201111081529.jpgOh yeah, it’s on.

After being ousted from the directing chair of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, the troubled Broadway show about the webslinger, director Julie Taymor kept a tight smile at the opening of the show. However, now the gloves are off and she’s suing the producers over her creative rights and unpaid royalties.

“As the lawsuit filed today makes clear, the defendants have violated Ms. Taymor’s creative rights as an author of ‘Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,'” said Taymor’s lawyer, Charles Spada, in a statement. “Moreover, the producers have failed to compensate Ms. Taymor for their continued use of her work to date.”

Earlier this year, the Stage Director and Choreographers’ Society (SDC) filed an arbitration claim against the show’s producers over unpaid directing royalties to Taymor.


Taymor was replaced as director by Philip William McKinley, who removed some Taymor trademarks, including a chorus of geeks and the second act dramatics of a spider-woman named Arachne.

While no more drama is needed for the unbelievable Spider-Man musical saga—already ranging from sudden death to a rash of bizarre injuries—this is just a finishing touch of controversy.

1 COMMENT

  1. Who didn’t see this coming.

    If they hadn’t kicked her off S:TOTD and retooled it, I’m convinced it would be long gone from Broadway.

    Good riddance!!!

  2. julie taymor is one of the capable, coolest and creative people on the planet. she got shafted, was the scapegoat on this and i hope she gets some well-deserved relief and moves onto bigger and better things!

  4. … meanwhile Steve Ditko, who essentially made Spiderman what it is, is a relative unknown to anyone seeing this debacle. Let alone getting any money for it.

  5. How did she get shafted? The show was her “vision” and it tanked. “Bigger and better”? I’m no fan of Spider-Man the Musical but that’s about as big as a theatre director can get (I’ll agree she can do better though).

  6. hi mikael! by being the scapegoat. these things are very collaborative both creatively and from a business standpoint and i believe her hands were tied in different ways and
    that we don’t know the whole story. at this point i give her the benefit of the doubt. all IMHO, thanks.

  7. I have never met ms taymor, but I’ve worked with a handful of people who have worked with her. None of them had nice things to say.

    Keep in mind this is all second hand and in an industry prone to hyperbole, so take it with a grain of salt.

    I have worked with Phil McKinley. He’s awesome.