Lead Actress Natalie Mendoza Departs SPIDER-MAN: Turn Off the Dark?- Page 2

[CandiceElyse]

Posted: 12/28/10 at 2:45pm

I was in the car, listening to the news on the radio here in DC, and they reported that America Olivo is taking over the role. Spiderman is getting a fair amount of coverage down here, its very interesting.

[Harpz2006]

Posted: 12/28/10 at 3:01pm

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/RIALTO_CHATTER_Another_SPIDERMAN_Departure_Coming_20101228 ... maybe Jennifer Damiano?

[AC126748]

Posted: 12/28/10 at 3:01pm

She's not leaving the show because of her injury, though that may very well be how they plan on spinning it in the press. She's leaving because of safety concerns that were only exacerbated when Chris Tierney (one of her best friends) was hurt even worse than she was. There's a reason she hasn't performed since his fall last week.


If that's the truth, then she doesn't deserve a cent of exit pay and should be treated like anyone else who breaks a contract. She knew the risks of performing aerial stunts and singing while hanging from a wire on a nightly basis. She knew that two people were severely injured performing stunts from the show before there was even a single performance. And if she's using medical excuses to curry favor and come out smelling like a rose, then that's even worse.

I am not fan of Taymor or this production, but I get the feeling that Mendoza is running the short grift on them.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 12/28/10 at 3:04pm

Watching NYI news and it claims someone else was injured in yesterdays performance and they had to stop the show again.

That is all I heard . Since NY 1 repeats news every 3 seconds I should know more shortly. When I have more info, I will post.

[FlyingMonkey1223]

Posted: 12/28/10 at 3:19pm

AC---obviously you aren't aware that an employer needs to protect the employee. I'm sure the entire cast expected the stunts to be safe, not causing this much injury to the performers. Yes, there are risks involved with stunts like this, but when there are this many injuries it definitely says something about the safety of what is being performed and Natalie might get a pretty penny from this production from them failing to protect her, the employee.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/28/10 at 3:27pm

If I were that one girl hanging on the bridge as Chris Tierney went tumbling by, I'd be so sleepless from the nightmares they'd have to let me out of the contract.

[camncal]

Posted: 12/28/10 at 3:45pm

what is natalie's real facebook? I kept reading that she wrote this and that on her official facebook and yet everytime i do a search i get some clearly fake ones.

[blaxx]

Posted: 12/28/10 at 3:51pm

She knew the risks of performing aerial stunts and singing while hanging from a wire on a nightly basis

Are you insane?

Yes, she knew it was likely she would get a massive blow in the back of her head, how unprofessional can she be for quitting for being terrified and fearing for her her castmates' safety?

It's not like after only a few performances this happened to her another castmate almost died, right?

These performers nowadays truly don't know how to assess risks, tsk tsk.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 12/28/10 at 4:11pm

Let's face it:
"she booked!"

May her journey onward be safe of harm, and swinging ropes.
Now the two understudies can duke it out.
T.V. (interesting initials) and
ILTBI America Olivo, may the best Diva win...

[perfectliar]

Posted: 12/28/10 at 4:11pm

What don't you people get? Every show causes injuries. It's part of being a performer, especially a dancer. Why do you think ballet dancers are considered over the hill by the time they reach their mid-twenties? Injuries and strain on their bodies. People get hurt doing intricate choreography... when you add in the fact that much of this show is aerial, you have to expect a certain amount of risk.

Just because everyone in the world is watching this show like a hawk and reporting every little bit of information doesn't mean it's the only show to ever have problems or injuries or performance delays.

[kidbroadway2]

Posted: 12/28/10 at 4:14pm

Mr Roxy, please update... did ANOTHER person just get injured? holy ****.

[blaxx]

Posted: 12/28/10 at 4:16pm

What don't you people get? Every show causes injuries.

Truly? EVERY SHOW causes injuries?

I think it's you who's not getting something.

Hint: MOST shows DON'T get injuries. NONE.

[perfectliar]

Posted: 12/28/10 at 4:17pm

"On Sunday, Ms. Mendoza wrote on her Facebook page that she was grateful to be down to two nausea tablets and four painkillers per day to cope with her concussion. 'Thank goodness I had such a brilliant neurologist who made sure I recovered properly,' she wrote. 'Nice to be almost back to normal.... almost anyway haha! Thanking God for peace, real friends, love and health and healing.'

I've had two concussions, and this sounds like bull to me. Four painkillers a day nearly a month after the incident? That's not normal. And if this is true, why are the producers not just blaming her being out on the concussion instead of vocal rest? How was her concussion not serious enough that she could perform the next day but serious enough that she still takes six pills a day to cope with the pain it has caused four weeks later? None of this makes sense.

[perfectliar]

Posted: 12/28/10 at 4:19pm

No, every show will likely produce an injury of some sort. It may not be people falling down trap doors or being hit in the head with machinery, but every show with an extended run will take its toll somehow. If you think otherwise, you're truly naive.

[blaxx]

Posted: 12/28/10 at 4:28pm

Truly, love...no one is talking about a broken nail.

