Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa News

Incoming Artistic Director Blake Robison today announced his first season at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, which includes a variety of thrilling dramas, hilarious comedies and a mesmerizing musical to move, inspire, challenge and entertain Cincinnati.

Julie Taymor's SPIDER-MAN legal battle continues to press on, as producers 8 Legged Productions, LLC have filed a dismissal of her lawsuit, which claims that much of her work was used unrightfully by the new team. According to a report in The Hollywood Reporter, Taymor has responded by filing a dismissal of this dismissal.

Two-time Golden Globe® winner, Academy Award® & Tony Award® nominee Kathleen Turner returns to Toronto in the National Tour of Matthew Lombardo's play HIGH, May 8-13, 2012 at The Royal Alexandra Theatre. Directed by Rob Ruggiero, HIGH also features Evan Jonigkeit as "Cody Randall" and Timothy Altmeyer as "Father Michael Delpapp".

The producers of SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK are planning to take the show on an arena tour to London and Hamburg, according to Michael Riedel of nypost.com.

According to the Associated Press, ex-Spidey director Julie Taymor claimed in court today that she was a 'victim of a conspiracy to unfairly push her out of the production.' Tayor's lawyers argued that the SPIDER-MAN producers 'were secretly conspiring to oust Taymor and use and change her work without pay.'

Manhattan Theatre Club (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Barry Grove, Executive Producer; Mandy Greenfield, Artistic Producer) today announced the lineup for this spring's Ernst C. Stiefel "7@7" Reading Series. The Ernst C. Stiefel Foundation has supported Manhattan Theatre Club's reading series since 2006.

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) has announced the two world premiere plays which will be presented as part of the company's tenth annual Second Stage Theatre Uptown Series this summer: Alena Smtih's The Bad Guys, and Kenneth Lin's Warrior Class, directed by Evan Cabnet.

Whether you've been living under a rock for the past week, or you're just in the mood for a recap of everything theatre, BroadwayWorld's feature, 'This Week in Pictures' is here to satisfy your end of the week fix. Take a look below to catch up on the latest happenings from the Great White Way to the West End (and everywhere in between) with coverage of press events, rehearsals, opening nights and more! For last week's biggest events: visit THIS WEEK IN PICTURES: January 21-27.

SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark, Broadway's record breaking new show, today announced that it is launching a brand new app for both Apple and Android devices. The app, which is available for free, gives users earliest access to exclusive video content and special offers, music and photos from the show, and easy ticket purchase. Those with the app can integrate their social media accounts and engage with a 'fan wall' where users can post comments and photos in real time for all to see. Additionally, people can compete to be among the top users of the app in order to unlock special rewards.

SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark has been seen by more than 700,000 audience members from around the world. It features music and lyrics by 22-time Grammy Award-winners Bono and The Edge, direction by Philip William McKinley (The Boy From Oz), original direction by Tony Award-winner Julie Taymor (The Lion King, Across The Universe, Frida), and book co-written by Taymor, Glen Berger (Underneath The Lintel) and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Fantastic Four and Spider-Man comics, 'Big Love'). The cast recently visited Imus on Broadway, where they performed 'Bouncing Off the Walls' and 'Boy Falls From the Sky.' Check out photos fromt he performance below!

Newest to the cast of SPIDER-MAN are Rebecca Faulkenberry (Rock of Ages) and Christina Sajous (Baby It's You, American Idiot), who play 'Mary Jane Watson' and 'Arachne,' respectively. Check out photos of the duo in action below!

Michael Riedel writes today in the NY Post that filmmaker Jacob Cohl is currently working on creating a documentary on the making of SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK. Jacob, whose father Michael is a producer for the show, was 'given almost unlimited access to everything that went on from the first day of rehearsals to the June 2011 Broadway opening.'

Dallas Theater Center previously announced the cast and design team of Giant, a co-production with The Public Theater, which runs at the Wyly Theatre Jan. 18 - Feb. 19, 2012.

The producers of the musical SPIDER-MAN Turn Off the Dark today filed an answer and countersuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Tuesday against Julie Taymor and her company, LOH, Inc. The producers' answer responds to the complaint that Taymor and LOH filed on November 8, 2011, in which they assert that the current version of the musical infringes Taymor's alleged copyrights and also raise certain contractual and state law claims, including a claim seeking to bar the producers from bringing SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark to non-Broadway venues.

Yesterday, January 15, SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK welcomed 200 middle school students from MS 343 in the Bronxto the matinee. Afterwards, Spideys Craig Henningsen, Matthew James Thomas and Chris Tierney participated in a special talk back for the kids, and you can check out photos from the event below.

SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark rang in the New Year as the highest grossing show on Broadway, shattering the record for the highest single-week gross of any show in Broadway history. The total gross for the record-breaking week ending Sunday, January 1 was $2,941,790.20, besting the previous record of $2,228,235 set by Wicked in 2011. Playing to 17,375 audience members (100.02% capacity of The Foxwoods Theatre), SPIDER-MAN also enjoyed the highest single-week attendance by any show in Broadway history (playing a standard 9-show holiday schedule).

SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark showcased an unprecedented event with Times Square Alliance when they dropped the New Year's Eve ball 30 feet before midnight on New Year's Eve, marking the first time in history the ball has descended before midnight. In an exciting segment shown live in Times Square and on CNN, Spider-Man came to the rescue when The Green Goblin took host Anderson Cooper captive. After the Goblin threatened to drop the ball early to ruin New Year's Eve, Spider-Man raised it back to its original position and stood triumphantly on top of One Times Square. The event featured SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark actors Matthew James Thomas, Patrick Page, Jeb Brown and Christopher Tierney alongside CNN hosts Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin. Check out some photos from the event below!

After the Goblin threatened to drop the ball early to ruin New Year's Eve, Spider-Man raised it back to its original position and stood triumphantly on top of One Times Square. The event featured SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark actors Matthew James Thomas, Patrick Page, Jeb Brown and Christopher Tierney alongside CNN hosts Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin. Check it out below!

SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark showcased an unprecedented event with Times Square Alliance when they dropped the New Year's Eve ball 30 feet before midnight last night, marking the first time in history the ball has descended before midnight. In an exciting segment shown live in Times Square and on CNN, Spider-Man came to the rescue when The Green Goblin took host Anderson Cooper captive. After the Goblin threatened to drop the ball early to ruin New Year's Eve, Spider-Man raised it back to its original position and stood triumphantly on top of One Times Square. The event featured SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark actors Matthew James Thomas, Patrick Page, Jeb Brown and Christopher Tierney alongside CNN hosts Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin.

In the video below, SPIDER-MAN's Reeve Carney teams with his brother Zane to perform a special acoustic version of 'Amelie.' Click below to check it out!