Bono, Taymor all smiles as 'Spider-Man' opens (AP)

NEW YORK – Bono, The Edge and Julie Taymor hugged each other and were all smiles as they posed for photos on the red carpet before "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" officially opened Tuesday night, a very public reconciliation from the creators who fell out as the show's problems mounted.

"We absolutely love Julie and always have. As artists, we've been very, very close. She poured her whole life into this project," Bono said outside the Foxwoods Theatre. "Tonight she's here to host it."

For her part, Taymor was gracious, saying the $70 million show was an attempt to do something different and difficult. "I'm delighted to be here tonight," she said. "I'm very proud of it."

Taymor, the Tony Award-winning co-writer and director, was fired from "Spider-Man" after delays, accidents, poor audience reaction and money woes turned the musical into a punch line. The show, with music by the two members of U2, was reworked from top to bottom and officially opened after a record-setting preview period.

"We were trying to do something that's never been done. And that's very hard to do. And we were right in front of everybody," Taymor said. "That's difficult."

Among the celebrities on hand for opening night were President Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea, Matt Damon, Barbara Walters, Steve Martin, Liam Neeson, Vanessa Redgrave, Spike Lee, Andrew Lloyd Webber and John McEnroe.

"These guys have persevered," McEnroe said, before using a tennis analogy. "It's like a long five-setter but they're still in it."

The principal cast — Reeve Carney as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Jennifer Damiano as Mary Jane Watson, T.V. Carpio as a spider-woman named Arachne, and Patrick Page as the Green Goblin — have been with the production since the tortured beginning.

Asked what he'd learned about putting on a show on Broadway, lead producer Michael Cohl smiled. "It's much more difficult than I ever expected," he said. "God shows you: When you get cheeky, calm down. You ain't seen nothing yet."

Bono, too, said he felt humbled following in the footsteps of such iconic songwriters as Rodgers and Hammerstein, Rodgers and Hart and Irving Berlin. "We found out it's harder than you think," he said about writing a musical.

The show's planned opening was initially set for Feb. 18, 2010, but financial issues forced producers to suspend work. A new opening was set for Dec. 21, but that was pushed back to Jan. 11, then again to Feb. 7 and then to March 15. "Spider-Man" has broken the record for the longest preview period in Broadway history.

Injuries to several cast members — including a 35-foot fall by a stunt actor playing the web-slinger that left him with a skull fracture and cracked vertebrae — have marred the production, as well as the defection of a lead actress after she suffered a concussion.

Many theater critics grew impatient and their reviews that appeared in early February — a violation of the established agreement by critics to wait for opening night to weigh in — were mostly savage pans.

Producers finally intervened in March, firing Taymor and shutting down the show for four weeks to retool. Taymor was replaced by Philip William McKinley, who directed the Hugh Jackman musical "The Boy From Oz," in 2003.

McKinley, former director for Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey, said the red carpet reminded him of the Big Top. Asked how he felt, McKinley said: "Relief as well as excitement," adding "Here we go." He later posed with Taymor, Bono and The Edge.

Co-book writer Glenn Berger and newly hired playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who has written comic books and for the HBO series "Big Love," toned down the story's darker themes, and expanded the romantic angle between Peter Parker and Mary Jane.

Bono was determined to move forward. "Things got chaotic. It's all in the past now," he said. "It's just one of the most wonderful things I've ever seen. Now you just forget about the past. I think it's going to have a very, very bright future."

Consistently strong weekly revenues are critical for the show to break even and to begin repaying investors. Last week the show earned $1.2 million — a little more than 60 percent of its $1.9 million potential.

"We've heard all the news about it," said author Janet Langhart, married to former Defense Secretary of Defense William Cohen, as they waited to enter the theater. "Finally we're turning on the light."

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National Writer Jocelyn Noveck contributed to this report.

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Online:

http://spidermanonbroadway.marvel.com

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Mark Kennedy can be reached at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

"Spider-Man" producer Laura Ziskin dies of cancer (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Laura Ziskin, the Hollywood producer who helped turn "Pretty Woman" heroine Julia Roberts into a star and brought "Spider-Man" to the big screen, died on Sunday after a public battle with breast cancer. She was 61.

According to a statement from Sony Pictures, where her production company was based, Ziskin died at her Los Angeles home after fighting the disease for seven years.

In 2008 Ziskin, along with other entertainment notables including newswoman Katie Couric, co-founded Stand Up To Cancer, an advocacy group for cancer research. Later that year -- and again last September -- Ziskin produced all-star telethons that aired live on the major U.S. networks.

In addition to making movies, Ziskin also produced the Academy Awards broadcast twice, and served as president of Fox 2000 Pictures, a feature film division of 20th Century Fox.

She was perhaps best known for producing the three "Spider-Man" movies starring Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. The trilogy grossed $2.5 billion at the worldwide box office. The franchise is currently being overhauled with a new cast and a focus on the superhero's early years.

Among the films Ziskin championed at Fox 2000 was the searingly brutal drama "Fight Club," starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. Following an advance screening that left other studio executives bewildered and angry, Ziskin boldly proclaimed it was brilliant, according to author Sharon Waxman's "Rebels on the Backlot."

Still she did blanch at one comical line -- "I want to have your abortion -- and begged director David Fincher to replace it. He reluctantly agreed, but the new line was even more grotesque and she begged him to revert to the old line. He refused, according to the book.

Ziskin, a Los Angeles native who started out as a personal assistant, started making features in the mid-1980s. She teamed with actress Sally Field to produce "Murphy's Romance," a 1985 comedy-drama for which James Garner received an Oscar nomination.

She hired hot young stars Kevin Costner for "No Way Out" (1987) and Dennis Quaid for "D.O.A." (1988), and helped transform Roberts into Hollywood's biggest sensation with "Pretty Woman," the 1990 smash which she executive produced.

Ziskin rescued legendary Hollywood scribe Buck Henry ("The Graduate") from a long dry spell by recruiting him to write the adaptation for "To Die For," a dark comedy directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Nicole Kidman.

By the time it was released in 1995, Ziskin was ensconced at Fox 2000 where she also oversaw such films as "Courage Under Fire," "One Fine Day," "Soul Food" and "The Thin Red Line."

In 2002, she became the first woman to produce the Oscar broadcast solo. The show, presented for the first time at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, also marked the first Oscarcast appearance of the Cirque du Soleil acrobatic troupe. She also produced the 2007 ceremony.

She was diagnosed with cancer in 2004, and underwent a mastectomy, chemotherapy, a stem-cell transplant and radiation. The cancer returned in 2009, having spread to her liver and bones.

Sony Pictures said a memorial would be planned. Ziskin is survived by her husband Alvin Sargent, an Oscar-winning screenwriter ("Ordinary People," "Julia") who collaborated on the "Spider-Man" films; and a daughter from her first marriage.

(Reporting by Dean Goodman)