Spider-Man: Turn Off the Damn Stage Lights!

We are all familiar with the most controversial production to ever hit the Broadway stage, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.  From heated artistic differences, to cast injuries, lawsuits, firings and more, Spider-Man may have contributed at least one, albeit unintended, benefit to American theatre - it became a microcosm of relevant issues of show-business.

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark was without question the
most controversial show in Broadway history.

Perhaps the most infamous controversies to surface from this show was the producers' decision to fire Julie Taymor, famous director of the hit Broadway adaptation of Disney's The Lion King.  The absolute specifics of the dispute are still unknown, but the effect was a huge debate over who should hold the final say in artistic decisions of a Broadway show and who has legal rights to its material and profits.  It should be noted that Taymor was not only the director of this show but also co-writer of the book, so this was indeed a special case.  Many of Taymor's colleagues suggested that the main dispute centered over Taymor's refusal to let anyone besides her make changes to the show.  That fact is not completely clear, but although Taymor and the producers came to a legal settlement, the debate goes on.

Julie Taymor became infamous for being
fired from the most expensive flop in
Broadway history.

Many strongly feel Taymor deserved her fate, not for being a perceived artistic dictator, but for the danger she posed to her actors.  At least six major injuries and multiple legal cases resulted from her ambitious vision, and it raised great ethical questions surround artistry versus safety.  It is quite interesting to note that countless injuries have resulted from theatre throughout the centuries, but (perhaps due to its grand scale) Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark has definitely become the most infamous.

Too add insult to injury (pun intended), Spiderman had the most previews in Broadway history, destroying the reputation of the Broadway preview.  Then, when it finally opened, it was a critical catastrophe.  The poor soul must be embarrassed...