Forget Amanda Donohoe and Emmerdale - this week's hot hot hot showbiz news is that Peter Parker could be donning his eight tap shoes as soon as 2009 for Spider-Man - The Musical!.

That's according to IESB.net which says Marvel big cheese David Maisel earlier this week confirmed the exciting news, on the proviso he can find a Broadway theatre to stage the extravaganza.

For those of you sceptical that Spider-Man will translate adequately to the musical stage will be relieved to know that the score comes from none other than Bono and The Edge, and so should show The Lion King how it's done with fabulous arachnid sustain guitar anthems and oblique references to developing world poverty.

Further details are not forthcoming, but IESB.net cites 2007 casting calls for the then embryonic project which describe a character dubbed "Arachne" as "a beautiful, boastful young woman turned into a spider for her hubris and lack of respect for the gods" who "subsequently appears to Peter Parker and the audience as in turn a powerful spider-woman who comes from another time to inspire Peter; an otherworldly lover; a bride; a terrifying (and sexy) dark goddess of vengeance; a dance partner in a charged and violent spiders [sic] dance of death; and, finally, a lonely, fragile young woman".

Terrific. Put us down for no tickets whatsoever. Thanks. ®

Related stories

• US financial meltdown hits canine thesps hard (25 September 2008)
• Facebook - The Movie! Exclusive storyboard peek (5 September 2008)
• Coming soon: Facebook - The Movie! (28 August 2008)
• Marvel launches digicomics initiative (13 November 2007)