Details Revealed on Upcoming SPIDER-MAN Changes; Cast Meeting with Equity

Lead producers Michael Cohl and Jeremiah J. Harris announced last night that SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark has a newly expanded creative team in place. The team will be implementing a new plan to make what they describe as "significant and exciting revisions to the production." Opening night (previously set for March 15, 2011) has been rescheduled to an evening in early summer, 2011. This amended schedule will allow the time necessary to execute the plan, which will include revisions to the script.

We're hearing that at least 4 new songs are expected for the production, including a big new Act 2 opening song. In the meantime, the show is back in rehearsals starting this afternoon including work on Deeply Furious/Think Again, the Death of Uncle Ben, Splash Page and more...

We're told that the cast today will be meeting with Actors' Equity to explore their options and union protection. Many of the cast are up in arms since they've been rehearsing the show now since August of 2010 (or earlier) with much exhaustion and no end in site. We're told that levels of anger and frustration vary amongst the cast, but their first concern right now is to understand what their options are, as its looking like there's at least 3 more months of rehearsals in store. 

In the meantime, Jeremy Gerard at Bloomberg News is the first with more details on what will be cut from the show, and what changes will occur during the show's as of yet unannounced shutdown. He reports that the Julie Taymor creation of Arachne will be heavily cut down, with her scenes being minimized and cut entirely, along with the song 'Deeply Furious' in which she and her minions go shopping for shoes, also said to be a Taymor favorite.

Also on the chopping block? The Green Goblin's Act I death scene, which will make his Act II appearance more logical. We're told that he'll be getting a big new Act II opening number as well.

In today's New York Post, Michael Riedel provides additional details about what's next for the show, most notably that Bono and The Edge are now expected to be fully, hands-on collaborators in the show as well as Bono himself going out to be the new 'face of the musical' for press.

Riedel writes that "With his new, though decidedly B-list, creative team in place, Bono, who with The Edge wrote the score to the musical, is going to "rip the show apart from top to bottom," says a production source. "They're going to start from scratch."

He met with cast and crew backstage last night, and told them the changes that were coming are "in the best interests of the show," said a production source. "Spider-Man," which played its first preview back in November, will likely shut down at the end of April for at least four weeks while undergoing the massive overhaul, production sources say."

A press release also noted that "The additional time commitment required by this new plan will make it impossible for director and co-book writer Julie Taymor to continue on in her day-to-day duties with the production. Philip William McKinley and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa have joined the creative team to help implement new staging and book rewrites, respectively. McKinley has vast experience directing technically complex productions on Broadway and beyond. Aguirre-Sacasa is both an acclaimed playwright and a noted writer of Spider-Man comic books."

The expanded creative team also includes musical consultant Paul Bogaev (Tarzan, Bombay Dreams, Aida, Sunset Boulevard) and sound designer Peter Hylenski (Elf, Scottsboro Boys, Rock of Ages, Shrek), both of whom have already been working on improving the musical arrangements and sound quality (respectively) over the past few weeks, thereby vastly enhancing the audience experience.

Producers Cohl and Harris said, in a joint statement, "Julie Taymor is not leaving the creative team. Her vision has been at the heart of this production since its inception and will continue to be so. Julie's previous commitments mean that past March 15th, she cannot work the 24/7 necessary to make the changes in the production in order to be ready for our opening. We cannot exaggerate how technically difficult it is to make such changes to a show of this complexity, so it's with great pride that we announce that Phil McKinley is joining the creative team. Phil is hugely experienced with productions of this scale and is exactly what SPIDER-MAN Turn off the Dark needs right now."

Bono and The Edge added, "Julie is a truly gifted and imaginative director. This is an epic ride, and the standing ovations we have seen from the preview audiences have confirmed our absolute faith in the project. We are listening and learning and, as a result, we have a couple of new songs we are very very excited about putting into the mix. All of us on the creative team are committed to taking SPIDER-MAN to the next level. We are confident it will reach its full potential and when it does, it will open."

SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark is now in previews at Broadway's Foxwoods Theatre (213 West 42nd Street).