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After months of production delays, "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark," the $60 million Broadway musical scored by U2's Bono and the Edge, got off to a rocky start in its first night of previews on Sunday (Nov. 28).
According to the New York Times, the production was halted five times, mostly to resolve technical issues with the show's flying sequences. In one of the first major stunts, lead actor Reeve Carney, who plays Peter Parker/Spider-Man, reportedly had to be freed from an aerial harness as the show came to a stop.
At the end of the first act, Spider-Man halted abruptly while flying toward the balcony seating and dangled over the audience until crew members had to help him down. A 34-minute intermission followed, and Act II also required a pause that lasted a few minutes.
U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Likely Delayed Again
The performance was the first public glimpse of the Julie Taymor-directed musical, which was originally set to begin previews last January and is now scheduled to open Jan. 11, 2011. The first preview was delayed two weeks after an actor suffered a stunt-related injury during rehearsals, although no injuries were reportedly suffered during last night's performance.
After writing the original score to "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" with band mate the Edge, U2 singer Bono called the production "harder than we ever thought" in an interview with the Associated Press last week. "Dreaming up the show, the scale of it, the flying sequence, the pop art opera that it is - that was all pure joy," he said. "What we didn't realize was how difficult it is to stage this stuff, both technically and financially."
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