Money Woes Ground Spidey, Other Musicals

Show is most expensive Broadway production ever

(NEWSER) - Spider-Man has hit more snags en route to its debut as a Broadway musical, Bloomberg reports. Rehearsals for the U2-scored production, set to begin this spring, have been postponed indefinitely. With its budget currently at $31.3 million, the Spidey musical is the most expensive Broadway show ever, and costs could balloon to as much as $40 million. More»

But wowed audience loved 'heart-racing' stunts

(NEWSER) - Previews of Broadway musicals are rarely perfect, but last night's debut of the long-plagued Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark was especially troubled. The start was delayed 24 minutes; the show was paused five times for technical problems; an actress hung upside down in the air for six minutes. Yet none of it was enough to dissuade many of the fans, who tweeted throughout expressing delight at the aerial stunts. Samples from the Wall Street Journal : "My heart was racing," said one audience member; "WOW on flying thru theater," said another. More»

Julie Taymor says she's not being fairly compensated

(NEWSER) - More drama behind the curtains for Broadway’s Spider-Man: Former director Julie Taymor is suing the show’s producers over what she says is a lack of compensation for her creative work. “The producers' actions have left her no choice but to resort to legal recourse to protect her rights,” her attorney says. Taymor was fired following much-publicized trouble onstage and off, but she's the only director eligible for a Tony for the show. More»

Official word is she's too busy, but friends say she was forced out

(NEWSER) - After days of rumors , the producers of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark made the official announcement last night: Director Julie Taymor is out. The problem-plagued musical has also been delayed yet again, this time until “early summer 2011,” according to the show’s blog . Taymor has been replaced with Philip William McKinley, who directed The Boy From Oz, and the script will be revised by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who has written for the Spider-Man comic books. More»

Production can be uneven, but still enjoyable

(NEWSER) - The highly anticipated revival of West Side Story on Broadway opened last night to solid reviews, with critics applauding an unusually tender interpretation in which the women rule. Highlights:

• “Even when they’re flashing switchblades and kicking people in the ribs, the teenage hoodlums who maraud through Arthur Laurents’s startlingly sweet new revival of West Side Story seem like really nice kids,” writes Ben Brantley in the New York Times.