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'Spider-Man' will resume with new safety measures
(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-12-24 10:44
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NEW YORK - The curtain was to rise again on "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" after producers of the accident-plagued Broadway musical agreed to new safety precautions to prevent another fall such as the one that left a stuntman seriously injured.
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 Banners advertising the Broadway play "Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark" shine in front of the Foxwoods Theater in New York Dec 23, 2010. The ambitious, high-tech $65 million musical -- the most expensive Broadway show ever -- has endured four delays in its opening and four injuries to its cast. [Photo/Agencies]
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Leo Rosales, spokesman for the state Department of Labor, said the show's producers would check in with the department later Thursday to confirm they had put into place all the protocols they had promised on Wednesday. That confirmation was mandatory before the show could go forward with all 38 planned aerial maneuvers, he said.
Wednesday night's performance of the $65 million musical was canceled so that the cast and crew could rehearse the new precautions, which include a requirement that a second person ensure that the harnesses used by performers during the show's high-flying stunts have been put on properly.
The much-anticipated production, teaming "Lion King" creator Julie Taymor with songwriters Bono and The Edge of U2, has had a rocky route to Broadway. Already the most expensive show in Broadway history, it has been plagued by technical glitches, money woes and three other injuries, including a concussion and two broken wrists.
The show has been in previews for a month, and its official Broadway opening has twice been postponed. It is now set for early February.
The fourth accident came Monday night, when Christopher W. Tierney, a stunt double playing Spider-Man, plunged about 30 feet (9.14 meters) into a stage pit, despite a safety harness that should have prevented the spill. Tierney was scheduled for back surgery Wednesday, his brother Patrick said.
The announcement that Wednesday night's sold-out performance wouldn't take place came just three hours before showtime at the Foxwoods Theatre. Wednesday's matinee performance had been canceled earlier.
"At this point we are satisfied they have put in place the appropriate controls," said Maureen Cox, director of safety and health for the state Department of Labor.
State officials had no authority to close the show but could have disallowed the heart-stopping stunts that make it special. The musical has 38 separate moves in which actors are put in harnesses to go up in the air.
Cox said the investigation is continuing into what went wrong in Tierney's accident and who is to blame. Investigators said they are looking into whether it was caused by equipment failure or human error.
"We're also making sure that the actors and the stagehands know that if everything is not right, they can say, 'We're not going to go,"' Cox said.
Some Broadway actors have expressed concern about the safety of the "Spider-Man" cast and crew, given that they are performing acrobatic stunt work that needs to be repeated eight times a week, some of it unprecedented on a stage.
"Perhaps they should have thought twice about what some of these stunts were," said Marc Kudisch, whose most recent Broadway credit was in the musical "9 to 5." "It's not like doing a stunt in a movie."
Actor Adam Pascal, who had tweeted that Taymor "should be charged with assault" after the latest accident, said Wednesday that he was just joking about that but that the show shouldn't continue until safety issues are addressed. Pascal was in "Aida" several years ago when he and co-star Heather Headley fell 15 feet (4.57 meters) after a lift gave out. He said that after he fell in "Aida" the gag was cut from the show and he never felt unsafe again.
Taymor said the safety of the cast and crew on "Spider-Man" was important.
Patricrible but they happen on every show," Page said. "We feel very safe and very cared for by our director and producer."
The disappointment of ticket holders, many of whom learned about the Wednesday night cancellation only upon their arrival, was tempered by their concerns about safety.
Mary Kelly, who drove up with three friends from Sayreville, New Jersey, said a November 11 show she had hoped to see also had been canceled, and that she won't try to see another one until the production is fixed.
"I'm concerned about the cast's safety and also the audience's." she said.
David Lee, 29, was hoping to see the musical before he flies back home to Singapore next week, but this week's remaining shows are sold out.
"I'm disappointed because I was really looking forward to seeing a Julie Taymor show, but I'm kind of concerned with the safety of the actors," Lee said.
Alan Krach, a theatergoer from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, held a ticket outside the theater after the matinee he had expected to see was postponed. That has happened twice to him now. He got a new ticket for a Saturday.
"This has all the makings of a very memorable show," Krach said. Reports of the injuries haven't changed his interest, "as long as they don't fall on me." He added, though, "I don't want anyone to get hurt."
Richie Wood, a 33-year-old administrative assistant who was also at the box office, said he wanted a ticket because he didn't think the show would be around much longer.
"I don't want to see people get hurt but it piques my interest," he said. "I like train wrecks. I would actual be hurt than performers, OSHA records show. Between 1997 and 2007 the federal agency investigated 35 accidents in live-action show business, with at least 25 involving stagehands and technicians.