‘Spider-Man’ Director May Face Her Own Exit
By PATRICK HEALY and KEVIN FLYNN
The producers of Broadway’s “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” were negotiating on Monday with their director, Julie Taymor, for her to work with a newly expanded creative team to fix the critically derided $65 million musical or possibly leave the show, according to people who work on “Spider-Man” or have been briefed on the negotiations.
The artistic direction ahead for “Spider-Man” — twice as expensive as any show in Broadway history — involves more decisions than just Ms. Taymor’s future, according to these people, who spoke anonymously because the producers have insisted that no information be disclosed about the talks.
The producers and Ms. Taymor and her co-creators, Bono and the Edge of U2, are also discussing how extensively to overhaul the script and music; how many outside consultants should be hired, and who; and when to open the show, which set a record at its Sunday matinee for the most preview performances ever, its 98th. (The previous record was set in 1969 by Jackie Mason’s “A Teaspoon Every Four Hours.”)
Ken Sunshine, one of the spokesmen for the production, said in response to several questions on Monday night: “We are not commenting on speculation.”
The opening night for “Spider-Man” has already been delayed five times; the current opening date, March 15, seems all but certain to fall, since by Monday night theater critics had not been invited to review it (normally invitations are sent about two weeks before). All of the people who spoke about the negotiations said that the producers now viewed a March 15 opening as unlikely. Many critics, in fact, issued reviews after the previously scheduled opening night of Feb. 7. Ben Brantley, the chief theater critic of The New York Times, wrote that “Spider-Man” may “rank among the worst” musicals in history.
For all the decisions to be made, the role of Ms. Taymor is the most freighted one. A Tony Award winner for the musical blockbuster “The Lion King” and regarded in some quarters as a visually creative genius, Ms. Taymor was recruited in 2002 as director by Bono and the Edge. The three have stuck together through the thrills of giving fresh life to the Spider-Man story in their dialogue-writing sessions, the near-bankruptcy of the show in 2009, and through the long preview period, which was marred by serious injuries to two actors during performances in December.
The people who spoke about the negotiations said that, throughout Monday, they were not sure if Ms. Taymor would stay or go as director. One person briefed on the negotiations said that Bono, who has been away for much of the show’s preview period, had taken a direct role in the talks.
What is certain, the people said, was that the producers saw the potential for major changes to the musical, which they hope to mount for years in productions around the world, and that Ms. Taymor either needed to accept help in making those changes or face a different outcome, potentially her exit from the show. The names of multiple directors, choreographers and playwrights have been ricocheting around the Broadway community for days now. It was not clear on Monday who would be hired.
By turns frustrated and determined, exhausted and engaged, Ms. Taymor has also alternated between acknowledging that the production had serious artistic flaws and insisting that she have more of a chance to improve it, the people who spoke in interviews said.
Ms. Taymor, in one of her few public comments about “Spider-Man” since her last stretch of interviews in mid-January, said in a speech on Wednesday that she felt she was “in the crucible and the fire of transformation” with “Spider-Man.” Addressing more than 1,000 people at the TED 2011 conference in Long Beach, Calif., Ms. Taymor indicated that she planned to continue working on the show, describing the creative process as a “trial by fire” for herself and her company. She did not suggest that she might leave the production.
Of “Spider-Man,” she said in her speech: “Anyone who creates knows — when it’s not quite there. Where it hasn’t quite become the phoenix or the burnt char. And I am right there.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/t...including-her-exit.html?_r=2&pagewanted=print
