By GLEN BERGER (Simon & Schuster; 2013)
Here we get the inside story of SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK, apparently the “Most Controversial Musical in Broadway History.” Conceived by the renowned theatrical impresario/filmmaker Julie Taymor (of the LION KING musical), the show was an extremely ambitious undertaking, with music by U2’s Bono and the Edge and a starting budget of $25 million. That budget ballooned to $65 million as the show was beset by foul-ups and injuries, leading to an unprecedented seven months of previews and the firing of Taymor. Eventually the show finally opened in June 2011, in a heavily retooled version that departed mightily from Taymor’s vision, and was still running as this book went to press (for the record, the show closed in early 2014).
The writer of SONG OF SPIDER-MAN was Glen Berger, who was chosen by Taymor to co-write the show back in 2005, and was retained after her dismissal. Thus he was present for virtually the entirety of SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK’S disastrous nine year lifespan.
Disastrous is indeed the word for what Berger describes. As with all true calamities, everyone involved is partly responsible, starting with Julie Taymor, whose hubris and ambition get the better of her early on, and contributed mightily to this stunt-heavy mega-musical going into production without a workable script (or “book”). Yet ironically it’s Taymor we ultimately come to root for, as it was her vision, misguided though it may have been, that drove the production–and got watered down in its final incarnation, which forsakes her artistry in favor of commercialism of the crassest possible sort.
A much greater portion of the blame must be assigned to Glen Berger himself, who despite valiant intentions comes off as the true villain of the story. It’s he who against his better instincts conceives of a “Plan X” meant to radically restructure the show’s narrative, in defiance of the director’s wishes. In other words, he hatches a conspiracy that turns much of the show’s personnel, including Bono and the Edge, against Taymor, and plays no small part in her dismissal—as he’s warned by a crewmember at one point: “if this Plan X actually does happen, Julie cannot be the director. She will never be convinced.” Prophetic words indeed! Taymor, understandably upset about the arrangement, retaliated by including Berger among the defendants named in a 2011 lawsuit she filed, and “never” speaking to him again (although Berger admits on the book’s final page that the two did eventually resume communication).
To his credit, Berger doesn’t go easy on himself in these pages, fully acknowledging his muddled thinking and many mistakes. He’s not too sanguine about Taymor, either, making her out to be a fragile and temperamental egomaniac, although he does at least give her props in the final pages. As for his prose, it’s compelling for the most part (in a manuscript that was apparently whittled down from a reported twelve thousand pages), although I say the book could have done without the author’s constant insistence on showing off his highbrow leanings—in other words, I’d have preferred a few less references to Shakespeare and the I CHING and a little more storytelling!