In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Peter Schneider, a producer of Julie Taymor's LION KING, wrote about "The Real Reasons SPIDER-MAN Fell to Earth."
Schneider describes Taymor as "an exacting and stubbornly determinded perfectionist who is very hard on herself- and on everyone else around her." It wasn't until the beginning of LION KING previews that she finally uttered the words, "I think it's going well." But while her single-minded and passionate personality may have been what made THE LION KING a success, Schneider thinks it may also have led to the current situation in which SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK finds itself.
In 1995 Schneider and Tom Schumacher, the heads of Disney's theatrical division at the time, hired the little-known but cutting-edge director
Julie Taymor. But the advantage that THE LION KING had over SPIDER-MAN, in Schneider's opinion, was that it was already blessed with a strong story with distinct characters with "widely felt needs and emotions."
In the case of SPIDER-MAN however, Taymor followed her vision and created a new story and new characters based on the classic comic book and popular film series. Schneider admits that improvements could be made to the show, but "as the saying goes, ‘The enemy of the good is the better.'" In addition, despite the controversy surrounding the show it is currently one of the top grossing shows on Broadway.
In addition, the problems facing SPIDER-MAN may have been manageable if they were singular- but with expenses which got to be out of control, safety issues, and tight time constrictions, it was too much to handle. Schneider explains that "A show does not come off the rails in one day. It is the cumulative impact of many wrong turns."
Schneider, a friend and colleague of Taymor, says that the current situation of the SPIDER-MAN production saddens him, because "the pain she has been going through must be deep and personal." This is magnified due to the extreme amount of exposure that SPIDER-MAN has elicited.
But, though the setbacks Taymor and the production have faced may seem insurmountable, Schneider says that as an artist, you do recover. And it's important to remember that, "six out of seven musicals fail to recoup their investment. Getting it right is the exception."
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