Paul Simon Turn Off the Dark bring back memories!

Paul Simon says the troubled Broadway production Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark “reminds me a lot of what I went through”.

The crooner wrote and produced 1998’s ill-fated The Capeman, which closed after an initial run of 68 shows and lost $11 million. The $70 million Spider-Man, Broadway’s most expensive show ever, has been plagued by cast accidents, technical malfunctions, multiple delays and scathing reviews.

Director Julie Taymor recently was ousted, and the show will be shut down April 19 and overhauled for a new June 14 opening date.

“I wish I’d seen it before they start to dismantle what Julie Taymor did,” Simon said.

“I remember having a conversation with Julie about six months after The Capeman closed. She said to me, ‘How could you make that mistake of previewing in New York?’ I didn’t have any choice. I couldn’t afford to go out of town. It’s ironic that she fell into the same trap, but she had no choice because of the huge technical aspects. It’s not like she could put the show up in St. Louis and move it to New York. My heart goes out to Julie, who’s very gifted. I feel bad for all of them.

“You really need a guide. For people coming out of popular music, writing songs that further the plot is different from writing whatever is on your mind. It’s a different discipline. I don’t know what Bono and The Edge have accomplished because I haven’t heard much about the music. (The press) just focuses on the flying.”

“Performing one show at night and rehearsing another show in the afternoon is exhausting,” he adds. “We tried it with The Capeman. You have to do it if you want to make changes, but it’s stressful to learn one thing and at night do the thing you’re supposed to forget three weeks later.”