The $75 million Broadway musical "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark," the most expensive theatrical production in history, will close in early January after months of declining ticket sales, one of the lead producers said on Monday night. A somewhat revamped version of the show is being planned for Las Vegas in 2015, according to the producer, Jeremiah J. Harris.
Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
A scene with the original cast of "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" at the Foxwoods Theater in New York.
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The decision to close "Spider-Man," which gained worldwide publicity and notoriety because of cast injuries and backstage conflicts, as well as its enormous budget, came down to a hard financial reality after three years of performances, Mr. Harris said. While the musical emerged to become an audience favorite, grossing roughly $1.5 million a week in ticket sales for a time, "Spider-Man" eventually lost popularity. It grossed only $742,595 last week, or 48 percent of the maximum possible amount, with about three-quarters of its seats filled at the Foxwoods Theater.
"The show is, I would say, middling," Mr. Harris said of box office sales. "We could run for probably another three to five years being stuck in the middle. We think it will play Las Vegas with a greater bang than it did in New York." The producers are now in final negotiations for a space in Las Vegas, which Mr. Harris declined to identify.
Mr. Harris said the owners of the Foxwoods Theater did not invoke their stop clause, with which theater owners can force a show to close when its weekly grosses fall below a certain amount. "The decision to close was all ours," he said. The owners of the Foxwoods, who are based in London, could not be immediately reached for comment.
The decision to close the show was reported Monday night by The Wall Street Journal.
The new Australian musical "King Kong" has been considering a move to the Foxwoods after "Spider-Man" closes, but no official plans are in place. The Foxwoods is expected to undergo some renovations before its next tenant moves in.
While "Spider-Man" has grossed $203 million since performances began in November 2010, the musical is still a long way from paying back investors who contributed to the $75 million capitalization. Mr. Harris said he did not know how close "Spider-Man" was to recouping the money. But ticket sales sometimes barely covered the show's weekly running costs, which exceeded $1 million, so there was relatively little profit to share with investors. Some loans also had to be paid back first.
As for Las Vegas, Mr. Harris said the creative team would be made up of key players from the Broadway production, including Philip William McKinley, who took over directing duties on the musical after the producers fired its original leader, Julie Taymor.
"I think the musical will be very similar to New York, but obviously sculpted for the Las Vegas market," Mr. Harris said of "Spider-Man," which is best-known for its aerial effects over the audience and its original score by Bono and the Edge of U2.
Mr. Harris said he did not know at this point if the script would change markedly or if Bono and the Edge would write new songs for Las Vegas. Nor did Mr. Harris have a budget estimate for the Las Vegas production, but he said that sets, costumes and special-effects technology from the Broadway "Spider-Man" would be used there. He said he hoped the show would eventually spin off future productions overseas.
The firing of Ms. Taymor in March 2011, after artistic clashes with the producers and Bono and the Edge, was one of several highly publicized incidents that seemed to fuel public interest and ticket sales for the show. After officially opening in June 2011 to largely negative reviews from critics, the show settled into a period of strong ticket sales and relative calm inside the Foxwoods — even as Ms. Taymor and the producers sued one another in court, in legal wrangling that was finally settled in April.
But "Spider-Man" received more negative publicity in August after a dancer in the show, Daniel Curry, was seriously injured mid-performance; he is now considering legal action as he continues to recover, his lawyers say.
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