Yet another bump in the road for Broadway’s troubled Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark: New York City public advocate Bill de Blasio sent a letter to New York’s Department of Consumer Affairs, claiming that the show may be violating consumer protection laws. According to the Jan. 5 letter, Spider-Man could be fined for not clearly distinguishing when its preview performances end and its official shows begin. Blasio argued that consumers should be aware of the state of the show they are seeing, since prices for tickets could reach well into the hundreds. “At those prices, consumers deserve to know what they are purchasing, and there is a real difference between seeing an unfinished show in previews versus one that has officially opened. That many shows do not advertise that they are previews, either in promotions or at the point of ticket sales, is unacceptable.”
Rick Miramontez, a spokesperson for the production, issued the following statement to EW: “It seems that everyone in the world, with the exception of a few critics, is well aware of the fact that the show is still in previews. The preview period is an essential part of making any show, and it’s an exciting time to be in the audience. It is also very clear and well documented that our opening night is Feb. 7.”Â
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whats the difference between the preview shows and official shows? Are the preview shows only a few songs or something?
preview shows can start and stop to make technical adjustments, if necessary.
Once a show opens officially it generally “freezes” meaning that everything will be consistently the same from night to night, in previews they can add or cut songs, change choreography etc, etc, etc
They should charge less for preview performances since the show is usually NOT a finished production.
Yeah – I agree Barry!
Korri – a show in previews is basically a “work in progress” – producers may chance lyrics, dialogue, or staging. These kinds of changes, usually minor, are made until the offical opening, which is when the critics can formally review the show. Seeing a preview is like seeing a polished dress rehearsal. Some people like that, while others prefer to wait until the reviews are in.
There are 40% off offers on websites like broadwaybox.com for all the previews for Spiderman, while still expensive, its a considerable reduction, thats how i saw it
The discounted seats are pretty crappy location wise.
i was in the 6th row on the aisle, wasnt crappy at all, the show was, but not the seats
They need the revenue for hospital expenses…
everytime they pushed back the opening date of the show there were articles from pretty every major news source (NY Times, CNN, etc) as well as on Broadway-focused websites. If people really don’t know when the show is opening (and therefore that every show before opening is a preview), then it’s their own fault. Yes, their preview period is especially long and I can understand some people being annoyed if they bought tickets for a date thinking it would be for a non-preview performance, but the information is out there if people want to find it.
Count me in the crowd that didn’t know it was a preview. Yeah…I’d feel cheated.
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