Harry Lennix Champions Julie Taymor: 'She is a singular pioneer'

Previous Julie Taymor collaborator Harry Lennix (Dollhouse, Radio Golf) has taken to the Huffington Post to speak out against the harsh criticism she has endured surrounding the on-going SPIDER-MAN saga.  Said Lennix, who most famously performed in Taymor's 1999 film, Titus, in an open letter in the Huffington Post today: "The fault couldn't possibly lie with an untested Broadway producer, or the two all but absent rock star composers whose notoriety is derived from a completely different medium...Rather, [critics] are eager to blame the female director whose last Broadway endeavor resulted in nothing short of a transformational experience for audiences around the globe." 

Today, Lennix adds: "Would a male director receive the lashing Julie has received? If it were a male director with the reputation and accomplishments of Julie Taymor I cannot believe in good conscience that this would happen in this way. Julie's career is an unqualified success. She is a singular pioneer who deserves to be given as much freedom and support to create as any man with her accomplishments would be given...Julie has given us new faces, new ideas, new boundaries - and a new standard to aspire to. This benefits all of us who hold dear this art form. Love or hate Spider-Man, Julie Taymor should be lauded for her efforts, not burned at the stake."

To read the full statement, click here.

Julie Taymor departed SPIDER-MAN as lead creative force on March 15, 2011. Philip William McKinley and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa have joined the creative team to help implement new staging and book rewrites, respectively. The expanded creative team also includes musical consultant Paul Bogaev, sound designer Peter Hylenski and choreographer Chase Brock.

SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark is now in previews at Broadway's Foxwoods Theatre (213 West 42nd Street).