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The show started with the announcement, “Welcome ladies and gentlemen and all uninvited critics.”

The first noticeable difference was the opening. Originally, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark opened in the middle of a major action scene, which was cut very short and immediately dumped into the long origin story of Arachne. Now, instead of suffering through the emo-Greek Chorus, the first person we actually see on stage is Peter Parker!

He is reading his essay on Arachne, though, so we are thrown back into her origin scene from Spidey 1.0 and, unfortunately, the one cool bit of staging in the her scene malfunctioned so the weaving effect did not work. This Arachne portion was much shorter (maybe this show isn’t about her!) and we are quickly introduced to Peter’s high school life. There was more dialogue and attention given to the development of his relationship with Mary Jane Watson, a little more dialogue with Flash Thompson and even a mention of Liz Allan and Gwen Stacey.

The show started with the announcement, “Welcome ladies and gentlemen and all uninvited critics.”

They still take their school trip to Norman Osborn’s lab, which I am sad to say maintained its Spencer Gifts interior design theme. Patrick Page, who is indeed a very fine actor, blessedly dropped the previously annoying Foghorn Leghorn accent and I am happy to report that the Green Goblin is now the central villain! The new version has Norman throughout. Not only that, but he also has a direct tie-in to the Sinister Six, as he is the one who creates them.

Yes, yes I know. What the hell, right? This, in and of itself, is a crime against comic nature, but listen, the original version of this play was SO BAD, that any attempt to create a central theme, even a poorly written one, is welcome.