Amazon.com Review
Most people know the work of theater director Julie Taymor, if they know it at all, from her hit adaptation of Walt Disney's
The Lion King for the Broadway stage. But this gorgeous book, a pictorial history of the artist's career, demonstrates that for the past 25 years Taymor has been creating original works of theater that combine a stunning visual sense with an extensive knowledge of the performance styles of many countries outside the West. Theater critic and scholar Eileen Blumenthal has followed the work of Taymor almost since its very beginnings, and her lengthy critical assessment of this inspired artist's work combines interviews with the director with a cogent analysis of her intellectual development and cultural sources.
From her days as a teenager studying the people and theater of Bali to her travels in Japan, Europe, and then back to New York, Taymor has reveled in the cross-fertilization of different images and ideas from a wide variety of countries. Her critically lauded piece The Transposed Heads, for example, was adapted from a Thomas Mann novella that was itself based on an ancient Indian folktale. Unlike most directors, Taymor came from the world of the designer, and it was her exquisite work creating costumes, masks, and puppets that first launched her into work in the theater. But gradually she gained the respect of actors as well, and now is regarded as a director of uncommon sensitivity, who can pull performances from a cast that match in intensity her phenomenal visual eye.
Lavishly illustrated with color and black and white photographs, this is a fitting tribute to a woman who, still in her 40s, is nothing short of a theatrical prodigy. As Taymor moves further into the world of commercial theater and film (her upcoming cinematic production of Titus, starring Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange and adapted from her own stage production of Titus Andronicus, opens soon), more audiences than ever will be treated to her extraordinary work. --John Longenbaugh
From Library Journal
Since the first edition of this work appeared in 1995, Julie Taymor's fame as one of the world's most imaginative theatrical director/designers has expanded beyond avant-garde cognescenti to the general public with her mega-hit Broadway adaptation of Disney's The Lion King and, most recently, her first feature film, Titus, based on the bloodiest of Shakespeare's tragedies. Still in her forties, Taymor is the recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant and the first woman to win a Tony Award for directing. Theater critic Blumenthal's excellent introductory essay tracing Taymor's early theatrical influences is followed by shorter, heavily illustrated production histories of her major productions, from Way of Snow (1974) through Titus (1999). This updated edition is published to coincide with a major retrospective exhibition of her design work traveling from Columbus, OH, to North Adams, MA; Washington, DC; and Chicago. It is easily the most accessible introduction to Taymor available, appropriate and recommended for all public and academic library theater collections.
-Robert W. Melton, Univ. of Kansas, Lawrence Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
