Late-night TV shows join in the ‘Spider-Man’ musical frenzy
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It’s still more than a month before ‘Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” opens on Broadway Jan. 11, but print news outlets seem to be having a heyday with their reports (or reviews?) on the preview performance glitches, exorbitant cost (reportedly $65 million and counting), problems with the book and several cast injuries.
TV news soon followed, starting with a ‘60 Minutes’ behind-the-scenes segment, then various reports from the ‘Today’ show and others. Seems as if everyone wants a piece of the musical. And now that includes the late-night shows, with Jimmy Kimmel, Conan O’Brien and others joining the news media, bloggers, tweeters and others in the free-for-all.
The latest to take on “Spider-Man” is “Saturday Night Live,” which included a bit on “Weekend Update.”
When Conan O’Brien weighed in with an ‘exclusive preview’ performance...
... the show’s producers reportedly sent flowers to Team Coco, with the attached message: ‘We hope you enjoy the flowers. It was cheaper than a cease-and-desist.’
A spokesman for the musical insisted to Culture Monster on Saturday that: ‘The flowers were absolutely sent to Conan with affection (they were expensive flowers!), and we can’t wait for him to see the show (we’ll roll out the red carpet). And we’ll send him the REAL Spider-Man to appear on HIS show (the guy he’s got can’t sing!)’
Here’s Jimmy Kimmel’s take (about 6.5 minutes in).
So with about five weeks to go, one has to wonder: Will there be anything left to say when the curtain rises on opening night?
--Lisa Fung
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Top photo: ‘Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.’ Credit: Jacob Cohl / The O and M Co. / Associated Press