Friday, March 29, 2024

“Spider Man” Producers Slime Taymor; Where is Bono?

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So “Spider Man: Turn off the Dark” is a year old, technically. It began previews a year ago yesterday. In Monday’s New York Times (and online Sunday night), producer Michael Cohl goes out of his way to be nasty to the show’s creator, Julie Taymor. The Times’s Patrick Healy is only too happy to help him. Why not? Taymor has been kicked to the curb. Although she worked on the show for years, and most of its structure and invention belongs to her, she’s been paid next to nothing.

It’s hard to imagine at this point that Bono and the Edge, fighters for and defenders of human rights around the world, aren’t outraged. They wrote the music for “Spider Man.” They are amply aware that Taymor’s book remains the backbone of the show. Her costumes and characters, her vision, are still the underpinning for the show. The Tony committee has ruled that only Taymor is eligible to be considered Best Director from “Spider Man.” And yet, the bile keeps churning. How about paying this woman, and making peace?

The fact is, Bono and the Edge were not there one year ago. They were on tour. Maybe they didn’t like what they saw when they finally arrived at the Foxwoods Theater in December. But it’s time for them to step up and defend their lead artist. Sit down and watch “Spider Man.” From a year ago, nearly everything that Taymor created remains in the show: Arachne and her weaving–the show’s best number; the Green Goblin, his costume, and humor; Spider Man–played by Reeve Carney, whom Taymor cast; Peter Parker’s schoolmates, his crazy bounce off the wall bedroom, the pas de deux with Arachne, the black out scene of Peter and Mary Jane on the fire escape. And so on.

There’s a song in “Spider Man” that I called “Say it Now”–(ironically its real title is “I Just Can’t Walk Away”). But it’s time for Bono, the humanitarian, to “say it now” and come to Taymor’s aide. Anything else is unseemly.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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