Julie Taymore, "You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a very successful show."
Julie Taymore, "You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a very successful show."
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/04
Julie Taymore, "You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a very successful show."#1
Posted: 1/24/11 at 12:51pm
After reading this article, I am really at a loss for words.
With her train of thought, why don't we just put a bunch of Cirque shows on Broadway and screw everything else.
"Taymor acknowledges that the show remains a work in progress, subject to technical breakdowns and in need of narrative improvements. She installed a new finale last week she characterizes as "uplifting, exciting and fulfilling."
"We have to do a show that we're satisfied with," Taymor said. "And at a certain point you are never satisfied with a show. Even if you open, you still want to make changes. There's just a point where you do what you can get done. We can go on and on and on" with changes.
So far, ticket buyers appear to be much more forgiving than the media."
Full Story
Julie Taymore, 'You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a very successful show.'#2
Posted: 1/24/11 at 12:56pm
"I would love that the ticket sales will prove that it has a life," Taymor said. "Because I feel responsible to the people who put money in it." And even if the show's story might never be as clear as she wants it to be, that may not ultimately matter. "You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book," she said, "and have a very successful show."
Bitch you crazy.
Julie Taymore, 'You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a very successful show.'#2
Posted: 1/24/11 at 1:00pmThese jokes and snarky comments just write themselves when you're given such rich source material.
Julie Taymore, 'You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a very successful show.'#3
Posted: 1/24/11 at 1:11pm
I knew there would be a thread on this after I read that quote.
As for Oprah raving about it...Well of course she did. She was sitting next to Bono on her show in Australia when she raved about it.
Julie Taymore, 'You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a very successful show.'#4
Posted: 1/24/11 at 1:13pmSo Bono stuck his hand up her ass and manipulated her like a puppet???
Julie Taymore, 'You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a very successful show.'#5
Posted: 1/24/11 at 1:19pmNo, she just kissed his.
Julie Taymore, 'You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a very successful show.'#6
Posted: 1/24/11 at 1:20pm
Crazy yes, but also right. Proof? Cats, Phantom, Mamma Mia, Les Miserable, Miss Saigon, Smokey Joe's Café, Hair, Oh! Calcutta, Movin' Out, Noise/Funk, etc.
Yes, some of these had books (or something called a book), but none are widely respected or admired as such.
Julie Taymore, 'You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a very successful show.'#7
Posted: 1/24/11 at 2:14pm
What is the issue here? She says, "You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a very successful show.". She's right. You can. Who's to say that a Cirque-type show couldn't play for several years on Broadway?
Personally, I don't see "Spider-Man" as that type of all-spectacle show. It's a musical, with a full book and score (although the book gets a bit muddled in Act II, I think). It's a hybrid really, a musical with spectacle elements included (versus the other way around). Perhaps she perceives "Spider-Man" as being 100% spectacle; I don't, though.
In any case, yes, an all-spectacle show could survive in theory. If it sells, then it sells. It's a business.
Julie Taymore, 'You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a very successful show.'#8
Posted: 1/24/11 at 2:15pm
Every musical has a book. Cats won the Tony for best book, and the musical contains no dialogue.
The book is not just the dialogue- it is also the character and plot structure- the "architect" of the musical.
As Julie herself is credited as a co-bookwriter for Spider-Man, I do wonder if she's telling people that the book is not important, or that it's totally fine that her dialogue and story sucks.
Julie Taymore, 'You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a very successful show.'#9
Posted: 1/24/11 at 2:23pm
Taymor is correct that a bookless spectacle can be successful, though I couldn't find anything that implies she meant there should be nothing else on Broadway. The problem is, Spider-Man does have a book and more importantly, has to have a book because he is an established character and as such, requires a plot. Otherwise, his character ceases to exist. It just has a really bad book. I get that she was trying to create a hybrid show similar to that of Lord of the Rings, but Lord of the Rings was completely coherent (more so than the films, if you ask me).
Every musical has a book.
Almost true. There are many revues that don't have books. But essentially everything else does.
Broadway Star Joined: 2/15/04
Julie Taymore, 'You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a very successful show.'#10
Posted: 1/24/11 at 2:29pm
I have just lost all respect for this woman...
Thanks for the cheap shot at those of us who enjoy a good story Julie.
Julie Taymore, 'You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a very successful show.'#11
Posted: 1/24/11 at 2:32pm
Oh, the Tony, the Tony, the Tony - always cited as proof of inherent quality (like that dang Pulitzer).
Yes, Cats won Best Book that year. Its competition? A Doll's Life, Merlin, My One and Only (which, silly and fluffy as it was, still had, in my opinion, a better book), Cleavage, Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?, Play Me a Country Song, and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
Not a banner year for the book musical.
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/9/04
Julie Taymore, 'You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a very successful show.'#12
Posted: 1/24/11 at 2:39pm
Can sheer spectacle with a flimsy book and a crappy score succeed on Broadway? Yes.
Does Taymor pointing this out suggest to me that this show is anything but a vain orgy for the moneyed, cynical, and lazy? No.
Julie Taymore, 'You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a very successful show.'#13
Posted: 1/24/11 at 2:50pm
"With her train of thought, why don't we just put a bunch of Cirque shows on Broadway and screw everything else."
They may not have a book, but all Cirque shows have a story. Of course you may not be able to follow them all the time unless you read the program. And performers don't sustain headline making injuries in Cirque shows.
Julie Taymore, 'You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a very successful show.'#14
Posted: 1/24/11 at 2:57pm
"Crazy yes, but also right. Proof? Cats, Phantom, Mamma Mia, Les Miserable, Miss Saigon, Smokey Joe's Café, Hair, Oh! Calcutta, Movin' Out, Noise/Funk, etc."
