By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Newly hired director Philip William McKinley may have just the right professional background to untangle the nightmarish web that is "Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark."
He used to direct the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus.
Producers for the epically troubled production announced Wednesday night that McKinley, who also directed Hugh Jackman on Broadway in "The Boy From Oz," will replace their marquee director Julie Taymor, the Tony Award-winner whose reputation helped secure the show's unprecedented funding.
Rumors had abounded in recent days that Taymor would soon make an exit from the record-breaking $70 million musical, which has been plagued by actor injuries, safety violations and scathing reviews.
In the Wednesday night statement announcing McKinley's new role, producers Michael Cohl and Jeremiah J. Harris insisted that Taymor was "not leaving the creative team."
"[However,] Julie's previous commitments mean that past March 15th, she cannot work the 24/7 necessary to make the changes in the production in order to be ready for our opening," the two said in the statement, apparently attempting to soften the blow of Taymor's departure.
Sources involved in the production told the New York Times that Taymor's exit came after she refused to significantly alter the show in response to harshly negative reviews.
In addition to the directorial shake-up, "Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark" will also take on a new writer, playwright and comic book author Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, and feature two new songs from co-creators Bono and the Edge.
In a joint statement, the U2 rockers, who told "60 Minutes" that they insisted on Taymor's involvement when they took on "Spider-Man," praised the "Lion King" visionary as "a gifted and imaginative director," while affirming their commitment to improving the show.
"Spider-Man," which recently broke the record for most preview performances in Broadway history, will push back its official opening for the sixth time to "an evening in early summer, 2011," according to the statement.
The statement did not say whether the show would suspend preview performances over the next few weeks as had been reported. The showtimes were still listed on the "Spider-man" Ticketmaster web calendar as of Thursday morning.
But a reported snafu at Wednesday night's preview performance suggested that the producers might be wise to take the time off.
Audience members told the New York Daily News that the performance had to be stopped after a technical mishap foiled an aerial fight scene between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin.
"It's something you could see at a high school in the Midwest," one attendee who left at intermission, Ellie Atwood, 26, told the paper. "Not on Broadway."
