Michael Riedel Doesn't Hold Back on Spiderman; Book of Mormon; and Weiner

While reading Michael Riedel’s bio this morning, Imus stumbled upon an interesting fact: at Columbia University, Riedel, who has been the New York Post’s theater critic for a decade, majored in history. “So much for that education,” Imus quipped.
 
Riedel, ever the good-humored guest, couldn’t have agreed more. “I have now seen Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark, which opened last night on Broadway, five times,” he told Imus. “That is a complete waste of a college education.”
 
Having watched and subsequently panned numerous previews of Spiderman, Riedel had planned to skip last night’s premiere. “But as I was walking through Times Square, I ran into the press agent for the show, and he was carrying a bunch of flowers to give Bono, and The Edge, and Julie Taymor,” Riedel said, naming the musical’s creators. As a joke, Riedel decided he should pass out the flowers, considering that Taymor, also formerly the show’s director, “got fired, I think, largely because of an unrelenting number of columns I wrote saying how lousy her production of the show was.”
 
Since Taymor is no longer involved with Spiderman, her presence last night what surprising to Riedel. “I know relations between her and Bono are not very good,” he said, then joked that for all of Bono’s touted humanitarian efforts in Africa, “he comes to Broadway and throws Julie Taymor under a bus.”
 
As soon as it became apparent to Bono and The Edge that Taymor’s version of Spiderman was awful, Riedel said they launched a smear campaign against her. “They spent nine years writing that show with her—everything she did, they approved,” he added. “Then when the show opened six months ago and got trounced they said, ‘What? The show? We weren’t even involved with it. We were in New Zealand touring!’”
 
In a way, Spiderman should be thankful for all the behind-the-scenes drama: it’s more entertaining than what’s happening on stage. “Boring, dull, no good,” was how Riedel described the revamped iteration. He added, sarcastically, “Make sure you rush out to buy the score, because that music is really theatrical, dynamic, and exciting.”
 
He predicted the show’s demise would come by year’s end, and concurred with Imus that the show lost a certain something when people stopped falling from the rafters.
 
Like Imus, Riedel is a huge fan of The Book of Mormon, which took home nine Tony Awards on Sunday night. Still, Warner Wolf refuses to see the popular show; not because it includes foul language, but because Broadway know-it-all Rob Bartlett told him some of the lyrics disrespect God.
 
“I love Rob,” Riedel said. “But Rob’s got a vested interest here: he’s in a competing show called How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”
 
Though he does not know Warner well, Riedel feels confident he’d enjoy The Book of Mormon. “All the old people I send to it just absolutely adore it,” Riedel gushed, thereby reinforcing to Imus why he is now part of the power rotation on this program.
 
But a former I-Fave, Rep. Anthony Weiner, was never high on Riedel’s list. “I have despised that showboating slime bucket from the first time he ever appeared on television,” he said. “There’s something about that guy—that desperation to be in the spotlight all the time, to be the know-it-all.”
 
Which is kinda sorta what we liked about him. But the bottom line on Weiner was best summed up by the I-Man: “You can’t send pictures of your penis to people, and think you’re going to survive in Congress.”
 
It’s the closest thing we’ve got a mantra on this program.
 
-Julie Kanfer

Comments

[Doug P]

Who can you TRUST????
This isn't an O'Reilly rant don't worry

First I get TAINTED BLOOD from the Canadian Red Cross
They didn't want to spend money on a test now hundred's have died and thousands have been infected.
They needed the money to pay for limo's for Red Cross headquarters.
So very glad Imus doesn't have a good word to say about the organization.

Now the Spiderman disaster- its claimed- BONO pays his charity staff
outrageous amounts of money....this is so sad...if your going around the world trying to make
change....maybe you should start in your own house.