Spider-Man Scribe Glen Berger Digs Dirt about Julie Taymor, Bono & More in His Tell-All Book

Song of Spider-Man: The Inside Story of the Most Controversial Musical in Broadway History, a memoir written by playwright Glen Berger about his tumultuous journey with Broadway's Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark, doesn't hit shelves until November 5. However, The New York Times' received an advance copy of the manuscript and revealed some of the book's juiciest claims. Song of Spider-Man includes comments from all of those involved with the $75 million production, which Berger says come from "recorded conversations," "journal entries" and "memory."

Berger, who co-wrote the original Spider-Man script with Tony winner Julie Taymor, was there from the beginning, and his extraordinary access was, in part, what pushed him to write the tell-all. According to Berger, in the winter of 2011, Spider-Man composers Bono and The Edge, along with the show’s producers, pushed him to write a top-secret "Plan X" script to "turn the show into a sunnier, family-friendly entertainment." Yet Taymor soon "became suspicious" and confronted Berger by asking him, "Is there something you’re not telling me?"

Berger's agitated back-and-forth with Taymor, who hand-picked him in 2005 to collaborate on the script for the musical, is the main theme of the book, according to the Times. "Even now, I still carry the dream with me every day—to make up with her," Berger writes in the first chapter. "I loved her. I still do. With heart-scarred bewilderment, I love her. And the thing of it is...she despises me." Berger alleges that he and and Taymor were both "worried" that the musical’s story was "ridiculous" and that Bono and The Edge "were wrong for this project."

More will be known about Berger's version of events when Song of Spider-Man is released on November 5. Until then, Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark currently runs at the Foxwoods Theatre, starring Reeve Carney as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Rebecca Faulkenberry as Mary Jane Watson and Robert Cuccioli as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin. Original star Carney will exit the high-flying musical spectacle on September 15.

See what Berger had to say to Broadway.com about the show while it was still in previews below.