Spider-Man on Broadway: Technical Problems Halt Preview Show 5 Times

(Nov. 29) -- The Spider-Man musical has been the talk of Broadway, and not all of it good. Costing $65 million, it's the most expensive show ever created, and the high-flying production has been beset by delays and injuries.

"Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" took off Sunday night with its first preview performance, and there were several glitches along the way. With nearly 2,000 in the audience at New York's Foxwoods Theater, the show was stopped five times because of technical problems, and the first act ended early, with Spidey hanging 10 feet above the audience, The New York Times reported.

Kathy Willens, AP

A giant banner covers the front of the Foxwoods Theater on 42nd street in New York City, where "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" had its first preview performance Sunday.

Act II was tarnished by a woman in the audience shouting in protest during one of the pauses.

"I don't know how everyone else feels, but I feel like a guinea pig today," the unidentified woman said, according to the Times. "I feel like it's a dress rehearsal."

Though previews aren't usually perfect, the New York Post called it an "epic flop," saying the show's "high-tech gadgetry went completely awry amid a dull score and baffling script." Audience members were ducking from falling equipment and dangling actors, the paper said.

A pause that came an hour into the second act saw some audience members get up and leave, the New York Daily News reported.

Still, the rock musical, created by Bono and the Edge of U2 and directed by Tony winner Julie Taymor, was a hit with many in the crowd despite the bumps.

"It was very exciting, especially for the kids. But I was just as excited," Gilda Schultz, at the show with her three daughters, told the Daily News.

The show had a midair fight scene between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin, which the Daily News said had theatergoers craning their necks to watch.

"It was really good," Andrew Shaffer, 32, told the paper. "I was pleasantly surprised."

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The Times, too, noted that most of the flying numbers went off as planned, delighting audience members. And there were no injuries, a concern because two performers were hurt earlier this fall during an aerial sequence, the newspaper reported.

The preview's biggest problem came during the end of Act I.

Spider-Man was supposed to fly off but got stuck in the air, swinging to and fro over the audience as crew members tried to grab his feet, the Post reported. Crew members tried to get him for about 45 seconds and called for intermission once they got him, the Times said.

With that break and all the pauses, Sunday night's preview spanned three hours and 40 minutes.