O Magazine interview
Winfrey interviews Taymor for O Magazine. Taymor is asked how she fuels her creativity and successful career:
Mythology, folklore, the different places I’ve traveled all of it feeds me. But I also have very good people around me. I tend to collaborate with the same people over and over. The set designer, George Tsypin, has done six operas with me. My lighting designer started 14 years ago and did The Lion King and every show I’ve done since. I do have a new costume designer, Eiko Ishioka. I love doing costumes, but that would have been too much for me to handle.
O Magazine Interview
Traynor talks about her musical Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark:
When we started, only the first movie had come out. This was right after 9/11, so all of that was on our minds. But the fact is, our idea came out of the Arachne story. In our version, she falls in love with her protégé, Spider-Man—who, at the top of act 2, starts becoming world famous. Suddenly there are Spider-Man hot dogs, hero sandwiches, underwear—everything. And he no longer has time for his girlfriend or his aunt.
O Magazine interview
Taymor speaks about directing Broadway’s The Lion King in an interview with O Magazine.
I wasn’t afraid, but I was cautious. Everyone was asking me, Why are you doing Disney? You do folklore and mythology. My aesthetic is not a Disney aesthetic at all, but when I met with the wonderful producers at Disney, they weren’t looking for me to do their aesthetic. I’d already spent 20 years in the theater, so if they were going to hire me, they’d be hiring me for what I have to offer. Everyone learned a transforming lesson from The Lion King: You don’t have to patronize your audience, and you can mix art and commerce in a profound way.