Say Goodbye to Spider-Man ... The Musical

I'll admit, I never understood why anyone thought Spider-Man would make a good musical -- even with music by Bono and The Edge. But Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark seemed inevitable, and once we got word that Evan Rachel Wood and Alan Cumming were joining the cast, the big-budgeted show seemed to be chugging along nicely towards it's 2010 release date. But all is not well in the world of Spidey, and Michael Riedel at the New York Post is reporting that the show is in serious trouble. According to Riedel, the set designers have been put on hiatus, actors might be released from their contracts, and staff is scrambling to cash their checks before the money runs out.

The production is still a long way from being finished, and according to sources, "A lot of it seems to exist only in Julie's [Taymor] head," But as far as Taymor and company are concerned, the show is on track for previews in February, 2010. According to the official website, tickets will be going on sale in October, but sources claim that agents are already trying to return the tickets that have been sold for advance previews.

After the jump: so where did it all go wrong?...


Riedel's sources claimed that it was the show's price tag that was the final straw for the troubled production. The show was budgeted at $45 million (with a weekly running cost of almost $900,000) but it looks like even with a sold-out house every night the production can't make a profit. But, the bottom line wasn't the only hurdle for the web-slinging musical, and according to Riedel, there is plenty of blame to go around for the show's producers, "Sony, Marvel Comics and David Garfinkle, a Chicago lawyer who, sources say, had almost no Broadway experience."

But if you were looking forward to a singing and dancing Peter Parker, all is not lost -- at least not yet anyway. Remember, nothing is official, so stay tuned to Cinematical for any updates that come our way.