Yet Another Delay For Spiderman Musical

By Vincent Murphy in New York [+1-347-654-9648]

The tangled web that is the new Spiderman musical has taken yet another twist.

The Broadway show, with music by U2's Bono and the Edge, has already cost $65m and rising.

Now, the opening night has been pushed back for a fourth time.

Spiderman: Turn off the Dark will not be switching on its lights until February 7th, because the producers want to make further changes.

Reports suggest these include staging a brand new final number for the show, rewriting some scenes, and possibly introducing some new music from the U2 boys.

The show had been due to open on January 11th.

Previews began on November 28th, when audience members reported major technical issues which forced the show to grind to a halt on at least five occasions.

At one stage, Spiderman was left dangling above the heads of the audience for several minutes when there was a glitch with the wiring used for aerial stunts.

And actress Natalie Mendoza, who plays the villain Arachne, suffered concussion backstage, and only returned to work this week after a two week absence.

Most of the technical glitches are believed to have been ironed out since then, but the creators of the most expensive musical ever staged on Broadway, are still tinkering with the storyline.

Audiences at previews have not warmed to the show's finale, and others have complained that Act II in particular can be hard to follow.

Director Julie Taymor and playwright Glen Berger, have been inserting revised dialogue during the preview performances, but the delay suggests they accept there are still major problems with the storytelling.

Bono and the Edge have not yet seen a full performance of the musical.

They have been touring with U2 in Australia and New Zealand since it opened.

But both men are expected to spend some time in working at the Foxwoods Theatre, off Times Square during January.

In a statement, producer Michael Cohl said the creative team were implementing "truly exciting changes" throughout the preview process.

"Due to some unforeseen setbacks, most notably the injury of a principal cast member, it has become clear we need to give the team more time to fully execute their vision."

He added that the show was "an extremely ambitious undertaking" and he had "no intention of cutting a single corner in getting to the finish line".

Meanwhile, New York theatre critics are still waiting for the opportunity to cast their judgements on the show.

Reviews typically don't get published until the show opens, but if previews are extended too long, some members of the press may break ranks and give their verdicts.

It famously happened with Merlin in 1981, when a New York Times critic wrote after eight weeks of previews, that while producers may have considered it not yet ready to be seen by critics, they had already admitted more than 60,000 customers paying full price.

For now at least, the critics seem to be willing to give Spiderman space to sort out its problems

Adam Feldman, president of the New York Drama Critics Circle and critic for Time Out New York told Newsday, "It think we all want to give the creators the time they need to make the show good."

But he added, "Speaking just for myself, however, there may be a time to be a consumer reporter. The tickets cost a lot, and the preview period cannot go on indefinitely."