'Lord of the Rings' set traps actor's leg

[Tag]

Posted: 5/31/07 at 6:15pm

LONDON, England (AP) -- A London performance of the "Lord of the Rings" musical ended abruptly with actors dressed as Hobbits, elves and dwarfs rushing to help a screaming cast member whose leg was trapped in set machinery.

The producers of the stage adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy saga said in a statement they had canceled preview shows scheduled for Thursday and Friday to modify the set to prevent further accidents.

Previews were due to resume on Saturday, they said. The show's official opening is June 19.

"Due to an incident which occurred during last night's performance of 'The Lord of the Rings,' resulting in Adam Salter (playing a Ranger) injuring his leg, the creative team are today and tomorrow looking at modifying the staging," the statement said.

Salter shouted out, "My leg! My leg," as actors were making a stage exit on Wednesday night, The Evening Standard reported. The newspaper published a photo of Salter being loaded into an ambulance on a stretcher outside the stage doors.

He was treated at a local hospital for an injured leg, but he suffered no broken bones, the producers said.

The $23 million show premiered in Toronto, because no theater that was large enough was available in London. The show, based on Tolkien's literary trilogy about a Hobbit named Frodo and his quest to rid Middle-earth of evil, has been trimmed and reworked since its Toronto run, which earned mixed reviews. The Toronto production closed last week after a six-month run.

The Theatre Royal in London's West End was closed for four months while the stage and set were built. The 45-foot, $2 million stage features 17 hydraulic lifts underneath it.

The stage jammed during the show's first British performance earlier this month and the sound cut out on Aragorn, played by Jerome Pradon, in mid-battle cry. The curtain was hurriedly drawn before normal service was restored.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 5/31/07 at 6:22pm

OUCH.

[Weez]

Posted: 5/31/07 at 6:33pm

It's a very busy, very elaborate set that is almost constantly in motion. It's far from a surprise that there should have been an accident. Here's hoping the next couple of days they're putting towards working out the problem and making sure it doesn't happen again are successful, and thank the lord it wasn't worse!

I think perhaps we could blame whatever friend or family member decided to wish Mr. Salter luck in a traditional theatrical fashion...

[Becoz_i_knew_you21]

Posted: 5/31/07 at 6:35pm

Ow.

[Colle]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 9:24am

Yes, ouch! Hopefully, Adam will have a speedy recovery. I am glad to hear that they are making changes to the stage.

[folkyboy]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 9:27am

talk about a lengendary performance!

[theperformer]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 9:50am

Ouch

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 9:52am

Does anyone know the set piece that could've possibly caused this and how?

[turquoisefish]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 10:00am

I was supposed to see Lord of the Rings last night and was quite disappointed that we had to miss it. I hope that the guy is OK, and importantly that it doesn't happen again. Ended up seeing Spamalot so quite a change to our plans!

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 10:00am

Millie,

The entire floor of the stage is a rising, falling, spinning death trap...and the coolest part of the show by far.

However there are many safety precautions put in place so that even the slightest pressure on the side of the "slices" of the floor will cause the whole system to shut down, so this surprises me that this happens. I even tested it myself!

Akiva

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 11:49am

[MyJunkIsYou]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 11:59am

Lord of theRings shouldn't have been made into a musical.

[Den]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 12:00pm

"The Toronto production closed last week..."

Oops...

[BroadwayEnthusiast2]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 2:53pm

talk about 'breaking a leg'...

[wickedfiyeroofoz]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 3:02pm

dammit I was gonna use that awful pun hahaha

[Tag]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 3:08pm

Toronto run was open-ended.

[thtrbear]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 5:31pm

re photos- how'd they find such short actors to play hobbits?

[The Boy From Ohio]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 5:32pm

The set does look like a death trap. It does look cool, BTW. Nice pic's Fosse. You have pic's of everything.

[Tag]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 5:46pm

When they cast the hobbits there was a height requirement (I think it was max 5'7").
Also almost all non-hobbit characters are wearing platform shoes.
And the hobbits were padded in certain areas to visually distort their height.

[Tag]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 5:49pm

[allofmylife]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 6:44pm

I saw this show when I was in Toronto. I thought it ate the careers of all involved.

I guess it's still hungry......

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 9:06pm

It really scares me how those things can literally kill people....
Here

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 9:40pm

Oh my God! That gave me chills. Wow! And we are here making jokes -- he was REALLY in pain. He could barely be heard over the orchestra.

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 10:18pm

Yeah. I'm sure performers/orchestra have no idea what is going on at first, and I just can't imagine how horrifying it was for that actor.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 10:30pm

You can clearly hear he was actually panicking. The orchestra was drowning him out. Those few seconds sounded like an eternity just listening to what happened -- I can imagine it felt even longer for him.