Riverdale Rewind: What should season three’s musical be?
3. Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
This might seem like a strange pick, but hear me out. Last season, series developer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa picked a musical that originally flopped on Broadway. Spider-Man had a much longer run than Carrie and eventually received somewhat decent reviews. However, the show had so many technical problems early on and financial issues later that it is remembered as a Broadway disaster.
Could Aguirre-Sacasa give Spider-Man the Carrie treatment on the small screen? Well, he actually gave the musical a tune-up once before. After Spider-Man was panned in its opening preview shows in 2010, Aguirre-Sacasa was brought in to revise its book, or story, ahead of its official opening in 2011.
Given the unfortunate reputation that the musical has retained, I wouldn’t be surprised if Aguirre-Sacasa wanted to try to redeem it. It would also mark a trend of Aguirre-Sacasa choosing shows to which he’s connected. He wasn’t involved in Carrie: The Musical, but he did pen the screenplay for the 2013 film remake of Carrie.
Furthermore, Riverdale has been used as a promotional vehicle before. Last season’s fourteenth episode centered on the release of Love, Simon, which was directed by Riverdale‘s executive producer Greg Berlanti.
Most importantly, putting on Spider-Man the musical would be hilariously meta. Berlanti is best known as the man behind The CW’s Arrowverse, which is DC. Spider-Man is Marvel. If the musical were to be featured on Riverdale, it would be an epic colliding of worlds.
Adapting Spider-Man for the small screen would be tricky since its known for its high-flying stunts. Assuming the musical is only partially staged, the stunts could potentially be scaled-back, though. The musical could also present a problem for Riverdale, specifically, because it features many adult characters.
Overall, I don’t know if Spider-Man would feasible as the series’ next musical, but I do know that people would tune in to see KJ Apa suit up as a singing superhero.