November 24, 2010 16:01

U2's Bono reveals production hitches on 'Spider-Man' musical

Singer admits show was 'harder than we ever thought'

Photo Gallery: U2
Photo: Pa Photos

U2's Bono has admitted that production on the forthcoming Spider-Man musical, featuring new songs by the singer and guitarist The Edge, has been "harder than we ever thought".

The show, which has been eight years in the making, has suffered several delays and setbacks. The most recent of these was the postponement of its Broadway opening.

"Dreaming up the show, the scale of it, the flying sequence, the pop art opera that it is – that was all pure joy," Bono said. "What we didn't realise was how difficult it is to stage this stuff, both technically and financially."

He added: "It's technically very difficult. It has never been achieved before – the kind of scale of what we're looking for. There may be very good reasons. We're going to find out. The expense of it? A lot of it was the delays."

The singer also revealed Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark features 40 pieces of music in total, including 18 songs.

"There's big, otherworldly melodies," he told Billboard. "There's dance numbers. There's experimental, avant-garde, jagged metal pieces."

Music from the show will be performed live by an 18-piece orchestra in two rooms backstage while Reeve Carney, who plays the lead role, will sing onstage with two members of his band Carney.