Spider-Man: Turn Off The Taymor? UPDATED 9PM EST

The New York Daily News is reporting that Julie Taymor is out of driver’s seat on the continually troubled Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark musical – and *shock!* there will be more delays:

Producers of “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” are planning to temporarily shut down the troubled musical for a major overhaul, but the show will go on without star director Julie Taymor, the Daily News has learned.

Taymor, 58, has walked away from the show she co-wrote and worked relentlessly to bring to Broadway, a source close to the production said Tuesday night.

“Taymor is out. She’s left the building,” the source told The News.

Producers of the beleaguered $65 million play plan to shut down preview performances for two to three weeks to retool and hold new rehearsals, multiple sources told The News.

“I will say about these producers, they will do whatever it takes. They want a great show,” a member of the production staff said Tuesday night. “When others would have given up, they will not.”

Plans being worked out Tuesday also call for the show’s official opening night at the Foxwoods Theatre, scheduled for Tuesday, to be postponed for three months, according to the sources.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again.  The universe is against this show.

UPDATE – 9PM

Opening night delayed until summer.  Taymor still attached “creatively.”  More info from Broadway World:

Lead producers Michael Cohl and Jeremiah J. Harris announced today that SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark has a newly expanded creative team in place. The team will be implementing a new plan to make significant and exciting revisions to the production. Opening night (previously set for March 15, 2011) has been rescheduled to an evening in early summer, 2011. This amended schedule will allow the time necessary to execute the plan, which will include revisions to the script.

We’re told that a shutdown of the production is still in the cards, and will be revealed at a later date.

Producers Cohl and Harris said, in a joint statement, “Julie Taymor is not leaving the creative team. Her vision has been at the heart of this production since its inception and will continue to be so. 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. We cannot exaggerate how technically difficult it is to make such changes to a show of this complexity, so it’s with great pride that we announce that Phil McKinley is joining the creative team. Phil is hugely experienced with productions of this scale and is exactly what SPIDER-MAN Turn off the Dark needs right now.” Bono and The Edge added, “Julie is a truly gifted and imaginative director. This is an epic ride, and the standing ovations we have seen from the preview audiences have confirmed our absolute faith in the project. We are listening and learning and, as a result, we have a couple of new songs we are very very excited about putting into the mix. All of us on the creative team are committed to taking SPIDER-MAN to the next level. We are confident it will reach its full potential and when it does, it will open.”

–George Berryman!