Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa News

The behind the scenes drama with SPIDER-MAN: Turn Off the Dark appears to be never-ending with news this week that Julie Taymor's deal has not yet been completed, another cast injury of whiplash to T.V. Carpio who plays Arachne, additional stoppages and rumors about choreographer Chase Brock being brought in to replace Daniel Ezralow.

Last night on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, they unveiled a new spoof commercial for SPIDER-MAN: Turn Off the Dark.

SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark recently announced a rescheduled opening night for a sixth time for Tuesday, June 14, 2011. On March 15, Julie Taymor stepped down as head creative force as the production makes room for Philip William McKinley. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is currently reworking the book and Bono and Edge have been making tweaks to the score.

We're now told by two production sources that these negotiations are still continuing, and that her exit deal has not yet been finalized. Issues surrounding royalties, copywrites, billing and a non-disclosure have not yet been settled upon. Both sides are still hoping to reach an amicable departure and to avoid litigation, but that possibility is not off the table as they've now dragged on longer than both sides thought they were.

Now, BroadwayWorld.com has learned that lead actress, T.V. Carpio, who plays the role of Arachne has been sidelined from the production with what we're told is 'whiplash' and is expected to be out for 2-3 weeks under doctor's orders. We've now been told that the injury occured on stage during one of the show's many battle scenes.

Legacy of Light, a new play by Karen Zacarias, anchors the sixth annual FusionFest of new work and completes the Cleveland Play House's 84-year run at 8500 Euclid Avenue.

SPIDER-MAN is well past its unprecedented hundredth preview on Broadway, but the backstage drama isn't over yet. A couple of weeks ago, SPIDER-MAN: Turn Off The Dark made their latest in a long line of announcements, that they now have rescheduled their opening night for the sixth time, for Tuesday, June 14, 2011.

This morning, Bloomberg News is reporting that producers are now in talks to replace the show's choreographer, Daniel Ezralow with Chase Brock. Ezralow, who helped to create many of the show's mid-air battles is a longtime collaborator of Julie Taymor's, having worked with her on Across the Universe, and the Green Bird, along with also staging shows for David Bowie, Sting and U2. Chase Brock most recently choreographed Lost in the Stars at Encores!, was assistant choreographer to Kathleen Marshall on Wonderful Town and recently helped create the (fantastic) Nintendo Wii game, Dance on Broadway.

In this week's SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK Weekly Web-Mail, music director and conductor Kim Grisby answers a fans questions. To watch the video, click below.

New Repertory Theatre, in residence at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, is pleased to announce DollHouse, a drama by playwright Theresa Rebeck, based on Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House.

A few weeks ago the cast of SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK Performed 'Rise Above' on The Late Show. Below, catch a glimpse of the song in full performance!

If the show wants some other options, late night TV host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel has offered up 'Death of a SPIDER-MAN' with his humorous take about the show.

On Friday night, SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark announced that they rescheduled their opening night for Tuesday, June 14, 2011. However, the show's songwriters - U2 rockers Bono and The Edge - will not be present for most of the changes.

In a New York Times feature out this morning, The New York Times' Patrick Healey takes a look at what might be next for the trouble SPIDER-MAN musical, and reveals how those at the top have not yet lost faith. 'SPIDER-MAN will succeed...because we're thinking outside the box,' lead producer Michael Cohl famously said last August. Indeed they are, as 101 preview performances in - the longest in Broadway history - they have revamped the creative team.

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, March 13, 2011 - Sunday, March 13, 2011.

On Sunday, BroadwayWorld.com has confirmed that Glen Berger, co-writer of the book who has been left out of much other press coverage and speculation is very much still on board and is at work with comic book writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa on making heavy revisions to the book. These changes are said to include much cutting of Julie Taymor's additions to the already rich SPIDER-MAN mythology including both the Geek Chorus, and Arachne. Other changes will include the Green Goblin remaining SPIDER-MAN's chief rival for the entire show which will involve changing both the ending of Act 1 and the beginning of Act 2 (with a new opener by Bono and the Edge) along with many other changes in Act 2.

BroadwayWorld.com first checked with a member of the show's cast, who told us that they felt that this was surely simply a negotiating ploy by Taymor (if it was indeed true), and that her torpedo-ing the show as a whole was highly unlikely, and presumably a last resort. They did tell us that if the script was pulled, that they believed that the production would face an immediate shutdown, as opposed to the one already planned for mid-April. We checked in with a legal expert, not affiliated with the production, for their take on reports that a Dramatists Guild Contract had not be signed and if Taymor could indeed pull her script from the production.

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 threading 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.

Lead producers Michael Cohl and Jeremiah J. Harris announced today that SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark has rescheduled its opening night for Tuesday, June 14, 2011. In addition, 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.

Talking to Don Imus this morning, legendary New York Times writer (and soon to be New York Magazine writer) Frank Rich said 'There is no way to fix a show this far into previews, according to Broadway history... it's a fool's errand at this point, if you know, follow history.' That said however, he also revealed that he has not seen the show, which has been in previews for months, because 'life is too short.'