NY suit over ‘Spider-Man’ musical airs in court

Fil-Am actress T.V. Carpio (second from left) and the rest of the “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” cast led by (from right) Patrick Page, Jennifer Damiano and Reeve Carney earn a thunderous applause during curtain call. videograb

NEW YORK — A judge has warned lawyers at the end of a two-hour hearing that she may narrow the scope of a lawsuit stemming from the Broadway production of “Spider-Man.”

Judge Katherine Forrest commented after a lawyer for producers of the musical urged her to toss out fired director Julie Taymor’s claim that the current production violates her copyright on a three-page outline of the original musical script. The judge also must decide the fate of counterclaims brought against Taymor by the show’s producers.

Taymor was fired in 2011 as the $75 million production sputtered despite three months of preview performances. The musical was rewritten and it successfully reopened. Taymor sued the producers in November and they countersued. The producers say Taymor’s treatment was based on pre-existing “Spider-Man” comics and films.