On Monday evening, June 13, the auditorium of the 92nd St. Y was packed with U2 fans to see Bono and The Edge interviewed by Jordon Roth, President of Jujamcyn Theaters and son of famed producer Daryl Roth. After trouble-plagued months of postponements, accidents, a shutdown to revamp with a new director and over 187 preview performances, Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark was scheduled to open the following night on June 14th.
You could feel the tingle in the audience when Bono and The Edge were introduced and sat down on chairs on the bare stage. Bono is not only a rock star, but also a humanitarian who has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, granted an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth and named a person of the Year by Time Magazine. The Edge has been with U2 from its inception and also campaigned for human rights and philanthropic causes. He co-founded Music Rising; a charity to support musicians affected by Hurricane Katrina and was named by Rolling Stone as one of the “Greatest Guitarists of All Time.” U2 is one of the most top-selling and honored bands of all time.
When Bono and The Edge are not touring the world, they live with their families in Dublin. The Edge mentioned that it is very important to have a strong family life, to have the balance and that it is very hard to be married to a rock star because of the lifestyle and the traveling. Both men are articulate, open, forthcoming and possess that special Irish combination of charm and humor. When asked about the challenges of getting Spider-Man to this point, both explained, “The hours and weeks and months…If we thought it would take this long, there is not a chance on earth we’d have done it.”
Bono discussed the difficulties in writing last-minute changes to a musical score. When they go on stage to perform with U2, they can quickly make any changes they want. Asked if he was satisfied with this version of the show, he replied, “There is still a little ways to go. I would say we are 10% off. I think that in the next weeks and months there will be another shift.” The Edge did invest his own money in the show, but Bono said that he has not personally invested in the 70 million dollar production, the highest cost ever for a Broadway show.
The audience was handed white cards to submit any questions for Jordan to read, but only about four were used. Most were there to get the “inside scoop” about the show from the “insiders” themselves, but many of the questions were about their life philosophy i.e. “how did the death of Bono’s mother when he was only 14 affect the way he wrote for the character of Peter Parker who had lost his uncle.” Aside from an annoying question or two in that vein, Jordon Roth was clearly a fan and had done his research.
Of course, the subject of the firing of director Julie Taymor came up and Bono and The Edge felt that the show had to get back to a simpler version of the plot and focus on “clarifying the story.” Julie was “clearly exhausted, overwrought and we were tip-toeing around her. I certainly didn’t feel I could be 100 percent frank with her as she was carrying so much of the weight.” After much consideration, a new creative team was brought in during the winter and Philip William McKinley took over the direction. When Bono was asked how he felt about the show now, he admitted, “the first time I loved ‘Spider-Man’ was two and a half weeks ago and it was kind of magical.”
The time went by very quickly and we were surprised when the interview was suddenly over. There was much more we wanted to know but still, even for an hour or so, it was a privilege to be in the company of these two remarkable men who don’t take themselves too seriously and don’t seem to have let all that adoration and success go to their heads.