Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

The theatre has been a popular form of performance for hundreds of years, so it's no wonder that a hugely popular character like Spider-Man would eventually find himself on stage. Enter Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Plagued by injuries for much of its run, Turn Off the Dark is an interesting take on Spidey's origins and story. Unfortunately, there's really no synopses of the play online, other than Wikipedia's rather thorough entry. There were two versions of the play: the first - a critical failure - and the second - a revised, somewhat better version. That being said, we'll call the first version a "rough draft" and focus on the latter.

Oops! That wasn't supposed to happen!

According to Wikipedia, the play revolves around Peter Parker, a high-schooler at Midtown Manhattan High School in Queens, New York City, NY. Peter gives a report on the Greek goddess Arachne, whom Athena turned into the world's first spider. Peter lives with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben, next door to Mary Jane Watson (who has an abusive father), due to his parents' deaths in a plane crash. Peter is bitten at the OsCorp lab, gains his Spider-powers, fights Flash Thompson at school, wins the wrestling tournament.....a lot of these events sound familiar. In fact, the play seems to play out exactly like the film in many regards (all the way down to Mary Jane's girl-next-door status and abusive father). It can be said for the most part that the play is a close adaptation of the 2002 movie, itself mostly a close adaptation of the comics.

However, this is only the first act, and there are plenty of significant differences between the works. First off, Arachne? No. Spider-Woman takes on the alias Arachne, but the Greek goddess does not figure into the Spider-Man universe. Now, Marvel had a series running for a short time called Incredible Hercules which involved the Greek gods and goddesses, and Arachne did make an appearance. And since it's a Marvel comic, there is eventually a cross-over with Spider-Man and Arachne (specifically, volume 1 issue #138 and issue #139). By and large however, Arachne nor any Greek god(dess) for that matter, does not figure in at all in the Spider-Man origin/mythology. She does not encourage Peter to use his powers for good nor does she describe his costume to him.

Meanwhile, Peter comes home to find Uncle Ben has been murdered by a carjacker - a mix between the 2002 film (carjacker) and the comics (Peter comes home to find he was murdered - by a burglar) - yet the murderer is not somebody Peter let free (and therefore, there is no guilt). This is a glaring omission. Uncle Ben's death at the hands of somebody the webslinger could have stopped gives him a great deal of grief and is what motivates him to do good. It's real, reasonable, human motivation; in the play, he fights crime because he thinks it's a good idea? And Peter himself says the iconic adage, "With great power comes great responsibility" - neither an omniscient narrator nor his Uncle Ben.

Sorry Uncle Ben

Norman Osborn meanwhile has a wife, Emily, who was not in the 2002 film nor the original comics. She seems to have replaced Harry Osborn in the play - a significant character in the Spider-Man mythos, both in the 2002 film and the comics. Norman figures prominently in Act II (again, he doesn't come into play until after Peter has fought a number of bad guys in the original source material), forming the Sinister Six through experiments (which is not the origin of any of these villains in the source material).

Carnage? You're not supposed to be here....

There is a lot of focus on Peter and Mary Jane's relationship. with Peter proposing at one point and even giving up the Spider-Man identity. These events are spread out through the comics and the Green Goblin has already technically died at this point, so the chronology is off. The Goblin suspends Mary Jane from the Chrysler Building (not quite a bridge, but I'll take it; still not Gwen Stacy though) and Spider-Man comes to the rescue, successfully saving her while the Green Goblin accidentally kills himself - these two parts are close (enough) to the film to be considered close adaptation, though they're still changed significantly from the source material. Overall, the play begins as a very close adaptation to the 2002 film and the original comics, though it definitely loosens up and takes liberties as it progresses.

Useful Links:
http://www.playbillvault.com/Show/Detail/13708/Spider-Man-Turn-Off-the-Dark
http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=488485