Although SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK has seldom stopped making headlines in the past year, the team behind the musical has been all but mum on details regarding their tumultous journey. From recasting, to a record setting 183 previews, to delays and injuries, and finally opening night - which took place just this Tuesday - there has been more attention focused on the show than any in recent memory.
One person who everyone's looked to for comment is the former director of the production who was infamously ousted this April: Julie Taymor. For more than a hundred previews, Taymor led SPIDER-MAN through all of its highs and well-reported lows. Before the show was to be re-imagined, Taymor was all but removed from her duties and replaced by director Philip William McKinley; she kept her "original direction" credit but her role was greatly diminished and the show received a major overhaul.
Taymor has remained silent on the changes, but that's set to change today when she appears at a Los Angeles theater conference to discuss the SPIDER-MAN experience. While the talk isn't open to the public, the event will mark the first time that Taymor has widely broken her silence since the shakeup.
KPCC 89.3 reports that Roger Copeland, an Oberlin college professor, will host the event.
Inspired by over 40 years of Marvel comic books, SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark follows the story of teenager Peter Parker, whose unremarkable life is turned upside-down when he's bitten by a genetically altered spider and wakes up the next morning clinging to his bedroom ceiling. This bullied science-geek suddenly endowed with incredible powers soon learns, however, that with great power comes great responsibility as villains put both his physical strength and strength of character to the test.
The complete cast includes Reeve Carney as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Tony® Award nominee Jennifer Damiano as Mary Jane Watson, T.V. Carpio as Arachne, Patrick Page as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, Michael Mulheren, Ken Marks, Isabel Keating, Jeb Brown, Matthew James Thomas, Laura Beth Wells, Matt Caplan, DWayne Clark, Luther Creek, Kevin Aubin, Gerald Avery,Collin Baja, Marcus Bellamy, Emmanuel Brown, Jessica Leigh Brown, Daniel Curry, Erin Elliott,Craig Henningsen, Dana Marie Ingraham, Ayo Jackson, Joshua Kobak, Megan Lewis, Ari Loeb, Natalie Lomonte, Kevin Loomis, Kristin Martin, Jodi McFadden, Bethany Moore, Kristen Faith Oei, Jennifer Christine Perry, Kyle Post, Brandon Rubendall, Sean Samuels, Dollar Tan, Joey Taranto, and Christopher W. Tierney.
