Big feature on Spider-Man (mostly about Julie Taymor) in New York Magazine this week. Some interesting quotes from Riedel in there towards the end!
EDIT: My mistake, included the link but no title so it didn't appear.
"A Web and a Prayer"
She’d even rather talk about the hush-hush Arachne, whom she invented after having a dream in 2002 about a “boy being torn between his mundane, everyday, but important life” and the gift of his supernatural power.
Wait, wait...who is this Arache? Another villian?
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/12/09
Um Julie... that's already a character...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Carpenter
I wasn't aware of the name change from Spider-Woman to Arache. But I have a feeling that Julie's Arache is not a good guy just based on the fact that she's being lumped with the "Furies".
Arachne, Eris, with an N.
Gosh, darnit and I did it twice too. I'll just throw my BA in Fine Arts in the trash now. Ug
"And what do they want? Two-character, one-set musicals? How is that helping the theater?"
This quote from the article by Taymor kind of pisses me off. It seems that she is completely devaluing any non-spectacle-based, huge budget, huge cast shows. I can imagine I'll probably be more touched by Next to Normal a few years down the road in spite of its one-set, six-character cast than I will be by Spiderman. I wasn't a hater before, but she might have put me over the edge with that little quote.
^ I thought the same thing about that quote...great theater comes in many forms, not just giant visual spectacles.
Put the quote in context. She is talking about the amount of people employed by the show.
I know, but that doesn't really excuse the fact that it seems like a knock on any show that doesn't employ 200 people.
Hasn't she said this isn't even a real "musical"?
Yes, and she says that in the article too.
That comment bothered me a bit also. I get what she means as far as numbers employed but it felt like a knock against smaller productions. She may be helping employ people in the theare but how is she helping "theatre" with this show? That's the question that came to my mind.
And how can she claim that those shows don't help theater? Pulitzer Prize-winning Next to Normal, for example. I get that she is being criticized from every direction for the amount of money spent and all of the delays with the show, but I don't think it's smart of her to get defensive against smaller shows that didn't have as many hiccups.
What you don't understand, JULIE IS THEATRE! Get used to it!
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
Yes yes yes, she should have said "I'm sorry for trying to do a big show. I've learned my lesson."
Hal Prince once said it can always be done small- if you get a chance to go big, go big.
So act one is origin stuff, and act two is.. villain brawlfest and metaphysical... spider journey thing?
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/12/09
For anyone who hasn't seen the cover, it's a stitch.
I was also annoyed by her theatre geek comment. I don't think she is a "nasty" person I think, as mentioned in the article, that she doesn't realize she is like she is....for the most part. I have to say, I do think she is going to pull this off and it is going to do well. I suspect that the reviews will be good for the visuals but not as good for the rest of the show. If it is as visually stunning as it looks like it is going to be, it will most likely sell tickets for that alone. JMO
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