NEW YORK (AP) Reeve Carney, the actor who played the hero in "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" for three years on Broadway, returned to his dressing room to clean it out Monday, a day after bidding an emotional goodbye to a show he still calls "amazing."
"It's really hard to leave, man. I've got to be honest with you," he said from inside the Foxwoods Theatre.
Like a varsity quarterback returning to fetch his old sweats after graduation, Carney returned to rescue some guitar cases and shake hands for the last time as Peter Parker and Spider-Man. On Saturday, he boards a flight to Dublin for his next adventure: The filming of a Showtime drama.
"I'm definitely overwhelmed emotionally," Carney said. "I'm obviously so thrilled to have the opportunity to try something completely different, but at the same time I'm going to miss this place and these people in particular so much."
The actor was visibly teary eyed at the curtain call as he thanked original director Julie Taymor, songwriters Bono and The Edge, producers Michael Cohl and Jere Harris, and the entire company. He symbolically handed over the hero's mask to the new Spidey, Justin Matthew Sargent, who played Drew in Broadway's "Rock of Ages." Outside the stage door, he took 45 minutes to sign autographs and pose for photos and then went to party. "It was nice to sleep in," he said with a laugh.