If you are talking MAJOR injuries, then no, most shows don't have those.

I even dare you to find a major injury in 10% of all Broadway shows in history.

And finally, a few weeks is NOT an extended run. In fact, the run itself hasn't even started.

You want to use the word naive? I think that all comments stating that performers who got injured should have seen it coming are just plain horrible.

I want to see you go onstage, get hit on the head by a fresnel falling from grid and have everyone around you say "What are you bitchin' about? You're in theater, you should have known these are risks associated with going onstage!"

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Posted: 12/28/10 at 4:28pm

Wow... Roger Friedman has some interesting things to say about this whole situation. from RC in Austin, Texas
No Tears Backstage For Natalie Mendoza

[philly03]

Posted: 12/28/10 at 4:33pm

Since many people ignored or trashed the show before it opened, many probably (even those who saw it) didn't realize that A TALE OF TWO CITIES had the FIRST ever free-fall fall.

The fall was 2 stories from the top of the set into the elevator in the middle of the stage by Walter Winston-O'Neill. To my knowledge, he never once got hurt. So I don't think people are always getting hurt from high-risk stunts.

Here's a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpj1RaSaquE

[bk]

Posted: 12/28/10 at 4:41pm

High risk stunt??? Have you watched the video? There's nothing high risk about what he's doing.

[philly03]

Posted: 12/28/10 at 4:43pm

Not as much as Spider-man perhaps, but a two story fall without a wire is a dangerous stunt... any fall for that matter is.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 12/28/10 at 4:48pm

No it's not.

[bk]

Posted: 12/28/10 at 4:51pm

A child could do that fall - while you say TWO STORIES as if that had some basis in reality what you mean and what is TRUE is TWO LEVELS - and the top LEVEL is not that far from the HUGE HOLE he is falling into where a nice comfy and HUGE padded thing awaits him - it's all there in the video.

[perfectliar]

Posted: 12/28/10 at 5:08pm

blaxx:

Who is surrounding Mendoza saying, "You should have seen it coming?" NO ONE. I think you understand when you SIGN A CONTRACT and are PUT INTO A HARNESS and then DANGLED THREE STORIES ABOVE THE AUDIENCE that there may be risks involved with what you're doing. I received a concussion on stage... but I was throwing someone ten feet in the air and then catching them, so I knew there was a possibility that I'd get hurt. I didn't "see it coming" but knew it could happen. So no... no one, not even me, is saying that she should have "seen it coming." You can stop putting words in my mouth to make yourself look better or more witty or whatever you were aiming to do.

Do you honestly think I was talking about broken nails when I referred to injuries sustained on stage? Get over yourself. Have you ever performed? Ever sprained an ankle in a dance break or hurt your voice belting? These are injuries, and they happen all the time. People break bones, people hit their heads. Things go wrong. That's life.

And, love, what does the word "naive" have to do with you thinking something is horrible? Especially something I never said.

[blaxx]

Posted: 12/28/10 at 5:32pm

I think you understand when you SIGN A CONTRACT and are PUT INTO A HARNESS and then DANGLED THREE STORIES ABOVE THE AUDIENCE that there may be risks involved with what you're doing. I received a concussion on stage... but I was throwing someone ten feet in the air and then catching them, so I knew there was a possibility that I'd get hurt. I didn't "see it coming" but knew it could happen. So no... no one, not even me, is saying that she should have "seen it coming." You can stop putting words in my mouth to make yourself look better or more witty or whatever you were aiming to do.

So, if you are not saying that she should have seen it coming, you ARE saying that the moment she signed the contract she did it with full knowledge that once she was hanging up there things SHOULD go awfully wrong? To the point of having injuries that could be life threatening?

What I'm arguing here is that an accident of this magnitude can be the exception, but in here it has become the norm. At this pace, it's almost that in this show one must expect things to fail as a rule, and shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, being that it is by now so common. To be honest, I'd run out of there as soon as I could if that was the case.

Can you really blame any of them for wanting to get out of there?

Yes, please call me naive. While I don't doubt,as I've said before, that these stunts are performed but with the performer's health and safety in mind, I truly think they did not have a good grip of what it took to perform them safely, at least not yet.

So, I don't think it's outrageous for a performer to step out if they don't feel safe under these extreme circumstances. I doubt Tierney "knew it could hapen" when he hit the floor that night. He could have easily died, can you argue that this show's cast go up every night with the understanding that any of them could perish any night because of the high risk of the stunts?

I think the discrepancy here is the difference between the time when Spider-Man was left hanging from the audience while a few stage hands tried to correct the problem and keep the performance going(EXPECTED) and concussions, broken ribs and risking their own lives (NOT EXPECTED).

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 12/28/10 at 5:46pm

On Sunday. T.V. Carpio played Arachne was just fine–I reported it on Sunday night. She didn’t fly in the second act, but not because she was scared. According to my sources, her rigging had a computer malfunction that was discovered right before her scene started.

I hate to think what would've happened it that malfunction hadn't been caught just before the scene had started.

That's just down-right scary.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 12/28/10 at 6:01pm

That 'high fall' look to be all of about 7 feet.