The troubled Spider-Man musical that was due to open early in 2010 has been bailed out by Irish rockers U2. Producer David Garfinkle bust his €32 million budget and the show was close to going under. Advance tickets are much lower than expected, with agents unable to sell the show.
Bono and The Edge were disappointed to see their score go to waste, according to the Daily Mirror the duo rallied around showbiz friends to raise funds to keep the production running.
A source gave the newspaper quite an eyebrow-raising quote, comparing the Spider-Man musical to world famine "The word on the street is Bono tapped into his vast network of rich friends to restart production. Bono feeds half of Africa, so raising a few more million for Spiderman shouldn't be difficult."
The show was due to be directed by Julie Taymor, the Emmy-winning force behind global hit musical 'The Lion King'. Big name stars attached to the show include Evan Rachel Wood as love interest, Mary Jane, and Scottish actor Alan Cumming as the villainous Green Goblin.
A previous Broadway musical about Superman, titled 'It's a Bird ... It's a Plane ... It's Superman' opened in 1966 but closed within 4 weeks.