Carney to star in 'Spider-Man' until May

NEW YORK, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" star Reeve Carney has extended his contract and will stay with the Broadway musical until May, the show's producers said.

Carney will, however, take a brief leave this winter to film the lead role in Jake Scott's upcoming untitled Jeff Buckley bio-picture.

Carney's alternate, Matthew James Thomas, and cast member Matt Caplan will share the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man while he's gone.

The New York Times said Carney was originally scheduled to leave the production permanently in November.

"I am very excited about the new film project, as Jeff Buckley is such a musical hero of mine. And I am thrilled to be on stage nightly as Peter Parker/Spider-Man," Carney said in a statement Thursday. "I can't imagine a more wonderful, harder-working company than my mates on Broadway, and I look forward to being with them until shooting begins, and again as soon as we've wrapped."

More than 500,000 people have seen "Spider-Man" since it began performances last fall.

The $70 million show, which features music by U2's Bono and The Edge, began preview performances Nov. 28, 2010. It later closed for three weeks so its creative team could work out technical bugs and story issues.

It officially opened in June and has been a hot ticket all summer.