Today, the Times performs what has become an almost daily ritual: checking in with Julie Taymor’s troubled production of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, which is scheduled to have its first performance this Sunday. Though full of “can they pull this off?!†anecdotes (and seriously, can they pull this off? “‘Take the ending of the show,’ Ms. Taymor explained. ‘We’re going for what will be an intimate moment, but also one that will reflect some of the technical spectacle, and we will need to figure out how to stage that.’ Bono murmured, ‘Figure out how to stage that?’ He barked out a series of coughs for comic effect: ‘Nine days!’ He coughed. ‘First preview!’ Cough. ‘Nine days!’â€), the best tidbit is about how in this mythic version of Spider-Man, the Green Goblin is based on Ted Turner:
Bono, for instance, suggested that they base the character of Norman Osborn, an environmental scientist who becomes the villainous Green Goblin, on Ted Turner, the billionaire entrepreneur whose eccentricities had stayed with Bono after meeting at Mr. Turner’s rustic getaway in Georgia. “Bono described this fast-talking, always-thinking, brilliant and strange Southerner, and you’re always looking for vivid characters who will pop on the stage,†said Glen Berger, who wrote the show’s book with Ms. Taymor.