Spider-Man, the Musical

By Connect2Mason Columnist Greg Pelkofski

Does anyone remember the old Spider-Man theme song from the 60’s? You know, the one that goes “Spider-Man, Spider-Man does whatever a spider can.” Can you imagine it as the main theme to a Broadway musical?

Yes George Mason, there is a Spider-Man Broadway musical underway. “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,” to be precise, is set to come out one year from now. The show will feature lyrics and music by Bono and The Edge from U2. I’m not sure if the old theme song will be a part of the show, but how can it not?

Marvel.com says that the play will trace our hero’s origin from a wimpy high school geek to a hero with amazing powers. Marvel does not reveal the exact plot of the show, but they do say that there will be “new characters as well as familiar faces.”

My reaction was something along the lines of “Why are they making a Spider-Man musical?! Who in their right mind thought this was a good idea?” But if I was in New York and this happened to be playing at the same time, I would have to go see it. You just don’t say no when asked to see the Spider-Man musical.

Origin stories are fine; I mean, you have to start somewhere. But the main question on my mind is this: who is the villain? After all, Spider-Man has an entire rogues gallery of villains to choose from: Sandman, Dr. Octopus, Green Goblin, Mysterio, Venom, Hobgoblin, Kingpin, Electro, and many others. The Green Goblin and Dr. Octopus would be the obvious choices, but would probably follow the movies a little too closely.

As for who will play Spider-Man/Peter Parker, why not Hugh Jackman? In the Oscars he showed us he can sing and dance, plus he’s done Broadway plays before. At the very least he needs to make a cameo appearance as Wolverine.

If you want to know more about the Spider-Man musical, go to http://spidermanonbroadway.marvel.com/.