Glenn Beck Loves 'Spider-Man,' Hates Critics

Finally, some good news for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark! Conservative TV and radio host Glenn Beck praised the new Broadway musical on his talk radio show today. "This is the best show I've ever seen, bar none. Heads and shoulders above anything else," Beck said. He then adopted a French accent to mock theater critics and the "New York elite" who just don't understand the brilliance of the show because Bono wrote it -- and he writes rock songs, not musical theater. Or something.

Beck said on "The Glenn Beck Program":

"This is better than Wicked... After you couldn't get a ticket to Spider-Man and you've offered a kidney for it, go see Wicked. I mean, you've got two kidneys. Don’t give both kidneys up -- go see Wicked before you give both kidneys. But give a kidney to go see Spider-Man. I'm telling you, mark my words, it’s being panned right now, nobody's saying good stuff about it. I'm telling you, you go buy your ticket -- you buy your ticket now, if you're thinking about coming to New York, because when this thing opens and it's starting to run, you will not be able to get tickets to this for a year. This is one of those shows, this is the Phantom of the 21st century. This is history of Broadway being made. I sat next to the casting director, by chance, and I said, 'You, sir, are part of history'."

Explaining why New York audiences might not be as excited about the production, Beck added:

"And then you have, it's a comic book character, and too much action and flying around and they're trying to cheapen the theater by spending 50 million dollars. So you have all the snotty stuff that regular Americans won’t understand."

We're not sure why Beck has such a low opinion of theater critics -- but it's good that he isn't one, or he'd probably be getting flack for reviewing Spider-Man before its official Broadway opening.

(For audio clips, visit Media Matters.)

Spider-Man has been strong at the box office in previews, even beating Wicked for the top spot last week. Will Beck's endorsement bring more tourists to see the webslinger on the Great White Way? Or should we look elsewhere for theater recomendations?

-- Daniel Lehman