julie taylor

Early life and education

Taymor was born in newton,massachusetts, daughter of Elizabeth , a political teacher, and Melvin Lester Taymor, a gynecologist.Taymor's interest in theatre took root early in her life. At the age of seven, she was already drawing her sister into stagings of children's stories for her parents. By the age of nine, she became entranced with the Boston Children's Theatre and became involved with them. In high school, she became interested in international travel, and made trips to both Sri Lanka and India with the Experiment in International living. Being the youngest member of theatre groups became common, as she joined Julie Portman's Theatre Workshop of Boston at the age of 15. Yearning for a more in depth approach to her work, Taymor went to Paris to study with L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq. During her studies there, she became exposed to mime which helped in the development of her physical sensibilities.

Career

After her college years, Taymor used a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to study pre-Bunraku puppetry on the island of Awaji, Japan in order to learn more about experimental theatre, puppetry, and visually oriented theatre. Taymor's greatest acclaim as a director for the stage has come from the popular musical The Lion King, a 1997 adaptation of the animated film of that name. Taymor received two Tony Awards for her work on The Lion King, one for direction and one for costume design, making her the first woman to receive a Tony Award for directing a musical.

Taymor has also worked in film in recent years, directing the films Titus in 1999 (an adaptation of the play Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare) and Frida in 2002 (a movie based on the life of artist Frida Kahlo). Both movies received positive reviews for their stylish filming; Frida was the more acclaimed of the two, garnering six Academy Award nominations and winning in two of the six categories (Best Makeup and Best Original Score). Taymor and Goldenthal were co-nominees in the Best Original Song category.

For the Metropolitan Opera during the 2005/2006 season, Taymor directed a successful production of The Magic Flute. It was revised for the 2006/2007 season and, in addition to full-length performances, was adapted for a 100-minute version over the Holiday season to appeal to children. That version of the opera was the first of a series of NCM Fathom Live on the Big Screen presentations of MET operas downloaded via satellite to movie theatres across North America and parts of Europe for the 2006/2007 season.

In June 2006, Taymor directed the opera Grendel for Los Angeles Opera which was also presented as part of the Summer 2006 Lincoln Center Festival in New York City. Taymor's most recent work has been as director of the film Across the Universe, a 1960s love story set to the music of The Beatles, and starring Jim Sturgess and Evan Rachel Wood. The film opened in September 2007 and received a Grammy Nomination for Best Comedy/Musical in 2008.

In April 2007, it was announced that Marvel Studios was preparing to make a Spider-Man musical adaptation for the stage. Taymor has been selected to direct the show, and co-write the book with music to be composed and written by Bono andThe Edge. The musical, titled Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark is scheduled for Broadway at the Hilton Theatre in February 2010.^[2]

As of September 2008, Taymor is directing a film version of William Shakespeare's The Tempest.

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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Taymor

www.oberlin.edu/alummag/oampast/oam_spring98/Alum_n_n/julie.