Opening Night Set for U2's Spider-Man Musical

The Broadway musical Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark, featuring original music by U2's Bono and the Edge, will finally debut this winter, after production delays led to the departure of its two marquee stars. Producer Michael Cohl said today that preview performances start November 14th at Broadway's Foxwoods Theatre, and that opening night is scheduled for December 21st. Jennifer Damiano will fill the role of Mary Jane Watson, and Patrick Page will play both Norman Osborn and the villain Green Goblin. The actors join Reeve Carney, playing Peter Parker.

Production for Turn Off the Dark shut down in August 2009 due to "unexpected cash flow problems," ultimately bumping the musical out of its scheduled February 2010 preview run. Because of the delays and the uncertain nature of the production, both actress Evan Rachel Wood, who was to star as Mary Jane, and Alan Cumming, in the Green Goblin role, quit. Wood's replacement, Damiano, has rock-on-Broadway roots thanks to her Tony-nominated role in Next to Normal. Page, the new Green Goblin, has experience behind a mask, having played the Grinch in the Broadway musical of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

Bono and the Edge, who wrote both the lyrics and music for the show, remain firmly in place. Last year the Edge said that the music "touches on opera, it touches on rock & roll. There are some real character-driven songs as well, very unusual song types for us."

Tickets go on sale to American Express cardholders this Saturday, August 14th. The general public will be able to buy them in September. More details are available at the official site.

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Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

More Song Stories entries »

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