Broadway's Spider-Man Delays Opening Until June 14
(© Jacob Cohl)
The new musical Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark will now open on Tuesday, June 14 instead of its scheduled March 15 opening in order to implement changes to the show, according to a statement released by the show's producers.
To do so, all performances between April 18 and May 11 have been canceled as have performances on June 12, 14, and 15. Additional performances are scheduled for Monday, June 13 at 7:30pm and Saturday, June 17 at 2pm. Tickets are now being sold through October 2.
As reported earlier this week, the show's director and co-creator, Julie Taymor, is giving up day-to-day supervision of the musical, but will still be involved with the production. Philip William McKinley is coming in to implement new staging. The musical's book — which Taymor co-wrote with Glen Berger — will also be revamped by playwright and comic book author Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa.
The show's composer and lyricist, Bono and The Edge of the band U2, are also adding additional songs to the show. Veteran musical consultant Paul Bogaev and sound designer Peter Hylenski recently joined the creative team.
As a result of the postponement of the opening — the sixth one for the show — the musical will not be eligible for the 2011 Tony Awards. The musical has now surpassed the record for number of preview performances, and is also the most expensive show in Broadway history, with a capitalization in excess of $65 million. Weekly running costs for the show are also reportedly in excess of $1million.
The musical is inspired by over 40 years of Marvel comic books. It follows the story of teenager Peter Parker, whose unremarkable life is turned upside-down when he's bitten by a genetically altered spider and must learn that with great powers comes great responsibility.
The show stars Reeve Carney as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Jennifer Damiano as Mary Jane Watson, Patrick Page as Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin, and T.V. Carpio as Arachne. It also features Michael Mulheren, Ken Marks, Isabel Keating, Jeb Brown, Mat Devine, Gideon Glick, Jonathan Schwartz, Matthew James Thomas, Laura Beth Wells, Matt Caplan, Dwayne Clark, Luther Creek, Kevin Aubin, Gerald Avery, Collin Baja, Marcus Bellamy, Emmanuel Brown, Daniel Curry, Erin Elliott, Craig Henningsen, Dana Marie Ingraham, Ayo Janeen Jackson, Heather Lang, Alice Lee, Ari Loeb, Natalie Lomonte, Kevin Loomis, Kristin Martin, Jodi McFadden, Kristen Oei, America Olivo, Jennifer Christine Perry, Kyle Post, Brandon Rubendall, Sean Samuels, Dollar Tan, and Christopher Tierney.
The creative team includes Daniel Ezralow (choreography), George Tsypin (scenic design), Eiko Ishioka (costume design), Donald Holder (lighting design), Jonathan Deans (sound design), Kyle Cooper (projection design), Julie Taymor (mask design), Campbell Young Associates (hair design), Judy Chin (makeup design), Scott Rogers (aerial design), Jaque Paquin (aerial rigging design), David Campbell (orchestrations & arrangements), Teese Gohl (musical supervision), and Kimberly Grigsby (music director).
