Glen Berger Will Open Up About SPIDER-MAN on THEATER TALK this Weekend

Celebrating his newly-published memoir, Song of Spider-Man - The Inside Story of The Most Controversial Musical in Broadway History, writer Glen Berger visits THEATER TALK for a in-depth two-part interview about alliances forged and allegiances broken during the creation of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Berger worked for 5 years to co-author the musical's original book with the show's controversial director, Julie Taymor, and remained on board to rewrite the show (with Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa) once Taymor was fired from the project in early 2011, prompting New York Post journalist Michael Riedel to refer to him as "Judas" in his column.

Berger, meeting the co-hosts for the first time since Riedel's incessantly probing coverage of these woes during the show's record-long previews, is a genial guest (in his book, Berger calls Riedel "a parasite-carrying blood-sucking mosquito depositing the larvae of the elephantiasis-causing filarial worm under the skin of our show") and talks honestly and openly about the nature of the creative process and the trials of creating a new musical. The interview is "epic," per Haskins, and the second part of it will air on CUNY TV beginning December 14.

Co-hosted by Michael Riedel of the New York Post and producer Susan Haskins, the latest edition of THEATER TALK premieres in the New York metropolitan area on Saturday, December 7 (2013) at 8:30 PM on CUNY TV,* repeating Sunday at 12:30 PM, and Monday at 7:30 AM, 1:30 PM, and 7:30 PM. (The show will not air this weekend on Thirteen due to the current Pledge Drive, but Thirteen will air it at a later date.)

THEATER TALK is jointly produced by the not-for-profits Theater Talk Productions and CUNY TV. The program is taped in the Himan Brown TV and Radio Studios at The City University of New York (CUNY) TV in Manhattan, and is distributed to 70+ participating public television stations nationwide. THEATER TALK is made possible in part by The New York State Council on the Arts, The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The TDF/TAP Plus Program, The CUNY TV Foundation and The Friends of THEATER TALK.

*CUNY TV, the City University of New York television station, is broadcast over-the-air in the New York metropolitan area on digital Ch. 25.3, and cablecast in the five boroughs of New York City on Ch. 75 (Time Warner and Cablevision/Optimum), Ch. 77 (RCN), and Ch. 30 (Verizon FiOS). The show is available online anytime at www.cuny.tv and www.theatertalk.org, and via iTunes podcasts. CUNY TV is also live-streamed on www.Aereo.com.

Photo by Joan Marcus

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