Lucinda Breeding: Spidey learns to sing

01:15 AM CDT on Sunday, May 24, 2009
By Lucinda Breeding

She’s put The Lion King on Broadway, and she put Juan Darien and Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus at the Lincoln Center. Now, Academy Award nominee Julie Taymor is hoping to take Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark to Broadway, as a musical.

The project looks to be no small feat. Taymor shares writing credits with Glen Burger (Underneath the Lintel) and the composers are none other that U2’s Bono and the Edge. That means the music will be pop-opera with guts and the lyrics will be sheer poetry.

Taymor’s production staff will be in Austin from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Dougherty Arts Center. The producers are looking for three performers: Peter Parker, also known as Spider-Man; Mary Jane, Peter’s love interest and literally the beautiful girl next door; and the lead female villain. The casting agents are also looking for understudies for the principal roles.

The casting call prompts a quick survey of Denton talent, and we could think of a few performers who could line up behind other hopefuls for juicy roles in a Spider-Man that web-slings through Broadway.

Peter Parker: The casting directors of Telsey + Company (Rent, Across the Universe, Wicked) are looking for a guy, in his late teens or 20s, who has a great rock tenor voice. They note: “Can be nerdy with understated sex appeal and a good sense of humor.”

Denton folks who came to mind? Justin Harmon, a perennial favorite on the Denton stage. He has a tenor voice, and, if he’ll forgive us, can do “nerdy” with understated sex appeal. Another performer with Denton roots is Nando Betancur, a graduate of the Denton public school fine arts programs who made Pippin look easy a few years back. His disposition could put him in line to play Peter Parker.

The casting directors’ note for Mary Jane: female, late teens or 20s, with a strong pop/rock singing voice. Recent Ryan High School graduate Kaci Carpenter showed off her rock-pop chops in the school’s staging of Nunsense. And a list of young women from Guyer High School developed pop-rock vocals in Cats — especially Caroline Dubberly and Nicole Luft. Baylie Brown, the fledgling country singer from Krum, could take on the score, even if she’d have to tone down the twang.

The casting agency has a narrower opening for the female villain. She can be between 25 and 35 years old and “must have an amazing rock voice. Think Sinead O’Connor with a Middle Eastern-Bulgarian-Greek twist.”

Yemenite singer Ofra Haza is no longer with us, and we’re not sure if Denton has a rock singer with that particular ethnic twist, though the voices of Denton singers Denise Stephens, Darnyelle Jones or Treva McFadden could give a casting agent pause. If the villain were male, Denton High graduate Arjun Chandrasekaran could have handled the rock vocals with Middle Eastern vocal effects. The kid could handle Les Miserables, and he could sing in his native style.

When Taymor leads a theatrical project, you know it’s going to be ambitious at the very least. Taymor has made a name for herself not just as a director, but as a costume designer and a high-ranking concept woman for puppetry. Her puppets have been small and delicate, and they’ve been two stories tall.

Taymor further established her reputation as a designer when she revived the movie musical in Across the Universe, a love story that used 30 songs by the Beatles.

Sure, the movie was a feast for the eyes and celery for the soul, but no one paints a stage picture like Julie Taymor.

All indications are that the famous director is looking for fresh faces for this stage version of a superhero story.

“Regardless of experience, anyone who thinks they might be qualified is encouraged to audition,” the press release said.

Trying to mount a Marvel comic book character on the Broadway stage is more possible today than it’s ever been, and this effort is bound to attract critics and indignant purists. But given the credentials of the directorial team, this Spider-Man might just fly. It would be very American Idol for some talented young locals to try out.


LUCINDA BREEDING can be reached at 940-566-6877. Her e-mail address is cbreeding@dentonrc.com.

source: dentonrc