Bono 'saves troubled Spider-Man musical'

U2 frontman Bono has reportedly rescued the cash-strapped Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark musical by arranging financing to keep the show afloat.

Bono and the band's guitarist The Edge penned the music to accompany the Broadway performance, which was announced to much fanfare last year. Development of the production is believed to have cost around $45m (£27.21m) so far, but work on the musical was put on hold last month amid rumours of financial troubles.

Bosses were forced to issue a statement denying that the show had been scrapped altogether, after reports that crew and castmembers, including lead Evan Rachel Wood, had been released from their contracts.

New York Post columnist Michael Riedel wrote: "Bono's too smart to put his own money in the show, but word on the street is that he's tapped into his vast network of rich friends and business associates to restart production.

"Bono feeds half of Africa. So raising a few more million for Spider-Man shouldn't be too difficult."