but ultimately, it never felt like it had a mutli million dollar price tag. It felt more like an amusement park stunt show. The little boys behind me loved it, but it never really operated on an adult level.
Design wise, it felt confused. It started off fairly abstract. Lots of forced perspective and sketched out 2d items (which made both Jeffrey and I think of Reefer Madness!). The costumes weaved in and out of reality and several different comic book styles. I will never understand the impetus to put pretty, young things in unflattering costumes. Whether it is for style or God know what reason. Musical Theatre is not reality. There were also some heinous wigs. Yes, it is a comic book, but it was up to the design team to make it look like a real world, even if it was stylized. They ultimately failed. No one world ever really materialized in any of the designs. Costumes were super Halloween costumey and sets were often too flimsy for use. (And the costumes for the Sinister Six were super bad. They looked like bad team mascots. As a graduate of the University of Tulsa I know all about bad team mascots...Just google Captain Cane.)
Reeve Carney as Peter Parker: he was better after he became Spidey tastic and could rock it out. His acting and his singing were weak as nerdy Peter Parker. He did much better when he could emo kid rock it out in his angsty little skinny jeans.
Rebecca Faulkenberry was on her first night as Mary Jane, and you could tell. Her acting was better than Carney's (not hard to do) but she was slow catching her stride. Just about every song was pitchy in the beginning (Unlike the chorus, who was pitchy throughout.) Once she got her stride, she rocked out. She just had to trip a few times first. (Shame on whoever dressed her constantly in unflattering pink things. What were they thinking?)
I'm not sure why TV Carpio's character was even kept in the show. Probably just to use the wires more. She did a decent job. All she had to was sing and hang. Vocally she was good, but half the time you didn't even see her face. Really, Arachne needs to be played by Bijork. Weird hanging Spidey lady guiding emo little Pete- definitely Bijork territory.
Patrick Page was the saving grace of the show. As Dr. Osbourne and the Green Goblin, he surpassed everyone else on stage. Though his comedic green "Splat" death was anti-climactic, he was fabulous. With some fabulous acting chops and a super awesome low rumbly voice, he even managed to command the stage during the most ludicrous plot points. He really needs to play Sweeney Todd. Swing that razor high, Patrick!
The choreo was a mix of modern and music video but it was never really that exciting. nir was the flying. Or the music. (Sorry Bono. I didn't come singing Spiderman. I was still singing Pal Joey from the night before.)
It could have been cool. It was sadly safe and unaffective. The entire show could have benefitted from staying away from some of the tricks and actually focusing on a plot. And cutting out the sinister six college mascots. Swiss Miss, Swarm, the Lizard, Electro, Kraven, and Carnage are just laughable. All in all, I would rather have been next door seeing Frank Langella in Man and Boy. Or quite a few other things.

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