Cohl: "Producing SPIDER-MAN is Scary"

He is the man who brought SPIDER-MAN back from the brink.  In a feature out yesterday, the New York Times profiles Michael Cohl, the man about which we have heard little, but who is responsible for resurrecting the most expensive and, for some, most highly anticipated Broadway show in history. Cohl stepped into the role of lead producer on the mega-musical in the fall of 2009 after a significant investment in the show fell out, leaving the production stifled and dry.  A former music tour promoter for U2 and the Rolling Stones, Cohl was recruited by SPIDER-MAN composers Bono and The Edge to reinvigorate the production. And reinvigorate it he has, with previews officially scheduled to begin in just months on November 14, 2010.

Cohl explains of the experience: "As long as you don't think about the whole big picture, producing ‘Spider-Man' is a fantastic experience...But once you look up and see it all, it looks very, very scary."

After all, the Times notes: "The show's business structure, confirmed for the first time by Mr. Cohl, is an enormous theatrical gamble. The cost of the musical, widely reported to be $50 million, will have grown by an additional $10 million when all expenses are accounted for, Mr. Cohl said. He expected the running costs of "Spider-Man" to be slightly under $1 million a week - meaning that the show would need to have blockbuster sales on the scale of the top-grossing musical "Wicked" if he and his investors were to see a profit from the Broadway production alone."

To read the full report, click here.

SPIDER-MAN stars Reeve Carney, Jennifer Damiano, Patrick Page, Natalie Mendoza, Michael Mulheren, Ken Marks, Isabel Keating, Jeb Brown, T.V. Carpio, Mat Devine, Gideon Glick, Jonathan Schwartz, Matthew James Thomas, Laura Beth Wells, Matt Caplan, DWayne Clark, Luther Creek, Gerald Avery, Collin Baja, Marcus Bellamy, Emmanuel Brown, Erin Elliott, Dana Marie Ingraham, Ayo Janeen Jackson, Heather Lang, Ari Loeb, Natalie Lomonte, Kevin Loomis, Kristin Martin, Jodi McFadden, Kristen Oei, America Olivo, Jennifer Perry, Kyle Post, Brandon Rubendall, Sean Samuels, Dollar Tan, and Christopher Tierney.

Drawing from more than 40 years of Marvel comic books for inspiration, SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark spins a new take on the mythic tale of Peter Parker, a teenager whose unremarkable life in Queens is turned upside-down-literally-when he's bitten by a genetically-altered spider and wakes up the next morning clinging to the ceiling. Bullied by his classmates and tortured by an unrelenting crush on next-door-neighbor Mary Jane Watson, this science geek discovers he has suddenly been endowed with astonishing powers. He soon learns, however, that "with great power comes great responsibility." Maligned by the media, buffeted by financial woes, and stretched thin by the expectations of the world-at-large, Peter now must struggle to navigate the perilous and peculiar demands of being a web-slinging superhero. With the characters in SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark ranging from old familiar favorites to supervillains never-before imagined, Spider-Man's battles will hurtle the audience through a story both recognizable and unexpected, culminating in an eye-popping, ultimate test for this iconic figure.

SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark features music and lyrics by 22-time Grammy® Award-winners Bono and The Edge of U2 with direction by Tony® Award-winner Julie Taymor (The Tempest, Across The Universe, The Lion King) and a book by Julie Taymor and GLen berger (Underneath The Lintel).

The creative team includes Daniel Ezralow (Choreography), George Tsypin (Scenic Design), Academy Award®-winner Eiko Ishioka (Costume Design), Tony® Award-winner Donald Holder (Lighting Design), Jonathan Deans (Sound Design), Kyle Cooper (Projection Design), Julie Taymor (Mask Design), Campbell Young Associates (Hair Design), Judy Chin (Makeup Design), Scott Rogers (Aerial Design), Jaque Paquin (Aerial Rigging Design), David Campbell (Orchestrations & Arrangements), Teese Gohl (Musical Supervision), and Kimberly Grigsby (Music Director). Casting is by Telsey + Co.

SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark is produced by Michael Cohl, Jeremiah J. Harris, Land Line Productions, HELLO Entertainment/David Garfinkle, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Billy and Fernando Rovzar Diez Barroso, Jeffrey B. Hecktman, Omneity Entertainment/Richard G. Weinberg, Nederlander Organization/James L. Nederlander, Terry Allen Kramer, S2BN Entertainment, JAM Theatricals, the Mayerson/Gould/Hauser/Tysoe Group, and Patricia Lambrecht, by association with Marvel Entertainment.

American Express Cardmembers may now purchase tickets during an exclusive pre-sale offer via Ticketmaster.com / (800) 745-3000. Any ticket buyers who previously purchased tickets to SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark and were fully refunded have been contacted by Ticketmaster and given priority access to purchase again. Tickets will be available to the general public in September, also via Ticketmaster.com / (800) 745-3000. Tickets are priced from $67.50 - $135 for weekday performances and $67.50 - $140 for weekend performances.

For more information, visit http://spidermanonbroadway.marvel.com/.