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Artist News
U2 scored musical could be further delayed over safety concerns
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 5 November 2010
According to the New York Times, the launch of the long, long, long awaited Bono-and-Edge scored Spiderman musical may be delayed again.
Originally due to premiere at the start of this year, after five years in development, ‘Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark’ has been hindered by all sorts of production problems. The most recent plan was to start previews on 14 Nov for an 11 Jan premiere. But safety inspectors from New York City say that, when they attended the theatre this week to check the safety of the various high-wire stunts in the show, producers couldn’t show many of the manoeuvres that will happen above the stage, meaning they can’t give the production the clearance it needs to open to the public.
A spokesman for the New York Department Of Labor, which oversees such things, said: “The producers were not prepared to demonstrate all of the manoeuvres today, as they were supposed to, because they weren’t ready for all of the flying and aerial work to be shown. We made it clear that we need to see every manoeuvre before they are legally allowed to hold their first performance. This is a unique production, with an unprecedented amount of activity going on directly above audiences, so we want to see each one of those activities demonstrated”.
Despite New York officials implying they expected to see all the show’s stunts in one go, producers of the Spiderman musical insist that was never the plan, and multiple inspections were expected in the run up to the opening of their production. In theory the stunts could still be cleared by the authorities before 14 Nov, though some commentators reckon that is optimistic thinking, and another delay in opening is now likely, for the previews at least.
