‘Spider-Man’ Matinee Is Canceled
By PATRICK HEALY
Published: December 21, 2010
The producers of the new Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” canceled its Wednesday matinee to add safety precautions after a lead stunt actor playing the superhero sustained serious injuries from falling more than 20 feet into a basement beneath the stage during Monday night’s show. He was the fourth performer to be hurt working on “Spider-Man” since September.
An audience member captured an actor’s plunge Monday night.
Related
ArtsBeat Blog: Actor Injured in Fall During ‘Spider-Man’ Performance (December 20, 2010)
John Matthews/OnLocationVacations.com
Christopher Tierney, the actor who was injured Monday night at Foxwoods Theater.
The accident prompted investigations by federal and state occupational safety inspectors, as well as by representatives from the Actors’ Equity union, who went to the FoxwoodsTheater on Broadway on Tuesday, when no shows were scheduled, to examine equipment and meet with the production team.
A spokesman for the production, Rick Miramontez, said on Tuesday that the accident, which caused the performer, Christopher Tierney, to be hospitalized, was the result of human error, without offering specifics. An Actors’ Equity spokeswoman confirmed that explanation, but also said the union would “step up” monitoring of the show. A spokesman for the state safety inspectors, however, said that he had no details on Tuesday about the accident’s cause or the new safety measures, and that their investigation was not complete.
Mr. Miramontez said the show would be safe enough to perform on Wednesday night after the new measures were put in place. “The production knows exactly what happened at Monday’s performance, and it is being dealt with,” he wrote in an e-mail. “This is a maneuver that has been done hundreds, if not a thousand times, without incident, and additional redundancies are being put into place to ensure that will never happen again,” he wrote, referring to the accident.
The stunt that Mr. Tierney was performing was, in fact, one of the less ambitious technical sequences; it was not one of the two dozen flying scenes that raised concerns about safety this fall, for instance. The $65 million production, the most expensive and technically ambitious in Broadway history, has faced several setbacks over the past few months; one of its lead actresses suffered a concussion at the first preview performance on Nov. 28, and two actors playing Spider-Man were injured by a sling-shot technique meant to propel them across the stage.
The episode occurred during one of the final scenes of “Spider-Man,” when the masked superhero appears to be running toward the edge of an elevated platform above the stage as he tries to rescue the show’s heroine, Mary Jane Watson, who is tied and hanging under the platform. On Monday night, the usual stunt took place, with Mary Jane, played by Jennifer Damiano, dropping (attached by a wire) to the basement below the stage.
But a moment later Mr. Tierney lost his footing and toppled off the platform. A person involved with the production said that Mr. Tierney had been properly attached to a tether, but that the tether was not affixed correctly to the equipment that was supposed to hold him in place.
The theater immediately went dark, and some audience members reported hearing shouts for help before house lights were restored. An announcement made in the theater first said there would be a delay in the performance, then that the show was over. Mr. Tierney was quickly taken from the theater on a gurney and transported by ambulance to Bellevue Hospital Center.
An experienced dancer with two decades of credits, Mr. Tierney suffered broken ribs and internal bleeding, among other injuries, according to people involved with the production who spoke on condition of anonymity because only Mr. Miramontez and the producers and creators are supposed to speak publicly. Mr. Tierney was listed in serious condition at Bellevue on Tuesday, a hospital spokesman said; he was conscious and receiving well-wishers, including some fellow actors and Julie Taymor, the director of “Spider-Man,” who had previously worked with Mr. Tierney on her film “Across the Universe.”
In response to interview requests, Ms. Taymor released a statement through a spokesman: “An accident like this is obviously heartbreaking for our entire team and, of course, to me personally. I am so thankful that Chris is going to be all right and is in great spirits. Nothing is more important than the safety of our ‘Spider-Man’ family, and we’ll continue to do everything in our power to protect the cast and crew.”
Leo Rosales, the spokesman for the state safety inspectors, said he did not know if the tethering attached to Mr. Tierney was one of the technical elements that the inspectors reviewed and approved during several visits to the theater in November. “All I can say right now is that we’ve agreed that the producers will provide us with a write-up on the safety protocols and procedures that they are going to put in place immediately,” he said.
Asked if the state would allow performances to resume on Wednesday night if it were not able to verify and test the new safety protocols, Mr. Rosales said the state did not have the authority to shut down the show while its investigation was still under way.
The production began preview performances in late November after state inspectors announced that the show — which includes aerial sequences that are unprecedented for Broadway — was safe for public performances.
During its first three weeks of performances this month, several technical problems were smoothed out, most dealing with scene transitions and some of the flying. But some theatergoers have taken to blogs, Twitter and Facebook to criticize the quality of the script, music (which is by Bono and the Edge of U2) and acting; on Friday the producers announced that “Spider-Man” was delaying its official opening by four weeks to Feb. 7 so that creative changes could be made.
The show has been selling extremely well daily at the box office, grossing more than $1 million for its six performances last week; the next two weeks, through New Year’s Day, are among the most lucrative for big brand-name Broadway musicals like “Spider-Man,” which tend to attract tourists.
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