A Super Sized Soap Opera comes to an end.

By Ken Davenport

I don’t usually blog about every closing announcement that comes down the pike. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll tweet about one every now and then.

But this isn’t just any closing announcement.

This is Spider-Man‘s closing announcement.

That’s right, citizens of Gotham. The biggest musical Broadway has ever seen just announced that it will be closing its doors on January 4th. Don’t worry about our web-slingin’ superhero though, according to this article in The Times, he’ll be swinging soon enough in Vegas and Germany! (They love “The Hof” so why not Spidey?)

I would worry about the investors, who are starting to speak up about losses that could equal $60mm.

Yikes. What did lead producer, Michael Cohl, say about the SuperShow’s untimely demise?

Well, in continuing the honest leadership that earned him The Producer of The Year title two years ago, he quipped this . . .

I think the investors will eventually see something, but look, this is showbiz . . . it will be a long road and take a long time.

What went wrong? Well, we all know the size of the budget was more suited for a James Cameron movie than a Broadway musical. But what really went wrong was that the show just wasn’t that good. It survived as long as it did on the ginormous hype and press that it generated from . . . well, from being so damn big in the first place (Want press? Make the biggest of anything – skyscraper, ball of twine, musical – you’ll get press). But eventually the word of mouth caught up to it, as it always does. Spectacle can only get you so far. What you need for a hit is substance.

I hope Michael continues to produce on Broadway. He did an incredible job with what he inherited. And besides, he’s gotta be real smart to say stuff like this . . .