Most previews for a Broadway show

Climbing higher and higher, and logging in with 182 previews - i.e., performances before an official opening - “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” catapulted way over the previous record for previews (Jackie Mason - 97 previews for “A Teaspoon Every Four Hours” in 1969; and the ignominious “Let My People Come”, an off-color musical which played 128 performances on Broadway but never officially opened). The show was in previews from 28 November 2010 until its official opening, 14 June 2011 - too late for consideration for Tony Awards that season. This six-month-plus time span included a three-week hiatus to completely rework the script and add some new songs after legendary director Julie Taymor (known for “The Lion King”) was fired. The show was the talk of not only the Broadway theatre season but quite literally the "Talk of the Town", as not even the all-star team of Taymor and the composers and lyricists - a couple of rock legends by the names of U2's Bono and The Edge - could speed up the flight to the opening. There may also be a record for more casualties in a Broadway show as one of the female stars was hit by a pipe and sadly had to leave the cast, and a stunt man (Christopher Tierney) fell 30 feet down through an opening in the stage and was taken by ambulance to (Bellevue) Hospital where he was admitted, yet he gamely returned to the show in April 2011. And on numerous occasions Spider-Man himself, while flying over an anxious audience, got caught up in his own web, suspended as the wiring malfunctioned, leaving him dangling over the orchestra (stalls for the UK and Commonwealth editions). In the very first preview, the show was stopped five times due to technical mishaps, including the first time of many that Spider-Man got stranded in mid-air, leaving stage hands to save the superhero while the audience looked on. A new director, Philip William McKinley, was brought in to revamp the show and the production finally opened. Though panned by the critics, negative reviews have not diminished the size of audiences. It seems that the show will be flying over Broadway for years to come…