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Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is aiming to change all that with a U2-fueled pajama romp that's costing more than you and your children will ever make in your entire lives. It's ambitious, but hardly the first time that music and nerdity were united, for good or ill. And while none of these showstoppers were actually considered for any Tonys, they all show one thing: geeks are ambitious. Here's a selection of the shows that took their inspiration from the darkest corners of the midnight movie indie theaters and comic store shelves!
10) Silence of the Lambs
Hannibal Lecter, Clarice Starling, and that old mangina-sporting son-of-a-gun Buffalo Bill actually worked themselves into an award-winning New York Fringe Fest musical in 2005, with songs like "Are You About a Size 14?" and "Put the Lotion in the Fucking Basket!" Songsmiths Jon and Al Kaplan put the hit Off-Off-Broadway together as an internet lark that evolved into a show that took the Fringe's "Outstanding Musical" award. Fans of the gory film will be happy to catch the live show in January 2010, when SILENCE! The Musical (the show's full name) opens for a month-long run at London's Above the Stag Theater.
9) The Last Starfighter
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8) Captain America and Ragnarok (tie)
Proving that this list isn't in order of importance, the Captain America and Thor musicals didn't even get past the scripting and scoring phases, but they prove what happened in the past when Marvel wanted to bring tights and capes to the Great White Way. Captain America sticks out in fans' minds thanks to a casting notice published in Marvel comics in the mid-'80s. Not for a dashing tenor who could handle the Captain America lead, but for a little girl who was Cap's special companion. Music was provided by Mel Mandell and Norman Sacks, both of whom you wouldn't know unless you knew Off-Broadway musical theater. Ragnarok was a Stan Lee-penned take on Thor and the gods of Valhalla, done to music. It never got out of the pre-planning stages, but it was meant to be a feel-good romp, a la Godspell. Except with no Jesus.
7) Reefer Madness
Reefer Madness is the only show on the list to be a cult film first, a musical second, and a cult film again third. Originally meant as a scare film to keep kids off the grass, it amassed a huge underground following amongst generation after generation of college students who thought the idea of laughing at propaganda was awesome. So, it was turned into a musical by authors Kevin Murphy and Dan Studney in 1998. The smash "hit" traveled from LA to New York, where the cast was headed up by none other than Veronica Mars herself, Kristen Bell. Bell stayed with the show when it was adapted into a Showtime television movie with Alan Cumming, Ana Gasteyer, and Neve Campbell, and both the DVD and CD can be easily purchased from Amazon.
6) Evil Dead
Shows like Silence of the Lambs may have only played a few festivals, and Ragnarok never got off Stan Lee's word processor, but the 2003 Evil Dead musical has been staged around the world by dozens of companies. All the humor and carnage of the Sam Raimi original are left intact, including the evil hand, the chainsaw hand, and the boom stick, accompanied by catchy tunes like "Do the Necronomicon" and "What the Fuck Was That?" And like any self-respecting Raimi tribute, there's blood. Tons of it. In fact, audiences are encouraged to shield themselves with plastic if they sit in the front few rows, as that is designated the "Splatter Zone." And this wasn't just some fly-under-the-radar gig, the soundtrack debuted at #4 on the Billboard Show charts!
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