BWW TV: BACKSTAGE WITH RICHARD RIDGE: Talking With SPIDER-MAN's Lovebirds Reeve Carney & Jennifer Damiano

Welcome to the kick-off of BroadwayWorld's newest feature, and first-ever talk show, BACKSTAGE WITH RICHARD RIDGE.  Follow Richard as he visits Broadway's best and brightest in their Broadway dressing rooms to talk about their lives, careers and all of the things you don't know, but want to know.

The season begins with a unique joint chat with the lovebirds of SPIDER-MAN, Reeve Carney, who plays Peter Parker (aka Spider-Man) and Jennifer Diamiano who plays his object of his affection, Mary Jane Watson.

Crammed into Carney's cozy dressing room (selected small, intentionally), Richard gets the scoop from the pair on the SPIDER-MAN journey from inside the room, how the company dealt personally with the media circus, working with artistic icons Bono, Edge and Julie Taymor, and that kiss.

After years of delay, 70M+ in spending, casting and creative team do-overs, injuries and a Media Blitz unlike Broadway has ever seen before, SPIDER-MAN Turn Off the Dark opened at the Foxwoods Theatre on June 14, 2011. Carney and Damiano are joined onstage by T.V. Carpio as Arachne, Patrick Page as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, Michael Mulheren, Ken Marks, Isabel Keating, Jeb Brown, Matthew James Thomas, Laura Beth Wells, Matt Caplan, DWayne Clark, Luther Creek, Kevin Aubin, Gerald Avery,Collin Baja, Marcus Bellamy, Emmanuel Brown, Jessica Leigh Brown, Daniel Curry, Erin Elliott,Craig Henningsen, Dana Marie Ingraham, Ayo Jackson, Joshua Kobak, Megan Lewis, Ari Loeb, Natalie Lomonte, Kevin Loomis, Kristin Martin, Jodi McFadden, Bethany Moore, Kristen Faith Oei, Jennifer Christine Perry, Kyle Post, Brandon Rubendall, Sean Samuels, Dollar Tan, Joey Taranto, and Christopher W. Tierney.

The show features creative consultation by Philip William McKinley (The Boy From Oz), original direction by Tony® Award-winner Julie Taymor (The Lion King, Across The Universe, Frida), music and lyrics by 22- time Grammy® Award-winners Bono and The Edge, and book co-written by Taymor, Glen Berger (Underneath The Lintel) and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Fantastic Four and Spider-Man comics, "Big Love").

Inspired by over 40 years of Marvel comic books, SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark follows the story of teenager Peter Parker, whose unremarkable life is turned upside-down when he's bitten by a genetically altered spider and wakes up the next morning clinging to his bedroom ceiling. This bullied science-geek suddenly endowed with incredible powers soon learns, however, that with great power comes great responsibility as villains put both his physical strength and strength of character to the test. 

Richard Ridge fell in love with the theatre at the age of five when he went through his parents record cabinet and stumbled upon their original cast album collection and the rest is history.He has toured the world as a performer and for the past twenty years he has been the host of the television program Broadway Beat and now, BACKSTAGE WITH RICHARD RIDGE.

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