Reeve Carney, who plays the hero in the hit musical "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" and Robert Cuccioli, who currently plays the Green Goblin, put aside their substantial comic book differences Thursday—and apparently any sense of irony—to team up and offer tips about keeping kids safe this Halloween.
Flanked by four costumed villains from the show and representatives from the city's fire and police departments, the actors reminded parents to examine all Halloween candy and never eat any unwrapped treats, ensure children wear flame-retardant costumes and masks that never impeded their ability to see and hear, and avoid strangers or unfamiliar houses.
"We've had our differences. Unfortunately many of those played out in the public eye," said Cuccioli during the press conference outside the Foxwoods Theatre with Spider-Man. "But if there's one thing we can agree on, it's public safety, especially during Halloween."
The advice was somewhat comical coming from a show that had a rocky start safety-wise before it settled down to become one of Broadway's top earners and earning two Tony Award nominations.
Four of the show's "Sinister Six" milled about in full costume—ones that would make any trick-or-treater green with envy—including an actor playing the very unsafe-looking Swiss Miss, complete with rotating blades. The
Cuccioli joked that the reason Lizard and Electro were missing was the former had poor cellphone service in the sewer, and that the latter was probably "charging his Prius somewhere."
Asked what he was going to wear this Halloween, Cuccioli joked, "I'm going to go as a human."
It was all laughs on Thursday but during the production's inauspicious beginning in the fall of 2010, "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" was a scary place indeed. One actor, Christopher Tierney, suffered a fractured skull, a fractured shoulder blade, four broken ribs and three broken vertebrae during a fall onto the stage.
A lead actress, Natalie Mendoza, pulled out after she suffered a concussion when she was hit in the head offstage by rope. Her replacement, T.V. Carpio, later got whiplash when another performer toppled onto her.
And a stuntman claims he suffered a concussion, whiplash and two holes in his knees while performing as the comic book hero in the most expensive show in Broadway history.
At the end of the press conference, Carney, who has heroically been with the show since the beginning, revealed a new Halloween promotion: At all performances from Friday through Oct. 30, the first 50 audience members dressed as a character from the show will receive a free pair of tickets.
Follow Mark Kennedy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits