Actor injured in Spiderman tonight- Page 7

[jennafan]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 3:19am

If he was supposed to jump after her, was the rope supposed to pull him up? If he just jumped with the rope attached, he would just hang over the side, no?

[starspangledjenny]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 3:20am

Why would they kill the lights before the guy even hits the ground? He could have at least seen what was coming and tried to better protect himself.

[thespian geek]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 3:21am

As I said, I haven't seen the show, but it obviously at least LOOKS like he's supposed to attempt going after her. I don't know exactly what goes down though when it's done right.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 3:23am

If he just jumped with the rope attached, he would just hang over the side, no?

I'd imagine he would be hanging in the pit.

[TrueHater]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 3:25am

what happens is MJ slowly falls back into the pit.
we know this because this is the SECOND time this happens in the show. this ending scene mimics the opening scene of the show. however, in this video he jumps and falls into the "stage hole"/ orchestra pit when he is supposed to jump and be restrained. like jumping in the air almost.
except he wasn't restrained this time
poor guy.
ugh

[jennafan]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 3:26am

Slightly off-topic,

When Spider-man is falling it sounds like he says "It's Him." Curious to know if it's REEVE saying it (behind the scenes?) or if the stunt guys also do some of the talking in the show.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 3:28am

It's Reeve & it's probably prerecorded.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 3:58am

This is total insanity.

[viola13]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 4:21am

Sounds like it was Christopher Tierney.

Natalie_Mendoza

Please pray with me for my friend Chris,my superhero who quietly inspires me everyday with his spirit. A light in my heart went dim tonight.



Link Updated On: 12/21/10 at 04:21 AM

[thespian geek]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 4:27am

My thoughts are with him. I sincerely hope he's going to be alright. And though Jennifer was reported as uninjured, I hope she's alright too. Even if she didn't get hurt in the accident, I'm sure she's shaken up pretty badly.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 4:37am

I'm guessing the Times (and many others come tomorrow) will use the audience members vid because NOW it is news. They aren't just leaking something.

Watching the vid, however, I thought it all looked incredibly cheesy. (Not the actor's fall). The cutout/projection villian, how slowly Jenn "fell", etc.

As for the blackout....Spidey ISN'T suppose to go off the platform, so there is likely a certain mark he hits when the lights go to blackout. The operator would have no idea yet that there would BE an accident.

Updated On: 12/21/10 at 04:37 AM

[PReeves2]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 4:46am

this frightens me so very much. my thoughts and prayers are with all involved tonight.

[tazber]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 6:20am

New York (CNN) -- An actor was injured after a fall during a performance of the musical "Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark" in New York on Monday night, a representative of the show said.

The New York Fire Department said the 31-year-old fell 20 to 30 feet and was alert when he was taken to a hospital.

Jonathan Dealwis, a tourist from New Zealand who was in the audience, told CNN the actor portraying Spider-Man fell "about six meters," or about 20 feet.

Reeve Carney is the actor who normally plays Spider-Man. But Carney was not the performer injured, show spokesman Jaron Caldwell said. Caldwell said nine stunt men perform Spider-Man's stunts when the character is masked, but did not confirm who the injured performer is.

Dealwis said the accident happened near the end of the show.

"Spider-Man was on a bridge, and Mary Jane was dangling from it," Dealwis said. "She drops down, as is meant to happen. Spider-Man went to the end of the bridge there. I think he was meant to sort of swoop over there, but he just fell off. ... The harness, you could see it just flick off his back and fly backward."

Afterward, Dealwis said, "it just went black, and the producer came on and said we're going to pause for a moment. You could hear Mary Jane weeping."

A producer then came by and said the show was over, Dealwis said. Some people "clapped awkwardly," and one girl "laughed mockingly," drawing "disapproving glances" from others.

Dealwis said the actor was wheeled away in a neck brace.

Rick Miramontez, another spokesman for the show, said in a statement that the actor fell from a platform, and the show was stopped.

"All signs were good as he was taken to the hospital for observation," Miramontez said.

The show, with music and lyrics by U2's Bono and The Edge, is the most expensive in Broadway history by a significant margin, but production has been beset by cast injuries and technical problems.

Monday night's performance was a preview performance -- the show is not officially open yet. Opening has been delayed repeatedly.

Caldwell declined to say whether the next scheduled performance will take place as planned.

Prayers to the actor.



cnn.com

Updated On: 12/21/10 at 06:20 AM

[jerseygurl]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 6:42am

The other thing is that the cast and esp the crew are most likely very tired and overworked. The crew, for example, can be called in from 8am until the show comes down and, if necessary, also on an Equity day off (and yes, I know that we don't know yet if there was any human error involved and yes, they get paid for a 7th day) Plus, I imagine the stress and pressure are quite intense for all. But, it's a fact that fatigue contributes to accidents. Extending preview time and making changes only exacerbates this and makes the possibility of more accidents increase.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 6:46am

I find it hard to believe audience members are able to guess how far the actor fell. He fell INTO a pit, and the audience would not be able to see how deep that goes.


However...the comment about the girl LAUGHING at the announcement is awful.

I also cannot imagine that the show would not be cancelling a few performances....I suspect that an investigation will be underway.

[justafan2]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 6:53am

In Cirque d'Soleil---those are trained acrobats. In Spiderman---it's actors who learn these techniques just for the role. In this case, it was a cable malfunction---but it's not a cast of acrobats. Something is not right with the entire production.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 6:59am

I'm sure there are extensive training sessions that happen. Additionally, there are experts backstage -- I'm doubting that the actors are responsible for their own rigging. (But I could be wrong.)

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 7:03am

Story was major lead in on Good Morning America. I have to leave for work...but will be dvr'ing it.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 7:14am

And I gather the topic of this morning's production meeting will be something like "Well, that ending didnt work too well, did it..."

[adamgreer]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 7:17am

As predicted, the show is already downplaying the incident.

From a show representative:
He fell several feet from a platform approximately seven minutes before the end of the performance, and the show was stopped.

30 feet (per the stagehand that was interviewed) is a good deal more than "several" feet. They make it sound like it was simply a matter of him tripping and falling.

All signs were good as he was taken to the hospital for observation.

One does not fall 30 feet and get taken in for "observation." And what exactly points to all signs being "good"? The guy didn't die? He's not paralyzed?

I'll be shocked if there is a performance this evening.

Updated On: 12/21/10 at 07:17 AM

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 7:32am

Remember, Adam: the show must go on.

... especially with this mother of a budget.

[silversurfer2]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 7:59am

IMHO--They should Cut their losses and close this FIASCO before someone gets killed.

[GatorNY]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 8:00am

In the opening of Lion King, there is always the potential that one of the actors may trip on their costume and be trampled by the actors behind him

This post made me laugh...thinking about a stampede during "The Circle of Life"

I crashed my bike once in front of a fire station and the EMTs strapped me to the board and used a neck brace, so I think it's pretty standard in cases of falling. It was nice looking up at all those firemen after hitting the ground BTW. Just seeing pictures of the guy with a neck brace doesn't mean that it is more likely that he has a spinal cord injury.

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the accident that happened during the out of town tryout of AIDA. Originally, the tomb that Aida and Radames are in was suspended up over the stage and apparently, it fell one night. I guess they realized that there was no reason that this needed to happen, so the took it out.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 8:21am

First of all it’s terrible what happened to the actor/stunt person, I wish him a speedy recovery.

However, just a few things.
People on here can say ‘You can’t compare numbers of injuries in other shows to this one’ all you want, but the fact is that Spiderman whilst its bloody awful so many have gotten hurt is not the first and won’t be the last show to have things like this happen. Starlight Express had FAR more injuries during its first few weeks (and then it's whole run) than Spiderman has had. Yes actors did not fall in to pits but skating fast and falling led to broken wrists, broken ankles some concussion. Fame, Fosse, Saturday Night Fever etc all suffer many injuries including breaks due to dance etc. Superstar has had stage accidents with set and so on and so on.
For some reason it appears the cable that needed to be attached to the back of the performer was not hooked on properly, the crew person who does that job should be looked at.

People started saying that Little Mermaid did not count as it was during a rehearsal without an audience, well so were the first 2 Spiderman injuries but nobody said that when they happened. The last actress before this latest injury to get injured was backstage not on stage. If you have worked on professional shows (which im gonna guess many of you have not) you would know how hectic it is backstage and yes sometimes things go wrong.

Actors, Dancers, Stunt Performers etc are injured more than you think, but because of the drama of this show (fuelled by the press and now it would seem Broadway World) we are hearing every detail. I bet nobody can name any incidents from Starlight, Fame, Saturday Night Fever, Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Fosse, West Side Story, Footloose etc etc because those shows did not get so much public attention, hell the actor who got his leg crushed in Lord of the Rings got less attention than this.

And all the people saying ‘Im so worried for the actors, they should just close the show’, well im pretty sure the actors and crew etc don’t fancy losing their jobs at Christmas. If any actor felt unsafe in a show he or she can take it up with management and be released from their contracts.

Cirque have suffered many injuries (you only have to type it in to your search engine to see) because what they are doing is high risk, same with many of the stunts in Spiderman, something all involved will be fully aware of.

Im not saying this show should get off the hook for these injuries, I personally think another inspection is called for just to double check things and the show should go dark until that inspection is complete. I just wish people would stop talking about it like it’s the first time this has ever happened.

[steven22]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 8:45am

dramamama where is the vid?


edit: nvm I found it. Updated On: 12/21/10 at 08:45 AM