Spider-Man gets a squashing as £48m crisis show is opened at last

As the £48 million production finally opened last night, it was declared a storming success by the former US president Bill Clinton. Sadly, the critics did not agree.

The show, with music by Bono and The Edge from U2, had played no fewer than 180 preview performances before it finally opened at the Foxwoods Theater in Times Square, New York.

Other guests at the stellar opening included Robert De Niro, Matt Damon, Lou Reed, Cindy Crawford, Liam Neeson and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Mr Clinton said: "It works. The sets are great, the choreography is great. I love it. The story really hangs together."

Bono said: "Things got chaotic but it's all in the past now. This is one of the most wonderful things I've seen."

The critics were much less kind. Ben Brantley of the New York Times wrote: "This singing comic book is no longer the ungodly, indecipherable mess it was in February. It's just a bore."

Bloomberg News said: "What was an interesting train wreck is now just an ordinary, if uncommonly expensive one." The New York Daily News sniffed: "Spider-Man isn't a great gourmet meal but it's a tasty diversion".

In a continuation of the production's backstage drama, the original director Julie Taymor also attended the opening night. She was fired in March after the opening night, originally set for February last year, was delayed six times - on top of spiralling costs, technical problems and dire early reviews.

Her union is pursuing an arbitration claim against the show's producers for failing to pay royalties to Taymor, whose previous stage credits include The Lion King. A spate of injuries to cast and crew included a 35ft fall by stuntman Chris Tierney, which left him with a fractured skull and cracked vertebrae, and the departure of Natalie Mendoza as the villain Arachne after she suffered concussion from being hit in the head with a cable.

A new creative team, led by director Philip William McKinley, shut the production for three weeks to rework it.

The show now boasts in its promotional material: "Reimagined! New Story! New Music!" The role of the Green Goblin has been expanded, the unpopular Geek Chorus removed and the romance between Peter Parker and MJ increased.

Spider-Man even makes light of the production woes. The Green Goblin sings: "I'm a $65 million circus tragedy. Well, more like $75 million."

Producers had hoped to bring the show to London a year after opening - but many theatre insiders doubt it will ever transfer to the West End.