Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, the most expensive and troubled show in theatre history, will no longer be slinging its web on Broadway.
The £46.5 million show, featuring the music and lyrics of U2’s Bono and The Edge, who were also co-producers, will close at the UK-owned Foxwoods Theatre in Manhattan’s Times Square in January.
The musical adaptation of Marvel’s comic book superhero, which starred US actor Reeve Carney will transfer to Las Vegas. But its closure throws fresh doubt that it will ever make it to the West End. The show was scheduled to open in London at the end of 2011 before its turbulent production history led to delays. Its producers subsequently looked last year at bringing the show to the London Palladium or the Theatre Royal Drury Lane before getting cold feet.
The closure of Spider-Man, which began preview performances in November 2010 and opened in June 2011, brings the curtain down on Broadway’s biggest debacle.
Scheduled stars Alan Cumming and Evan Rachel Wood pulled out of the show, frustrated by the lengthy delays to its opening, while original director Julie Taymor was fired following creative differences and cost overruns. A lawsuit she brought was settled out of court last April. A spate of injuries to cast members raised concerns over the safety of appearing in the show.
Despite an opening night that attracted the likes of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Bill Clinton and Salman Rushdie, and sold-out shows to begin with, it struggled to break even, with weekly running costs of £745,000.
