How the hell Boneheaded Bono and his merry band of backstabbing charlatans laughingly known as the producers of Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark, managed to use Julie Taymor's not inconsiderable gifts for NINE years and pay a lousy total of $125,000 (her signing bonus) is beyond me. And why Julie let them do so is a shocker as well.
Look, it's all too true. Taymor's book was a mess and her concept untenable. But everything that is great in the musical comes from her. Nothing of any use at all comes from Bono and the Edge. The lazy, generic power is abominable. Not one vaguely memorable song in the entire show? For all of "The Caveman's fault, Paul Simon at least wrote a great score.
So the disastrous production, instead of controlling her to start with, gave her full reign and then realized they hadn't done anybody any favors.
And then they didn't pay her.
The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, Taylor's union, is going to "file an arbitration action" with the producers, according to the New York Daily News. Suing for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Come now, a coupla of million and a cut of the (probably non-existent) profits at the bare minimum, folks.
This is all Bono's fault. All of it. The guy is bonkers, his ego destroys everything it touches. Somebody was telling where on the first tour Adam Clayton was all excited for groupies and drugs, and the other three U2s were in the back of the bus in Bible study.
Those days are long, long, long gone. From 80 bodyguards at his birthday party, to insulting President Bush by refusing to shake his hand, from befobbing waterfronts, suing file swappers, releasing terrible, terrible, terrible albums one after another, to stabbing Taymor in the back, actually in the front and then bragging about it on TV, Bono is a horrible person.
One more thing: a friend of mine went to see it on wedneday and said it was terrible.