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Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark Delayed…. Again

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Spider-man Turn Off the DarkAnyone want to start a pool to see if upcoming Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark actually opens in 2011?  The New York Times Artbeat is reporting that the musical is opening sometime in February instead of it’s previous January 11.  The article states:

…the delay is intended to provide more time for the creators to stage a new final number, make further rewrites to the dialogue and consider adding and cutting scenes and perhaps inserting new music from the composers, U2’s Bono and the Edge, who will resume working full-time on the show in late December.

This is the fourth delay as the musical originally was supposed to open in January 2010.  The preview performances have taken a beating online by those who’ve seen it.  Many of the preview performances had to be stopped due to technical issues with the musical’s elaborate effects.  The musical has also been plagued by injuries.

The musical has cost an estimated $65 million and would need to run for four years before recouping it’s cost.  The first step in that would be to actually open.

Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark TV Commercial

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When you dump $60 million into a Broadway musical, you might want to get word out about it.  The 30-second ads for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark feature rehearsal footage that the production has been taping for weeks.  The ad includes images of some of the show’s flying sequences and its set and costume Spider-man Turn Off the Darkdesigns.  The two ads will be broadcast on cable and network television in the New York area starting on Monday.

Preview performances begin Sunday night, and director Julie Taymor has said that she expects to continue working on the show after preview performances begin and that the musical may need to stop now and then mid-performance to make technical fixes.  This is glossed over in the ads.

The most expensive musical in history features music by U2’s Bono and The Edge.

Spider-Man Musical Teams With Syfy Channel

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Spider-man Turn Off the DarkThe upcoming Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has teamed up with the SyFy television channel to be the musical’s lead media partner for television and Internet commercials, promotions and contests.  What’s fascinating is SyFy is part NBC Universal.  Marvel (the comic book company behind Spider-Man) is owned by Disney which owns ABC.

The SyFy channel draws younger men, part of the target audience for this musical.  The channel will begin running commercials for the musical closer to its scheduled first performance on Nov. 28, as well as on-air promotions, teasers and contests.

The SyFy channel is in an estimated 95 million homes and it’s prime time shows reach 2 million people a night.  The $60 million musical is being director by Julie Taymor with music by Bono and The Edge of U2.

The musical has been plagued by delays, budget overruns and injuries due to stunts.

Spider-Man Broadway Musical in Trouble?

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Spider-man Turn Off the DarkIs the opening for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark in trouble?  Already the most expensive production in history, the $60 million Broadway show will see it’s opening delayed for two weeks.  Theater executives familiar with the show have said “more work is needed on it.”  If you read the New York Times Artbeat a picture of a chaotic production is painted:

These executives, as well as people working on or plugged into the production, described a tremendous amount of creative commotion behind the scenes in interviews this week. Flying sequences were still being developed and the music, special effects, and scenes of plot and dialogue were still largely in separate pieces even though performances were originally set to begin on Nov. 14.

The Artbeat article says director Julie Taymor “spent chunks of the 11-week rehearsal period experimenting over and over with the flying stunts and other special effects rather than preoccupying herself with deadlines.”

The musical boasts music from U2’s Bono and the Edge and advance ticket sales so far total about $8 million in hard cash with an additional $2 million to $3 million in unpaid group orders.  That’s great for the average $10 million show, but not so good for a musical with a budget of a major motion picture.

On Wednesday the production was unable to present all of the stunts to the safety inspector.  They must be signed off on before production begins.  An investigation has begun over recent accidents that have caused performers to be hurt attempting some of the stunts.

The production was originally to launch in 2009 but was delayed due to funding.  At that time the musical was to cost $40 million.

Bets as to whether this will go down as the biggest disaster in Broadway history?