Bono, The Edge and Julie Taymor hugged each other and were all smiles as they posed for photos on the red carpet before Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark officially opened, a very public reconciliation from the creators who fell out as the show's problems mounted.
"We absolutely love Julie and always have. As artists, we've been very, very close. She poured her whole life into this project," Bono said outside the Foxwoods Theatre. "Tonight she's here to host it."
For her part, Taymor was gracious, saying the $A65.81 million show was an attempt to do something different and difficult.
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"I'm delighted to be here tonight," she said. I'm very proud of it."
Taymor, the Tony Award-winning co-writer and director, was fired from Spider-Man after delays, accidents, poor audience reaction and money woes turned the musical into a punch line. The show was reworked from top to bottom and officially opened after a record-setting preview period.
Some critics couldn't wait to sink their teeth into the fresh Broadway offering. The Hollywood Reporter published its review online several hours before the 10pm embargo, prompting a furious response from producers.
"Everyone in this production has waited a very long time to get to this point, and it is incredibly disrespectful that certain members of the media won't wait a few more hours to post their reviews. We trust that no other outlets will stoop so low," it said.
Among the celebrities on hand for opening night were President Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea, Matt Damon, Barbara Walters, Steve Martin, Liam Neeson, Vanessa Redgrave, Spike Lee, Andrew Lloyd Webber and John McEnroe.
"These guys have persevered," McEnroe said, before using a tennis analogy. "It's like a long five-setter but they're still in it."
The principal cast - Reeve Carney as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Jennifer Damiano as Mary Jane Watson, T.V. Carpio as a spider-woman named Arachne, and Patrick Page as the Green Goblin - have been with the production since the tortured beginning.
The show's planned opening was initially set for February 18, 2010, but financial issues forced producers to suspend work. A new opening was set for December 21, but that was pushed back to January 11, then again to February 7 and then to March 15.
Spider-Man has broken the record for the longest preview period in Broadway history.
Injuries to several cast members - including a 35-foot fall by a stunt actor playing the web-slinger that left him with a skull fracture and cracked vertebrae - have marred the production, as well as the defection of lead actress, Australian Natalie Mendoza, after she suffered a concussion.
Many theatre critics grew impatient and their reviews that appeared in early February - a violation of the established agreement by critics to wait for opening night to weigh in - were mostly savage pans.
Producers finally intervened in March, firing Taymor and shutting down the show for four weeks to retool. Taymor was replaced by Philip William McKinley, who directed the Hugh Jackman musical The Boy From Oz, in 2003.
