U2's Spider-Man Broadway Musical to Resume Rehearsals

Posted on Jul 23rd 2010 7:00AM by Farah Ishaq
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U2's first Broadway production, 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,' is to begin rehearsals again next month (August), after it was put on hold due to financial difficulties.

The Julie Taymor-directed musical -- with songs penned by Bono and the Edge -- was originally scheduled to begin previews in February 2010, but problems with investors in raising the estimated $50million (£32million) production costs have resulted in ongoing delays.

The project now appears be back on track with a spokesman for the show confirming to the New York Times that the cast are set to begin rehearsals on Aug.16.

Previews for the Marvel comic-based show are expected to start in November at the Hilton Theater, New York city -- and lead actor Reeve Carney, who plays web-slinger Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, tweeted confirmation, saying, "Wow, man, I can't wait for the world to see this thing ... It's finally happening!"

As previously reported on Spinner, Bono describes 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark as "not a straight take on the myth." He also commented, "We've taken it to a much more dizzy place than you'd expect. We've got big tunes. We're very proud of it."

The Edge has also previously explained to Rolling Stone that the musical "touches on opera, it touches on rock 'n' roll."

He added, "There are some real character-driven songs as well, very unusual song types for us. It is much more like opera than a straight musical. We're actually not calling it a musical for that reason because we don't want to put people off."

Replacements for actors Evan Rachel Wood and Tony Award winning Alan Cumming -- who both left the production last year -- have yet to be announced.