'Spider-Man' musical gets a tell-all from its script writer
Playwright Glen Berger of 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark' chronicles the show's troubled production in a book to be released Nov. 5.
Playwright Glen Berger of 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark' chronicles the show's troubled production in a book to be released Nov. 5.
The behind-the-scenes story of how the controversial musical 鈥淪pider-Man: Turn Off the Dark鈥� came to be is revealed in an upcoming book by Glen Berger, one of the show鈥檚 script writers.
The book, 鈥淪ong of Spider-Man,鈥� is scheduled to be released Nov. 5, but some of the stories within it are already public knowledge after The New York Times obtained an advance copy of Berger鈥檚 work.
In 鈥淪pider-Man,鈥� Berger discusses his difficult relationship with the musical鈥檚 director, Julie Taymor, and says the working relationship between Taymor, the show鈥檚 producers, and composers Bono and the Edge of the band U2 was fraught.
Berger writes that he was told to write a new, more upbeat version of the show, titled 鈥淧lan X,鈥� by Bono, the Edge, and producers without Taymor鈥檚 knowledge. (Portions of this treatment were incorporated into the show after the director was fired.) Meanwhile, Berger says Bono cut down Taymor in meetings and e-mail exchanges with others and a producer took away Taymor鈥檚 tickets for opening night. A musical supervisor who gave her a ticket then stopped having 鈥渁ctive involvement with the show,鈥� Berger writes.聽
Berger told Newsday he realized soon after the show鈥檚 opening in 2011 that he had unique insight to 鈥渁 really, really wild story. It is a story of great ideals that fall short. Really, no one else could write the story.... I wanted to be able to look back at this moment with no regrets, artistically and ethically.鈥�
He said that while his relationship with Taymor was harmed by the production, she recently called him and 鈥渨e wound up talking for hours,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was totally friendly.鈥�
鈥淪pider-Man,鈥� which is the most expensive musical in history, is still running on Broadway but received mixed reviews and several of its cast members have been injured over the course of production, including dancer Daniel Curry, who hurt his foot last month during a show.
A representative for Taymor and one for the 鈥淪pider-Man鈥� producers told the NYT their clients have no comment about the book.