The story of this famous Broadway fiasco is an interesting one because of the talent involved - US, Julie Taymor, Spiderman... Berger co wrote the book with the director so was ringside for the action.
The book is very easy to read, I finished it quite quickly, while listening to the soundtrack. The songs weren't great - some are but not all. Bono and the Edge come out of the book fantastically - talented, collaborative, enthusiastic, kind. Taymor is more erratic but sympathetic. Berger tries to be fair, but I think he's a little unfair - she wouldn't compromise, but is that good or bad. I was empathetic to Berger - I've been in situations like this not knowing when to bend and when to break.
My own two cents on what went wrong: Taymor was really jazzed by a villain she thought up herself, Arachne, who isn't in the comics. I think they needed to go with that (and a smaller budget) or a new director, from inception. But I guess that's in hindsight.
Neil Jordan wrote the original treatment! Berger hates Michael Riedel, gossip columnist for New York Post.
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