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Leicester Mercury

Surprise celebrities added their applause to a rapturous standing ovation for the world premiere of Finding Neverland.

Hundreds of people packed out Curve to see the opening night of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein's production.

The show premiered on Saturday night and included two unexpected star guests - U2 frontman Bono and guitarist The Edge - who had been invited by Mr Weinstein.

Mr Weinstein said:"We were so honoured that Bono and Edge came to see our first preview of Finding Neverland in Leicester. There was real excitement amongst the cast to meet them backstage after the show. I came to see Bono's show Spiderman in New York during previews, and he was a really good friend to come and see my first show here in Leicester."

As one of the most ambitious, extravagant and dynamic shows ever to hit Broadway, the $75 million Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark musical might have been expected to spin nothing but good fortune for songwriter Bono.

By Jacqui Goddard in Miami, The Telegraph

But the latest chapter in a legal dispute over the production's troubled genesis has heaped fresh embarrassment on the U2 rocker, one year after he and the show's producers fired Tony Award-winning director Julie Taymor in a disagreement over her creative vision.

Court documents filed by Ms Taymor, 59, in US District Court in New York have unleashed a new wave of venom in the unseemly row over her sacking, alleging that Bono and fellow U2 band member The Edge - who jointly wrote the musical's score - "severely hampered" the show's progress at a time when its future was on the line.

Drawing in part on private emails written by the show's principals, Ms Taymor's court filing alleges that the pair were largely absent from the show's crucial developmental stages, delivered unsuitable music and lyrics, conspired with the producers to oust her and were "frequently distracted" from their duties - on one occasion in Bono's case, by alcohol and supermodels including Christy Turlington.

NEW YORK, March 3 (UPI) -- The former director of Broadway's "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" says Bono and The Edge left the production hanging while they toured with U2.

Julie Taymor said in court documents the delays in getting the complex musical ready for its premier were due in large part to the rockers' failure to make needed changes to the score in a timely manner.

The pair, Taymor alleged, failed to attend rehearsals and ignored her e-mail seeking their input on musical numbers, which resulted in the whole production being thrown off schedule. The producers have filed a countersuit against Taymor blaming her for their losses, The Hollywood Reporter said.

Irish Times

Rock giants U2 are celebrating the success of their Broadway record-breaking hit Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark after it shattered Broadway box office and attendance records during the last week of 2011.

Bono and The Edge wrote the music and lyrics for the show, which was once branded the biggest flop on Broadway but took in $2,941,790 (€2.25m) over nine performances last week.

"For all the problems, there was magic on the stage," said Bono. "Things did get chaotic and messy after our producer Tony Adams died.

"But this week's news has us all giddy again and we are raising our glasses to Tony, to our indefatigable cast, crew, creative- and production team."

By Patrick Healy, The New York Times

In a new interview with Esquire magazine, the theater director Julie Taymor accuses Bono and the Edge of U2 - her former collaborators on the Broadway musical "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" - of maligning her as exhausted and overwrought as a bogus explanation for ousting her from the production in March and then overhauling the show as they saw fit.

Edge, who wrote the music and lyrics for "Spider-Man" with Bono, had previously used those two adjectives to describe Ms. Taymor's state of mind last winter. Of those adjectives, Ms. Taymor told Esquire, "I think that those were important to paint a picture of a director who you needed to release in order to make this big change. I had to be characterized that way in order for something to happen." After her firing, "Spider-Man" shut down for three weeks to insert new dialogue and scenes that Ms. Taymor's former colleagues had been secretly preparing and sharing with the producers during the winter.

Bono, at least, had no idea about her energy or psyche last winter, Ms. Taymor said, because he was mostly absent while she was making changes to "Spider-Man" during preview performances.

by Jonathan Wayne, U2Station.com

Rock bands and rock n' roll stars all have one thing in common: an inflated ego. After all, how could one band not feel envy for another band who broke through and made it to the "Top of the Pops"? Success and failure is part of life when you're trying to be on top of the world. So do yourself a favor and check out the new hillarious trailer below for the upcoming film "Killing Bono", set to be released on November 4 in New York City (and November 11 in Los Angeles and elsewhere).

by Paul, Britscene

The first trailer for the English-language remake of Patrice Leconte's award-winning French film Man on the Train has arrived, and it gives us the first opportunity to see U2′s drummer, Larry Mullen, Jr. making his acting debut.

Directed by Mary McGuckian and also starring the legendary Donald Sutherland, the film revolves around a thief (Mullan) who meets a professor (Sutherland) when he arrives in town to rob a bank. After the professor offers the gangster shelter, a friendship of sorts develops between these two opposites. Each starts to envy the other, and by the week's end, everything will change for both of them.

Take a look at the first trailer below and see what you think of Mullan's first acting gig. Man on the Train will arrive via video-on-demand October 28, with a limited theatrical release to follow.

Copyright © 2011 Britscene

Call it the anti-"Rattle & Hum." In "From the Sky Down," U2 argues and screws up like every other band

By Mike Doherty, Salon

In Davis Guggenheim's documentary "From the Sky Down," you'll see the singer of the world's biggest band glowering and sniping at a cameraman, worrying with his bandmates about persistent screw-ups in shows and swearing about a stage crew's incompetence as a worried-looking stylist helps him dress before an encore.

Guggenheim resurrected this footage from discarded dailies for "Rattle and Hum," Phil Joanou's hagiographic 1989 film about U2's Joshua Tree tour and band members' "discovery" of American soul and blues music. Had such scenes been included in that film, they'd have drawn out the tension within the band and helped to humanize them; instead, U2 members were pilloried in the press for their self-importance. They'd hit a snag on their nonstop road to massive success, and they needed to rethink their music, their image and what kind of band they wanted to be.

By Steve Pond, TheWrap

Uno, dos, tres, catorce ... TIFF.

The 36th Toronto International Film Festival officially launched on Thursday night - not with a bang or a whimper, but with the sound of an Irish rock 'n' roll band.

"From the Sky Down," Oscar-winning director Davis Guggenheim's exploration of the recording of U2's 1991 album "Achtung Baby," served as TIFF's opening-night selection - and if it didn't rock Roy Thomson Hall quite as hard as the Bruce Springsteen documentary "The Promise" did at last year's festival, credit that to the more staid opening-gala crowd.

Also read: It's Only Rock 'N' Roll, but Toronto Likes It

The screening came complete with a red carpet, and with lots of speeches thanking various donors before festival co-director Cameron Bailey brought out Guggenheim, who in turn called U2 singer Bono (left) and guitarist the Edge to the stage.

Davis Guggenheim with The Edge in 2009

Davis Guggenheim's 'From the Sky Down', a film chronicling the story of the rock band U2 will open the Toronto Film Festival in September.

The Telegraph

The film was made by An Inconvenient Truth director Davis Guggenheim and marks the first time in its 36-year history that the Toronto festival has opened with a documentary.

"This powerful marriage of music and film honors U2's talent, dedication and music," said festival co-director Cameron Bailey. "Guggenheim's extraordinary access really speaks to the continued importance of the documentary form."

Guggenheim says, "U2 has defied the gravitational pull towards destruction, this band has endured and thrived," and his film "asks the question why."