How pathetic that Taymor is being dumped or forced out by producers and BONO when its the SCORE that is the weakest worst part of this show. It's a musical without music!! It is junk, crap, tuneless meandering garbage. It makes American Idiot sound like My Fair Lady. The cool kids have kicked the nerd out the group and smugly go on. A new book would help but a new SCORE might really save this debacle. Shame on Bono and the Edge for throwing Taymor under the bus when they are far more responsible than she for this embarrassment!!
How is Bono more responsible? The show is a concept BY Taymor, with characters written BY Taymor, a design team picked BY Taymor, a skyrocketing budget because of Taymor and has stayed an incomprehensible mess for over two years because of Taymor's insistence that she created high art.
Bono and the Edge wrote a bad score. That's their one crime. Well, that and the pretentious superiority complex that made them decide to not want to change a bit of the score. Taymor has the same complex, though.
"Sing the words, Patti!!!!" Stephen Sondheim to Patti LuPone.
Not that she isn't (wasn't) the captain of the ship, but didn't Bono request her to be the director? They could have brought in Aaron Sorkin to fix (overhaul) that crazy book but those songs could never have been improved.
Wasn't Taymor, way back when, approached by Bono and The Edge?
The problem isn't Bono's (mostly forgettable) score, which DOES have a few good tunes in it.
The problem is the overall vision, and that insipid book... both from Taymor.
As to why she went packing... well, thats what happens when you're show is in trouble and you refuse to make the necessary changes, and refuse help. Ego can be a problem.
Ya, I think BONO wrote a bad score under Taymor's guidance.
"I never had theatre producers run after me. Some people want to make more Broadway shows out of movies. But Elliot and I aren't going to do Batman: The Musical." - Julie Taymor 1999
Taymor herself was quoted as saying that a good book and a good score were not necessary to have a hit show. If that isn't damning enough, I don't know what is.
Cheyenne Jackson tickled me. AFTER ordering SoMMS a drink but NOT tickling him, and hanging out with Girly in his dressing room (where he DIDN'T tickle her) but BEFORE we got married. To others. And then he tweeted Boobs. He also tweeted he's good friends with some chick on "The Voice" who just happens to be good friends with Tink's ex. And I'm still married. Oh, and this just in: "Pettiness, spite, malice ....Such ugly emotions... So sad." - After Eight, talking about MEEEEEEEE!!! I'm so honored! :-)
Honestly, I think Julie is going to be left alone for quite some time.
"All our dreams can come true -- if we have the courage to pursue them." -- Walt Disney
We must have different Gods. My God said "do to others what you would have them do to you". Your God seems to have said "My Way or the Highway".
Look on the bright side, Encores will have something to produce in 10 years.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
On the bright side, Ken Mandelbaum now has the perfect focus for his Not Since Carrie sequel.
And re: the score, it seems that throughout this entire project, Taymor got her way on everything she wanted. If she didn't like the score, she would've had them change it.
"Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos."-Stephen Sondheim
This site so needs to add a like button on the posts!
"All I ask of you is one thing: please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen."
Conan O'Brien
The OP is kidding, right? Julie Taymor was in charge of this mess, she was steering the boat. Her vision, her crap-ass book, her uncontrolled spending, and her unwillingness to change that is causing this boat to sink.
She would have been first in line to take credit had this thing worked out, only fair she's first in front of the firing squad. She's clearly unable to put her ego aside, tbh I'm not sure how anyone manages work with her, or continues to do so. Right now The Lion King is looking like one hell of a fluke. You would think that between this and The Tempest getting an absolute kicking (every complaint about The Tempest seems to be almost entirely applicable to Spiderman too)something would click and she'd stop to listen for a moment. I can't see how they're going to overhaul this in a few weeks, I mean it need to be completely restructured, re-scored and re-written right?
Unfortunately, most of us will not be able to hear how bad the score is as an album cast album is not happening
The Cirque Du Soliel people should have been on board from day one for the flying sequences. Do the producers wants to basically start all over again and pour more money into this as every aspect is the problem.
whyohwhy - Julie is the DIRECTOR. I do not know how you can say the score is the biggest problem when there is a plot that makes no sense. I personally do not think the music is that terrible. Bono wrote the music. That's it. Taymor directed and concieved most of this show therefore she is the one who should be held responsible.
"There’s nothing quite like the power and the passion of Broadway music. "
CBS) Reports are swirling that "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" director Julie Taymor may be leaving the troubled Broadway production - and rocker Bono may be the one to replace her.
According to The Daily, Bono and U2 guitarist The Edge, who helped create the show and recruited Taymor as director, saw the show in New York after returning from their tour of South Africa. Bono suggested some improvements, but she wasn't receptive.
"She's an artist, and she's proprietary and territorial. She was standing in the way of fixing it," a source said. "Bono will do some more work on the show. He really feels it can be a masterpiece, as opposed to a survivability test for young actors. Bono and Edge will make it more of a Broadway musical."
"Taymor didn't want to make changes. Her attitude was 'take it or leave it'" another insider said. "When she lost the trust of Bono, that was it."
All hatred or dislike aside, I do genuinely feel bad for what is happening to this show and Julie Taymor. Regardless of how terrible this show is, she still put a large amount of time and work into this show. To have to say goodbye to it is probably very hard for her. I hope the person coming in has a clearer vision and is able to make the necessary changes to make this show entertaining.
Julie Taymor bears primary resposibility for the mess this show is. If only she hadn't been so stubborn in refusing to make the necessary changes.
And yet I feel sorry that it has come to this for her. To have spent that much time and effort on a project and to have it end this way is very sad, especially for one as talented as she.
I hope she can assess what went wrong here and learn from the experience. I wish her success next time out.