Banners advertising the Broadway play "Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark" shine in front of the Foxwoods Theater in New York
Banners advertising the Broadway play "Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark" shine in front of the Foxwoods Theater in New York December 23, 2010. The ambitious, high-tech $65 million musical -- the most expensive Broadway show ever -- has endured four delays in its opening and four injuries to its cast. Reuters

Breakthroughs are often prefaced by spectacular failure.

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has proven that mantra holds true for a Broadway shows, too. After facing several complications during the flying sequences involved in the show's production, Spider-Man has bounced back and earned $2.9 million during the holiday week. The sum earned Spider-Man the highest grossing Broadway show in a single week. Wicked, the musical based on the book with a similar name, was the previous record holder with $2.7 million in one week.

Five people were injured early in the production of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. The New York State Department of Labor inspected each of the 27 flying sequences in the show after two actors were injured during the same sequence. One actor broke both of his wrists during the sequence; the other broke both of his feet.

In addition to the two early injuries, one actress, Natalie Mendoza, who was originally cast as Arachne, the superheroine, suffered a concussion after being hit by a piece of equipment in the wings she wore. Her replacement, T.V. Carpio, was later sidelined after experiencing whiplash during a battle scene.

The last of the major injuries was experienced by Christopher Tierney, who was cast as a stunt double for the lead role, Spider-Man. Tierney fell more than 20 feet off of a piece of scenery after his harness was not connected to the safety cord. He fell into the orchestra pit and was hospitalized. The show was cancelled with seven minutes left.

But as they say in show business, The show must go on, and it did in the case of Spider-Man the musical's long-term plan. The show, which cost $75 million to produce, eventually began running regularly, and it's slowly working toward recouping the cash invested in the creation of the show. The team behind Spider-Man hopes to attract repeat visitors by adding additional scenes and incorporating new songs, according to Daily Mail. They're also considering bringing the show to other cities.