NEW YORK - Producers of the Broadway musical "Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark" will likely be looking forward to Monday: They'll be happy to turn their back on a torrid week.
The $65 million musical was loudly booed on Monday night by professional critics impatient by the endless delays with the stunt-heavy show. Breaking with tradition, reviewers weighed in while the show is still in previews, calling it "a shrill, insipid mess" (The Washington Post) and likely to "rank among the worst" musicals of all time (The New York Times).
Then on Thursday night, as if to prove the Julie Taymor-directed show isn't yet fully ready with about a month to go before its official opening, another technical hiccup left actors playing the Green Goblin and Spider-Man hanging helplessly over the audience for several minutes.
Now comes word that the New York State Department of Labor has issued two safety violations against the Broadway musical. Citing an anonymous state official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to release the findings, The New York Times reported Saturday that the safety violations were related to accidents last year.
The official said one violation involved an actor who fell more than 20 feet during a performance; the other was related to two performers injured while rehearsing a stunt in which cast members are catapulted from the back to the front of the stage.
No financial penalties have been imposed on the production, but state safety officials will perform surprise inspections from now on, the official said. Further violations could lead to the withdrawal of variances issued last year allowing aerial stunts that involve Spider-Man and the other characters.
Show spokesman Rick Miramontez told The Associated Press in an e-mail early Sunday: "The production is in full compliance of DOL guidelines and will continue to work with state officials to maintain the highest safety standards at all times."
Labor Department spokesman Leo Rosales did not immediately respond to requests for comment by the AP on Saturday.
The effect of all this bad news may be evident when box office figures are announced Monday. But, so far, the musical's woes haven't hurt its weekly revenues, and it's enjoying a mostly sold-out run since beginning performances in November.
But four delays in its official launch, a record-breaking preview period and the fact that full prices are being charged at the box office prompted critics from Variety to the New York Post to see the show and give their assessments Monday night. They were not kind, lambasting the storytelling, the stunts and the music. (The Associated Press is waiting to review it until the March 15 opening day.)
The show, which boasts songs by U2's Bono and The Edge, has generated news stories after sending several performers to the hospital, including Spider-Man actor Christopher Tierney, who fell 35 feet during a performance when a safety harness failed and suffered a skull fracture and cracked vertebrae.
The list of others hurt include Natalie Mendoza, a lead actress who dropped out after she suffered a concussion backstage, and earlier injuries to a few performers who suffered broken wrists and ankles as they were hurled at 40 mph over the orchestra seats.
After Tierney's tumble, the show was permitted to continue with its nearly 40 aerial stunts intact, but the Department of Labor added new safety measures. Among them: a requirement that a second person ensure the harnesses used by performers have been put on properly.
As for the delay in Thursday's show, producers blamed new safety protocols for the mishap. "The aerial mechanisms have been outfitted with state-of-the-art safety technology that automatically stops if a performer is even a tiny bit off-course," Miramontez said. "While the ultimate goal is to minimize these stoppages, the production is not going to do so at the risk of the cast."
