"Spider-Man" Musical Suspended By "Cash Flow Problem"

Tickets for the musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, which features music by U2's Bono and the Edge, are supposed to go on sale starting a month from tomorrow. But the show's producers announced in a statement this weekend that work on the production has been temporarily suspended due to an "unexpected cash flow problem," the New York Times reports. "The plans necessary for this correction are in hand now, and it is expected that activities, including work in the theater, will resume within the immediate future and with no material impact upon the planned production schedule," the producers said in the statement.

As Rock Daily previously reported, the Spider-Man musical is scheduled to begin with preview performances on February 25th (the original start date was January 2010). Because of the scope of the blockbuster show — and the amount of talent involved, like U2 members and director Julie Taymor — the musical's budget is reportedly in the $40 million range, making it the most expensive musical in Broadway history, the NYT reports.

So far, Evan Rachel Wood and Alan Cumming have been cast in the roles of Mary Jane Watson and Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, respectively. Over at the Spider-Man official site, you can also hear a snippet of what sounds like the Edge performing what could be the song's main theme. "It's unlike any Spider-Man you've ever seen," Wood said.

Related Stories:
• Why Bono Subtitled "Spider-Man" Musical "Turn Off the Dark"
• U2's "Spider-Man" Musical to Star Evan Rachel Wood, Alan Cumming
• U2's Bono and the Edge Talk "Spider-Man" Musical

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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