Bono and The Edge worried about ‘Spider-Man’ producer’s mental state

Both admit massive mistakes were made, now fixed they say

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U2's The Edge and Bono are confident that 'Spider-Man' the musical has been fixed

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Bono and The Edge have revealed they were worried about producer Julie Taymer’s mental state as the “Spider-Man” show encountered massive difficulties. The revamped version opens tonight.

“Julie was clearly exhausted, overwrought, and we all thought that if we don’t tread carefully, she’s going to walk. We were tip-toeing around her, and I think that probably meant that people were careful in what they said or told her. I certainly didn’t feel I could be 100 percent frank with Julie, and that was because I felt she was carrying so much of the weight.” The Edge told The New York Times.

In hindsight, Bono said stated “Spider-Man” should have opened out of town to fix the kinks. saying opening on Broadway was “a terrible decision” that put incredible  pressure on Ms. Taymor.

Both men said the first night they saw the show was the opening preview, same as everyone else.

“Looking back,” Bono said, “we, through inexperience, had no sense of the implications of that decision. That the first time anyone saw a full run-through of the story, songs, staging, and show was the first night of previews. Can you imagine that? No one had seen the whole thing before everyone saw it.”

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Bono also revealed he would never have put his support behind the production if he knew there were so many problems. He said he had put no money into it but the Edge stated he had done so.

“We read her script, we were part of developing that script, we thought it was great,” Bono said of the original version that critics panned in February.

The fact that U2 were on tour for much of the preview period led to further frustration.

“Julie was trying to wrestle with the logistics as well as the art, and that’s when I felt fairly impotent,” Bono said.

When they came back and saw it they realized it was a mess and spoke to writer Glenn Berger about it

“Glen was one of the early believers that there was possibly a more simple version,” the Edge said. “Reluctantly I think most of us came to believe that he was right.”

But Bono said he now thinks the  show has it right

“The first time I loved ‘Spider-Man’ was two and a half weeks ago,” he said , “Even when I was really angry about its obtuse story and some of the awful readings of the music — even then I was still saying, it was kind of magical.”

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