Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark Delayed...Again

Anyone planning a holiday trip to New York to see Spiderman on Broadway?  Well...you better get tickets to Elf: The Musical instead (which I'm hearing is actually quite good).   The NY Times is reporting that the much-troubled Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark, directed by Julie Taymor and featuring music by Bono and The Edge of U2, has once again pushed back its opening date and will now officially open in January 2011.

Originally scheduled to open last February, the production was shut down for several months when the first team of producers ran out of cash to fund the elaborately-staged superhero musical.  The show's fate remained unknown long enough for original cast members Alan Cumming and Evan Rachel Wood (set to play the Green Goblin and Mary Jane Watson, respectively) to ultimately bail on the production for other projects.  Eventually, U2 concert promoter Michael Cohl came on board with the money necessary to get the show rolling again, and an opening night was set for December 21.

For the record, notice that no one from U2 has been stupid enough to invest their own money in what's shaping up to be Broadway's most expensive catastrophe.  The musical has an advance ticket sale of $8 million, which is usually a great start for a new show.  Unfortunately this show has cost upwards of $60 million to produce.

The reason for the current round of delays is a safety issue:  the show is supposed to feature two dozen different flying sequences, but none of them have yet been approved by the NY Department of Labor.  In fact, two actors have already been injured rehearsing the flying stunts. 

Also, the show just isn't ready.  The music is reportedly still not synched up with the performances and the onstage set transitions still aren't finished.  They don't even have a confirmed running time yet.  And this was supposed to start previews next week. 

Previews are now (maybe) scheduled to begin on November 28, and the official opening night has been moved from December 21 to January 11, almost one year to the day it was originally supposed to open.  Whether that date will change before then, we'll find out soon enough.  Stay tuned...