More SPIDER-MAN Drama- Taymor to Take Script With Her?

Lead producers Michael Cohl and Jeremiah J. Harris announced that that SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark has rescheduled its opening night for Tuesday, June 14, 2011 as part of a slew of changes that were announced this week including what's considered to be the complete removal of Julie Taymor from the production; though the exact details of her credits, payout and involvement are still being determined. 

In today's New York Post, Michael Riedel is reporting that talks have 'turned testy' between Taymor and the producers, and that she is now threatening to take the entire script of the show with her, which is said to have the production in 'chaos' with producers quickly scrambling a new script. There's no word on what this might due to the production in terms of additional rehearsal time if a deal is not able to be worked out. 

It was announced already last night that to allow rehearsal time for the new changes being implemented in the show, performances from Tuesday, April 19th to Wednesday, May 11th have been cancelled with preview performances resuming on Thursday, May 12th. This amended schedule will allow the time necessary to execute the plan, which will include revisions to the script.

As a result of the new opening night, the performances on June 12th, June 14th, and both performances on June 15th have been cancelled. Additional shows have been added on June 13th at 7:30 p.m. and June 17th at 2:00 p.m. All ticketholders for the cancelled performances who purchased their tickets through Ticketmaster or at the box office will be offered the option of exchanging or returning their tickets. Ticketholders who purchased through other outlets should contact the point of purchase for further information.

As previously announced, Philip William McKinley (who directed Hugh Jackman in his Tony® Award-winning performance in The Boy From Oz) and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa have joined the creative team to help implement new staging and book rewrites, respectively. The expanded creative team also includes musical consultant Paul Bogaev (Tarzan, Bombay Dreams, Aida, Sunset Boulevard) and sound designer Peter Hylenski (Elf, The 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. Due to the new schedule, director and co-book writer Julie Taymor will no longer continue in her day-to-day duties with the production.

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