>’Spider-Man’ musical director Julie Taymor mocked by ‘Saturday Night Live’ over ‘firing’

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“Saturday Night Live” turned the light on “fired” “Spider-Man” director Julie Taymor this weekend, mocking her alleged lack of knowledge about Spidey and making numerous references to her biggest hit, “The Lion King.”
On “Weekend Update,” Kristen Wiig played the 58-year-old writer of the beleaguered $65 million Broadway musical who left the show on Wednesday after months of problems on set.Seth Meyers asked Wiig’s Tony Award-winning alter ego what she thought about critics who claimed her lack of knowledge about “the source material” may be partially to blame for Spidey’s failures.”I know everything there is to know about the Spider-Man,” Wiig’s Taymor replied. “I know about his arch-nemesis the Green Gobler, I know Spider-Man’s secret identity is Peter Jessica Parker.”
Wiig attempted to steer questions towards Taymor’s most successful work to date, “The Lion King,” for which the director won a Tony in 1998 and a cool $4.5 billion, according to Newsweek.
Meyers then praised the director for taking her “firing” from the show so well. In response, Wiig broke into “Can You Feel the Web Tonight” to the tune of Elton John’s “”Lion King” hit “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.”
Post-“Spider-Man,” Wiig’s Taymor said she was going back to “simple theater,” helping her niece’s high school with a production of “Our Town” — the only hitch being “the jet packs.”
“We’re just a smidge over budget, like $44 million,” she said, in reference to Spidey’s huge price tag.
The parody comes days after it was announced that the opening night of “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” would be pushed back for the sixth time to June 14, following the producers’ decision to cancel preview performances in order to implement new changes, which include the hiring of Philip McKinley to take Taymor’s place next week.
Sources told the Daily News that Taymor may have been let go because she tried to change Irish rocker Bono’s vision for the show, hiring Broadway musical consultant Paul Bogaec to tune up the music.
“If Bono had wanted Taymor to stay, she’d still be here,” one source told The News a day after the Tony-winning Taymor gave up control of the the $65 million Broadway boondoggle. “He’s a huge part of the decision-making that goes on.”