'Spider-Man' musical to temporarily close

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NEW YORK, April 15 (UPI) -- The troubled Broadway musical "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" is to begin its three-week hiatus after this weekend's performances.

The popular, but critically savaged show is the most expensive work mounted on Broadway with a budget of about $70 million. It was created by writer-director Julie Taymor and features music by U2's Bono and The Edge.

After months of previews, the show is shutting down after Sunday night's performances, so it can be retooled by the creative team that replaced Taymor, who was pushed out of the production because of creative differences. Previews are to resume May 12 and the show is now scheduled to open June 14.

"I'm greatly saddened that the world won't get to see Julie's vision after the end of this week," actor Gideon Glick, who will leave the production after Sunday, told The New York Times. "She aspired to show the world that comic books were part of a larger mythos that's been around since even before the Greeks. She elevated the story of 'Spider-Man' to a cosmic level."

Although the show has not officially opened, many theater critics have already given it negative reviews. The musical's producers have fired back, emphasizing the show is a work in progress and should not be critiqued until it is completed.

Taymor's spokesman issued a statement to the Times on the director's behalf, It said: "Julie feels that the early reviews that published before the show was ready to open sadly do not reflect the show that is closing this weekend. Most critics, in fact, will have never seen this latest version before they see one that greatly changes major threads of the story, choreography and songs."