Evan Rachel Wood is 'Mary Anne' in SPIDER-MAN the Musical, Rehearsals Begin June 2009

Film site IESB.net reports that Evan Rachel Wood has been cast as "Mary Jane" in the upcoming SPIDERMAN musical, it aslo reports that rehearsals will begin in June 2009. The website also reveals that her 'Across The Universe co-star Jim Sturgess, long rumored to play Peter Parker/Spiderman is still a possibility, but has to be "convinced".

The show is to be directed by Julie Taymor who of course won the Tony for Lion King. The music has been done by Bono and The Edge. 

"Spider-Man (Peter Benjamin Parker) is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero, created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko. The character first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 (Aug. 1962), and has since gone on to become one of the most popular, enduring and commercially successful superheroes worldwide, and is arguably Marvel's most famous character. When Spider-Man first appeared in the early 1960s, teenagers in superhero comic books were usually relegated to the role of sidekick to the series' main character. The Spider-Man series broke ground by featuring Peter Parker, a teenage high school student to whose "self-obsessions with rejection, inadequacy, and loneliness" young readers could relate.[1] Spider-Man has since appeared in various media, including several animated and live-action television series, syndicated newspaper comic strips and a successful series of films starring actor Tobey Maguire as the character.

Marvel has featured Spider-Man in several comic book series, the first titled The Amazing Spider-Man. Over the years, the Peter Parker character has developed from shy high school student to troubled college student to a married teacher and a member of the superhero team the New Avengers," state press notes.

Taymor, who won a Tony Award for directing the Broadway musical The Lion King and who is also known for equally visually imaginative films such as Titus and Frida, helmed the recent Metropolitan Opera production of The Magic Flute, as well as productions such as Juan Darien, The Tempest, and Oedipus Rex.