In news that comes as a surprise, the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark has announced that it will close in January after two and a half years of performances (and half a year of previews, a Broadway record). This is not the end of Spiderman: Turn off the Dark, as there is already talk of a Las Vegas production. The show just celebrated its thousandth performance earlier this month.

Spider-Man is notable for being the most expensive musical in Broadway’s history, capitalized at $75 million (more than double the previous record). In addition to that, Spider-man faced extremely high weekly operating costs, in excess of $1 million per week. Yet for a long time the show was up to the challenge, and actually was steadily making money, even though it would take about a decade to recoup its costs. It was usually in the top four shows every week, usually behind Wicked, Book of Mormon, and The Lion King.

But Spider-Man’s weekly revenue, while remaining high for a long time, has recently plummeted. It was in the exclusive Million Dollar Club every week except one up until this August, but has not returned since August. This last month it averaged less than $800,000 per week, which meant it was losing money.

Why did audiences desert Spider-Man? Chiefly because many more appealing shows opened last spring. Kinky Boots has replaced Spider-Man in the top four musicals every week, pulling in $1.6 million each week. Matilda and Pippin are also pulling in a million dollars a week, and there just wasn’t enough audience left for Spider-Man.

Spider-Man has been seen by two million people on Broadway, and has taken in over $200 million at the box office. It proved to be a popular choice for families with little boys, who have been under-served on Broadway lately (all the recent family shows were geared towards girls, like Annie, Matilda, and Cinderella). People went to see Spider-Man despite it being snubbed at the Tonys – it only got two nominations (Costumes and Scenic Design) and lost both. But Spider-Man’s lasting legacy may be its backstage drama – filled with copious injuries, many rewrites, and enough conflict to fill a recent book, The Song of Spiderman.

Are you sad to see Spider-Man close? Have you seen the show? If not, will you attempt to before January?

(Source)