The opening of the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark may have been postponed for a fifth time, but that hasn't stopped the critics jumping in early to skewer the whole shebang.
Julie Taymor's $65 million (Dh239m) production will have been in its preview stages for an inordinate 15 weeks before its premiere, now tentatively mooted for March 15. Meanwhile, producers have raised hackles by continuing to charge full ticket price, making it the highest-grossing musical on Broadway for the first week of January.
But given the $1m-a-week running costs of cast, orchestra and aerial stuntsmen, along with a grandiose score composed by U2's Bono and The Edge, the show will still have to sell out every night for years, just to break even.
Infuriated critics have now broken with tradition, tearing in with a stream of vitriol before the beleaguered production has officially opened.
"The sheer ineptitude of this show loses its shock value early," foamed Ben Brantley in the New York Times. "After 15 or 20 minutes, the central question you keep asking yourself is likely to change from 'How can $65 million look so cheap?' to 'How long before I'm out of here?'."
On The Huffington Post, John Grohol wrote: "I'd be hard pressed to recommend this hot mess, especially at the ridiculous ticket prices charged. It just isn't worth it. You won't remember attending it a week later - except in your wallet."
The show's spokesman, Rick Miramontez, was left calling foul at the salvo of pre-emptive broadsides. "The PILE-ON by the critics was ridiculous and uncalled for," he told Entertainment Weekly. "Their actions are unprecedented and UNCOOL!"
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The cost of Covid testing around the world
Egypt
Dh514 for citizens; Dh865 for tourists
Information can be found through VFS Global.
Jordan
Dh212
Centres include the Speciality Hospital, which now offers drive-through testing.
Cambodia
Dh478
Travel tests are managed by the Ministry of Health and National Institute of Public Health.
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AED 295
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Dh85
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From Dh400
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One in four Americans don't plan to retire
Nearly a quarter of Americans say they never plan to retire, according to a poll that suggests a disconnection between individuals' retirement plans and the realities of ageing in the workforce.
Experts say illness, injury, layoffs and caregiving responsibilities often force older workers to leave their jobs sooner than they'd like.
According to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research, 23 per cent of workers, including nearly two in 10 of those over 50, don't expect to stop working. Roughly another quarter of Americans say they will continue working beyond their 65th birthday.
According to government data, about one in five people 65 and older was working or actively looking for a job in June. The study surveyed 1,423 adults in February this year.
For many, money has a lot to do with the decision to keep working.
"The average retirement age that we see in the data has gone up a little bit, but it hasn't gone up that much," says Anqi Chen, assistant director of savings research at the Centre for Retirement Research at Boston College. "So people have to live in retirement much longer, and they may not have enough assets to support themselves in retirement."
When asked how financially comfortable they feel about retirement, 14 per cent of Americans under the age of 50 and 29 per cent over 50 say they feel extremely or very prepared, according to the poll. About another four in 10 older adults say they do feel somewhat prepared, while just about one-third feel unprepared.
"One of the things about thinking about never retiring is that you didn't save a whole lot of money," says Ronni Bennett, 78, who was pushed out of her job as a New York City-based website editor at 63.
She searched for work in the immediate aftermath of her layoff, a process she describes as akin to "banging my head against a wall." Finding Manhattan too expensive without a steady stream of income, she eventually moved to Portland, Maine. A few years later, she moved again, to Lake Oswego, Oregon. "Sometimes I fantasise that if I win the lottery, I'd go back to New York," says Ms Bennett.
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- Ban fruit juice and sodas
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