Robot 6

Is the big-budget Spider-Man musical no more?

The Amazing Spider-Man #50

The Amazing Spider-Man #50

The $45-million Spider-Man musical may be in bigger trouble than everyone thought.

Reports circulated last week that work on Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark had been put on hold while producers tried to overcome “cash-flow obstacles.” Despite those problems, a spokesperson maintained that the show would begin previews on Feb. 25, and open sometime in March.

But today the New York Post’s Michael Riedel reports, with some glee, that Spider-Man‘s actors “have been released from their contracts, with no incentive (i.e., money) to hang around waiting for the production to get back on track.”

He also writes that ticket agents are scrambling to get deposit refunds for clients who booked early previews.

The musical, directed by Julie Taymor (The Lion King) and featuring music and lyrics by Bono and The Edge, has yet to announce who will play the lead role. Evan Rachel Wood and Alan Cumming are set to play Mary Jane Watson and Green Goblin.

Riedel places the blame for the troubles on “the inexperience of its producers,” and a gargantuan budget that reportedly would require the 1,700-seat theater to sell out every show for five years for the production just to break even.


4 Comments

Crap. I bought tickets to this show too.

Turn Off the Dark?

Guess we can turn it back on, at this point. :-)

I’m looking forward to “Wishful Drinking” – the Carrie Fisher one-woman play.

http://www.broadway.com/Wishful-Drinking/broadway_show/5031008

Hysterical poster.

And so Spidey joins Cap, Supes, and Batman as the subjects of musicals that either never arrive or fail miserably.

I wonder if anywhere out there is a script for the Cap musical that never arrived back in the 80s.

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