Spider-Man Musical Slightly Better Than Sarah Palin

By Rachel Hwang

Here’s yet another example of the entertainment industry not knowing when to quit.

Spider-Man comics? Awesome. Spider-Man movies? Also awesome. Spider-Man action figures, birthday cakes, stickers, lunchboxes, and T-shirts? Comes with the franchise. But a Spider-Man musical? Really now, that’s a bit much.

If you’ve ever seen the Star Wars Holiday Special, you know that a well established franchise, however large its fan base, can go horribly awry when the producers go one step too kitschy. Nevertheless, Marvel has decided to blow past these concerns and go ahead with the idea. On Broadway, no less.

And just as I predicted, there were immediate complaints about the show’s divergence from the original Spider-Man storyline. Dear producers, one thing you should know, if you’re going to try to repackage a much beloved fantasy universe into a medium in which it probably does not belong, you ought to at least stick to what’s worked before. As in the canon.

That being said, you can’t take two popular ideas, in this case Broadway and superheroes, and cobble them together into something that’s guaranteed to sell. I mean look at Sarah Palin: screwball comedy (if not intentional on her part) and national politics. Did that sell well? Not so much.

Tags: Broadway, Musical, sarah palin, spider man