Tony Award-winning actor Alan Cumming has been forced to drop out of Julie Taymor’s Broadway musical "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" due to scheduling conflicts with his CBS series "The Good Wife," reports Entertainment Weekly.
The Scottish star was set to play the villainous Green Goblin in the long-delayed production, but with Cumming’s "Good Wife" role expanding into a series regular, he was forced to make a difficult decision.
Cumming isn’t the first actor to abandon "Spider-Man." Evan Rachel Wood ("Across the Universe") had been cast as Peter Parker’s love interest Mary Jane Watson but scheduling conflicts also forced her to drop out of the show last month. That leaves Spider-Man himself, Reeve Carney, as the only lead left.
It remains unclear what this means for reportedly $50 million production of "Spider-Man," which was originally scheduled to begin performances on Broadway in February. Officially, it remains scheduled to open later this year at the Hilton Theater with music and lyrics written by U2’s Bono and the Edge.
A spokesman for the production confirmed Cummings’ departure in a statement to the New York Times. The statement said: “Because of a scheduling conflict, Alan Cumming will not be playing the role of the Green Goblin in ‘Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark’ on Broadway. Casting and a production schedule for ‘Spider-Man’ will be announced soon."
Cumming, who previously worked with Taymor on "Titus," will soon appear in the director’s adaptation of "The Tempest," which is set to be released later this year.
