Rialto Chatter: Julie Taymor Looking to Take Back Broadway with Beatles Musical?

Julie Taymor could be in the midst of plotting her big Broadway comeback.

The New York Post's Michael Reidel reports that the Tony-winning director, known for THE LION KING and the tumultuous SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK, has been approached by Marty Bandier of Sony/ATV to create a new musical featuring the songs of the Beatles. Sources insist that the project will not be in any way related to the 2007 film ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, which Taymor helmed - and also happened to feature songs from the Beatles catalogue.

"They want to come up with an original musical inspired by the Beatles' songs," an unnamed source told the publication. "They're aiming higher than a catalog show, which is why they're talking to Julie."

Taymor's last Broadway endeavor was the oft-controversial 'SPIDER-MAN,' which eventually made national headlines following web of scandals which included rewrites, a hiatus, and numerous injuries.

Julie Taymor, winner of the 1998 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical and for Best Costumes for The Lion King, made her Broadway debut in 1996 with Juan Darién: A Carnival Mask (Lincoln Center), nominated for five Tonys. Other theatre work includes The Green Bird (New Victory Theater, La Jolla Playhouse and Cort Theatre on Broadway); Titus Andronicus, The Tempest and The Taming of the Shrew (Theatre for a New Audience); co-adaptor and director of The Transposed Heads (Lincoln Center and American Music Theater Festival); Liberty's Taken (Castle Hill Festival); and designer and choreographer of The King Stag (American Repertory Theater).

Taymor's opera direction credits include Grendel (L.A. Opera and Lincoln Center Festival), The Magic Flute (Maggio Musicale, Florence), Oedipus Rex (Saito Kinen Festival, Japan), Salomé (Kirov Opera), and The Flying Dutchman (L.A. Opera). Her film works include Titus (1999), the Oscar-winning Frida (2002), Across the Universe (2006), The Tempest (2010) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (2014).

A major retrospective of Taymor's career has been featured at the Wexner Center for the Arts, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and the Field Museum of Natural History. Costumes from The Lion King are in the collections of the Smithsonian and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

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