‘Law & Order’ episode feels the pain of Broadway’s ‘Spider-Man’ musical

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‘A money-sucking catastrophe.’ ‘A career-ender.’ ‘The laughingstock of Broadway.’ All of these descriptions could justifiably be applied to the stage musical ‘Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.’ But they are actually verbatim criticisms leveled at ‘Icarus,’ the fictional Broadway musical at the heart of the latest episode of ‘Law & Order: Criminal Intent.’

Sunday’s episode, which aired on the USA Network, was loosely inspired by the numerous production problems plaguing ‘Spider-Man’ in the months leading up to its opening. The creative mind behind the acrobatic ‘Icarus’ is a Julie Taymor surrogate named Amanda Rollins, a stage auteur played by Cynthia Nixon, whose artistic perfectionism has alienated her creative team.

‘Icarus’ is a technically complicated rock musical featuring a score by a character named Alex Winter (Eion Bailey). The production, which is based on the Greek myth of a boy who flies too close to the sun, has been in previews for six months with no opening date in sight, and has already experienced a number of cast injuries.

Things go from bad to worse during a preview performance when the leading man suffers a fatal accident during a flying sequence. The suspicion of foul play leads to an investigation by Dets. Robert Goren and Alex Eames (Vincent D’Onofrio and Kathyrn Erbe). Rollins ends up as a police suspect -- an indignity that Taymor never had to endure -- along with the show’s producer, Evan Korman (Christopher McDonald), and resident dramaturge (Michael Panes).

Theater fans will no doubt have fun playing connect-the-dots between the fictional musical and the real-life drama behind ‘Spider-Man.’ Here are some of the main character parallels between ‘Spider-Man’ fact and ‘Law & Order’ fiction, all spoiler-free:

‘Amanda Rollins’ vs. Julie Taymor: The episode gives Rollins a number of Taymor’s traits, including a keen personal interest in the classics and a controlling work style (‘She does what she wants’). At one point, someone notes that Rollins’ last movie was a box-office bomb; Taymor’s film adaptation of ‘The Tempest’ was received poorly when it was released last year.

‘Adam Winter’ vs. Bono: The aloof, pretentious composer of ‘Icarus’ is a rock star named Adam Winter, whose working relationship with his director has frayed beyond all repair. Bono, who wrote the songs for ‘Spider-man’ with U2 bandmate the Edge, clashed repeatedly with Taymor and was ultimately instrumental in her departure from the musical.

‘Evan Korman’ vs. Jeremiah H. Harris: The producer behind ‘Icarus’ is a career-long Broadway impresario whose father was a legendary theater producer. In real life, Harris has been working as a producer on Broadway for more than 30 years and is the son of Joseph Harris, the well-known New York stage producer and manager.

‘Michael DeWitt’ vs. Ben Brantley: In the episode, a critic from the New York Times is invited to sit in during a preview performance of ‘Icarus.’ Normally, critics aren’t invited to attend previews on Broadway, though sometimes a newspaper will send one at its own expense. Brantley has reviewed ‘Spider-Man’ twice for the New York Times, once in February and again this month when the show finally opened. Both reviews were negative.

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-- David Ng