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Glenn Beck Weighs in on ‘Spider-Man’
By PATRICK HEALY
Radio host, novelist, thriller-writer’s friend, sure. But Glenn Beck, theater critic?
Mr. Beck, the conservative commentator, gave a boffo review on Wednesday to the new Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” and railed against theater critics - adopting a French accent as he mimicked them - during his talk radio show, “The Glenn Beck Program,” which is reported to reach more than six million listeners. (A spokesman for ‘Spider-Man’ said on Wednesday that Mr. Beck was not an investor in the show.)
“This is better than ‘Wicked’!” Mr. Beck said, referring to the long-running hit musical on Broadway about the witches of Oz. He also referred to “Spider-Man” as the 21st century equivalent of “The Phantom of the Opera,” a decades-long hit on Broadway, as he continued:
“After you couldn’t get a ticket to ‘Spider-Man’ and you’ve offered a kidney for it, go see ‘Wicked.’ I mean, you’ve got two kidneys. Don’t give both kidneys up - go see ‘Wicked’ before you give both kidneys. But give a kidney to go see ‘Spider-Man.’ I’m telling you, mark my words, it’s being panned right now, nobody’s saying good stuff about it. I’m telling you, you go buy your ticket - you buy your ticket now, if you’re thinking about coming to New York, because when this thing opens and it’s starting to run, you will not be able to get tickets to this for a year. This is one of those shows, this is the ‘Phantom’ of the 21st century. This is history of Broadway being made. I sat next to the casting director, by chance, and I said, ‘You, sir, are part of history.’”
The audio clips of Mr. Beck can be found on website of Media Matters, an organization financed by wealthy liberal donors that examines media coverage.
Mr. Beck, who said he saw the show on Saturday, also praised the musical’s kooky portrayal of scientists who are preoccupied with global warming, such as Norman Osborn, whose experiments mixing human D.N.A. with that of spiders help trigger the main plot of the show. And Mr. Beck offered his theory on why some theater critics have written negative reviews of the show - which is still in previews - so far.
“One reason ‘Spider-Man’ is being panned,” he began, upon which he assumed a French accent, “‘Well, it’s not, well this isn’t theater! It’s music by Bono! Who is Bono? Of course he does a lot of charity which I like, I think he was down in Haiti, but he’s still rock!’”
Returning to his normal voice, Mr. Beck added, “And then you have, it’s a comic book character, and too much action and flying around and they’re trying to cheapen the theater by spending 50 million dollars. So you have all the snotty stuff that regular Americans won’t understand.”
Source
In case the universe was worried I didn't dislike this schmuck enough, now we have safely established he has crappy taste in theater. No offense to Phantom.
By PATRICK HEALY
Radio host, novelist, thriller-writer’s friend, sure. But Glenn Beck, theater critic?
Mr. Beck, the conservative commentator, gave a boffo review on Wednesday to the new Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” and railed against theater critics - adopting a French accent as he mimicked them - during his talk radio show, “The Glenn Beck Program,” which is reported to reach more than six million listeners. (A spokesman for ‘Spider-Man’ said on Wednesday that Mr. Beck was not an investor in the show.)
“This is better than ‘Wicked’!” Mr. Beck said, referring to the long-running hit musical on Broadway about the witches of Oz. He also referred to “Spider-Man” as the 21st century equivalent of “The Phantom of the Opera,” a decades-long hit on Broadway, as he continued:
“After you couldn’t get a ticket to ‘Spider-Man’ and you’ve offered a kidney for it, go see ‘Wicked.’ I mean, you’ve got two kidneys. Don’t give both kidneys up - go see ‘Wicked’ before you give both kidneys. But give a kidney to go see ‘Spider-Man.’ I’m telling you, mark my words, it’s being panned right now, nobody’s saying good stuff about it. I’m telling you, you go buy your ticket - you buy your ticket now, if you’re thinking about coming to New York, because when this thing opens and it’s starting to run, you will not be able to get tickets to this for a year. This is one of those shows, this is the ‘Phantom’ of the 21st century. This is history of Broadway being made. I sat next to the casting director, by chance, and I said, ‘You, sir, are part of history.’”
The audio clips of Mr. Beck can be found on website of Media Matters, an organization financed by wealthy liberal donors that examines media coverage.
Mr. Beck, who said he saw the show on Saturday, also praised the musical’s kooky portrayal of scientists who are preoccupied with global warming, such as Norman Osborn, whose experiments mixing human D.N.A. with that of spiders help trigger the main plot of the show. And Mr. Beck offered his theory on why some theater critics have written negative reviews of the show - which is still in previews - so far.
“One reason ‘Spider-Man’ is being panned,” he began, upon which he assumed a French accent, “‘Well, it’s not, well this isn’t theater! It’s music by Bono! Who is Bono? Of course he does a lot of charity which I like, I think he was down in Haiti, but he’s still rock!’”
Returning to his normal voice, Mr. Beck added, “And then you have, it’s a comic book character, and too much action and flying around and they’re trying to cheapen the theater by spending 50 million dollars. So you have all the snotty stuff that regular Americans won’t understand.”
Source
In case the universe was worried I didn't dislike this schmuck enough, now we have safely established he has crappy taste in theater. No offense to Phantom.