Outside of Smokey Joe's Cafe & Noise/Funk; these shows actually had a somewhat solid book. Spiderman's "book" still has a several chapters missing with no ending.
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/04
Julie Taymore, 'You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a very successful show.'#15
Posted: 1/24/11 at 3:59pm
uncaged,
I thought about that after I posted the original post...
The Cirque shows actually do have a story line. Much more than Spider Man, apparently.
Julie Taymore, 'You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a ve#16
Posted: 1/24/11 at 4:19pmPhantom's book, however flawed, is still a book. It still contains characters, however underdeveloped and poorly written they are. There's a story there, however shallow it may be. It might be a success because of Hal Prince and the designers only (Okay, and Lloyd Webber, despite what I think of his work). I disagree with Taymor's quote very much. You need some sort of, to quote Terrance McNally, "architecture" to make your musical work. You can't just have flying, pyrotechnics and colorful costumes and sets. Sorry Julie.
Julie Taymore, 'You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a ve#17
Posted: 1/24/11 at 4:39pm
"I disagree with Taymor's quote very much. You need some sort of ... 'architecture' to make your musical work. You can't just have flying, pyrotechnics and colorful costumes and sets."
Correct---if the show is a musical. But if you have just spectacle alone, and no book, there's no reason something like that couldn't be successful. It wouldn't be a "musical" per se, but something else. I don't know if Julie thinks that "Spider-Man" is something other than a "musical". There have been hints that she does. But I think she's wrong. It is one. It has a full book and score, not matter how flawed. To me, it's a hybrid, a musical with elements of spectacle. It isn't Cirque. I've seen every Cirque show in Las Vegas, plus a few others along the way. Most Cirque shows have no story, or the story is so vague as to be meaningless to the whole. ("KA" and "Viva Elvis" come to mind as the ones with the strongest story.) "Spider-Man" is not anything like that, in my view.
So, going back to Julie's quote: yes, you could theoretically have a succusseful all-spectacle, no-book show on Broadway. Why not? But --- as structured when I saw it, I don't feel that "Spider-Man" falls into that category.
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/21/06
Julie Taymore, 'You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a ve#18
Posted: 1/24/11 at 5:20pmWell, looking at the history of Broadway, shows like the Ziegfeld Follies were all spectacle and no plot. And those were successful…
Julie Taymore, 'You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a ve#19
Posted: 1/24/11 at 5:40pm
The problem with Spider-Man isn't that it has no book...But that it very much has a book, and it's terrible.
Julie Taymor has done this before. At one point she said Spider-Man wasn't a musical per se, but was actually a "rock and roll circus", whatever that is. Her original intention was, supposedly, to create a hit musical, but since that's not working out, she's claiming she had something else in mind all the time. It's like when a 10-year-old belly flops in a pool, and then says, " I meant to do that".
Julie Taymore, 'You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a ve#20
Posted: 1/24/11 at 5:40pm
it amazes me how we are reading an article and taking her words as written. It is like reading the bible and saying it is 200% truth behind it all. I bet she said it. I bet she even meant it but I bet it was taken out of context. Shows can run for a very long time that are more specticle then anything. I don't think she is claiming that she can do a show with no story and it still be a success, I am sure she is saying... It has happened before where shows have NO PLOT or one that is horrid and still does well.
As for Cirque. I have a very very good friens who is a actor is Zumanity. He was also i O and in KA and he said accidents happen all the time but they do not get publicity like the spider man ones did cause of the media. The difference is that Cirque runs rehearsals for two years or more on ONE show.
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/04
Julie Taymore, 'You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a ve#21
Posted: 1/24/11 at 5:53pmJulie's just trying to cover her ass.
Julie Taymore, 'You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a ve#22
Posted: 1/24/11 at 6:01pm
Dear Julie,
You have now got first hand knowledge of how people can turn on you if you begin to believe your own press releases. No girl, you don't poop Tony winning ideas, No girl you aren't "A Genius" whose touch is gold. Welcome to the Humble Cafe, care for a piece of pie?
Julie Taymore, 'You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a ve#23
Posted: 1/24/11 at 6:01pm
If Julie Taymor wants a hit so bad, someone should just hit her.
Updated On: 1/24/11 at 06:01 PM
Broadway Star Joined: 2/15/04
Julie Taymore, 'You can do spectacle on Broadway with no book and have a ve#24
Posted: 1/24/11 at 6:02pm
"Well, looking at the history of Broadway, shows like the Ziegfeld Follies were all spectacle and no plot. And those were successful…"
Good point, but then what *was* spectacle back then? Glamourous girls in glamourous costumes I would suspect. Beautiful drops maybe? We have that now, but the scenery/special effects chew up the actors, instead of vice versa. For as flawed as a show like Phantom is, for example, at least there is a story which is part of the evening's entertainment. The characters drive the story for me and the chandalier is just added sight candy. It's not a huge plot device , but it does add a little something despite it's speed. (Not to get off topic here...) Spectacle does not push a performance along for me. I want to see more than a dog and pony show.
I groan at the thought of repeating myself, but if I want to see spectacle I'll go to Vegas or Disneyworld. Not Broadway.
In conclusion, I guess the "dumbing down of Broadway" has now finally arrived courtesy of Julie Taymor. From the sounds of the posters who have seen the show, people are paying hideous prices for little substance and a whole lot of flash, though I still suspect they are coming to see... expecting to see...accidents and mayhem.
Read more: https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1027234&dt=20&boardid=1#ixzz1BzoaHNbf
Videos
.jpg?format=auto&width=365)
