Image Credit: Joan Marcus
Promoting tonight’s official opening of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark – the long-delayed, $70 million musical – composers Bono and the Edge talked openly with The New York Times about the troubles that turned their show into one of the most notorious productions in Broadway history. In an interview with Patrick Healy, the U2 band mates reveal that original director Julie Taymor exited after refusing a simpler script referred to as “Plan X.” Scheduling conflicts with U2 tour dates also kept Bono and the Edge away from the show during its critical rehearsal period, leading them to lose control of the show while Taymor struggled to realize her own artistic vision. And while the show has been confirmed “frozen” and has performed for critics, Bono and the Edge insist that they are still working on parts of it, specifically the rivalry between Peter Parker and the Green Goblin.
Stay tuned for EW’s review of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, which will be published this evening after the show’s official bow.
I think what irritates me most is that fixing this mess may have forced them to delay Songs of Ascent until next year.
I sincerely wish them the best.
The lack of comments here is telling…. This show was an ambitious undertaking from the beginning. I commend the producers for even trying to put something like this together. Unfortunately, everyone loves to watch a train wreck, so the media worked hard to turn the show’s troubles into Broadway’s biggest train wreck. So, the media got their story but I wonder if they got it right.
…I don’t know if the media is responsible for the injured actors. I’m pretty sure the show trainwrecked itself just fine without help from the media (who, admittedly, totally reveled in the train wreck…but can’t be blamed for it).
Based on thae number performed on the Tony Awards, it looks like a snoozefest.