The New York Times reporter Micahel Riedal managed to finagle a ticket to a preview for the Spider-Man musical intended for representatives from ticket sales outlets and is impressed by the scale of what he saw: “The sets, drawings of which were on display, are brightly colored and enormous. The Chrysler Building, the Brooklyn Bridge and The Daily Bugle Building all figure prominently, their perspective skewed to match Spider-Man's shifting viewpoint as he soars through the city."
He also reveals that Spider-Man clashes with “a parade of Marvel villains - Green Goblin, Carnage, Electro, Rhino, Swarm and Lizard,” and that the writers have “invented a new baddie for the show – Swiss Miss, whose costume, designed by Oscar winner Eiko Ishioka (Bram Stoker's Dracula), consists of rotating knives and swirling corkscrews.”
He was also treated to six songs from the show, written U2’s Bono and The Edge, “including the haunting ‘Rise Above’, which is as good as any rock ballad in Rent. The kid who sang that song, Reeve Carney, fluttered the hearts of all ladies in the auditorium. He seemed to have impressed Bono as well, and is said to be the leading contender to play Peter Parker.”
He warns us, though, that the show’s creators don’t want to market it as a musical: "In fact, its director, Julie Taymor, who staged The Lion King, recently warned a group of theater insiders to steer clear of the word ‘musical’. Spider-Man, she added, ‘is not going to sing and dance in tights.’ A better description of her show, she suggested, is a ‘circus rock-'n'-roll drama’."
