STAGE TUBE: Behind the Scenes of SPIDER-MAN's Page 6 Shoot

Among serious doubts about the premiere next week and today's news that director Julie Taymor is out the door, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark's stars Reeve Carney and Jennifer Damiano speak out in Page Six Magazine, free inside the New York Post tomorrow. The two defend Taymor, and comment on the bad reviews and the on-stage accidents.

On the cover, Carney and Damiano pose in a steamy embrace, entangled in the set's spider web wires. In another photo, Carney sits, seemingly exasperated by the bad press, on a stack of newspapers. The stars sat for the frank interview with Alison Prato and posed for photographer Rony Shram.

On Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, the musical:

Carney:
"I like pieces of art that unfold over time. Which is why I like this show, even though it is a little confusing. I know some of the reviews have been, ‘I don't understand the plot,' but I think that's kinda nice. Art to me is something that arrests you rather than pulls you in and forces you to listen." 

Damiano:
"I do believe that this is an important story. I mean, it's Spider-Man. He's the greatest superhero. It's a love story. It's New York City. The proof is in the kids' faces. Teenagers, too, are responding to the love. When the audience watches them fly, there's something really beautiful about that. They're letting themselves enjoy what we're giving them, instead of thinking, ‘Well, that could've been done this way.' Some people want to jump on the bandwagon of just not being a fan, but I don't see the point of that. No matter what, we're making history. And the show is running every night, which is something not everybody thought would happen."

"If there's something in the air about the audiences not being happy, it gets hard. I'm a pretty vulnerable person. I get affected easily, and I lose my confidence every now and then. But I have to convince myself of the importance of what I'm doing. Every single night is another chance to get it more right. I'm always saying, ‘The show must go on.' And it does."

On bad reviews:

Carney: 
"One of the biggest lies actors say is that they don't read their reviews, but I honestly don't. I used to, and it messes with you. We're all sensitive artists, and one person's having a bad day and then they write something ..."

Damiano:
"I know [the reviews] were all pretty negative, but I think people are coming with a lot of expectations. They want to know where the money went. If you're gonna come in with that mindset-if you don't want to enjoy a show-you're gonna leave saying, ‘What was the point of that?'"

On set safety, after several cast accidents:

Carney:

"It can be a little bit unnerving at times when you're hanging upside down 70 feet in the air, but you just have to have trust," he says. "I do think the systems are very safe. I've studied them. Even if power shuts off, you wouldn't just suddenly drop."

Damiano:

"I'm a person of very high anxiety, so I'm truly being tested here. But I've always trusted my wires. I have the biggest dudes I've ever seen waiting for me to come back down. It's not that we don't feel safe, because we do-it's people telling us we don't feel safe. People fly on stages all the time."

"It was hard when [the accident] happened with Chris [Tierney]. Everyone's mind spun a little bit out of control. But if you let your mind go to that place, you won't be able to perform."

Carney reveals that he expects Christopher Tierney, who in December 2010 fell nearly 30 feet into the orchestra pit, suffering a fractured skull, a broken scapula, a broken elbow, four broken ribs, a bruised lung and three fractured vertebrae, to return to the show:

"Chris is doing really well. I just hope he gets back in the show soon."

Defending Julie Taymor:

Carney:

"Julie's like a fairy godmother. She's very open with me, and I'm open with her, too. We seem to understand each other. Sometimes it's been a hard process, and there have been a lot of changes, but I know she really cares about me."

Damiano:

"I guess she has [been portrayed as hard in the media], but I respond really well to her energy. I love her sort of never-ending process. A lot of people have beef with it because it's been taking so long, but that's because [the show] needs the time to be what [she] knows it can be. She's no B.S."

Carney on relationships:

"I don't have a girlfriend," he says, blushing slightly. "This show, man, it's been so intense. Most of my downtime is after midnight, which makes it challenging to develop any sort of relationships with women."

"If you're calling someone after midnight, what exactly are they thinking? But I love girls. New York women have a certain confidence that's specific to New York, which is nice. Hopefully one of these days I'll have time to meet some of them."

Check out the entire interview with the Spider-Man stars on Thursday, March 10 in Page Six Magazine, free inside the New York Post and at http://pagesixmag.com.

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Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos