Last night we learned the shocking yet not altogether surprising news that an actor fell 30 feet and was injured during Monday night’s Broadway performance of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. As you may know, last night’s injury was the 4th of the show’s run … and the show hasn’t even officially opened yet. Today, photos and video footage of the failed stunt have come to light, making it seem more likely that the embattled musical production is just doomed to fail.
Just to recap the news as was reported last night, a stunt actor playing Spider-Man fell 30 feet without his safety cable intact (it us unknown if the cable broke or if it wasn’t fastened properly) causing audible screams of horror in the audience. The show, which was almost over, was stopped immediately and ended … and the audience was ushered out so that EMTs could be called to attend to the injured player. Here are a few screencaptures from video of the accident:
The accident happened during the finale number, Spider-Man was supposed to jump off the bridge to save the falling Mary Jane Watson … but because his safety cable wasn’t connected to his body, the actor just fell straight to the ground. Thankfully, it is being reported that the actor was not severely injured in the fall … even still, he had to be transported to the hospital for observation:
Amazingly, someone managed to record video of the fall … which you can watch in full here as it was broadcast this morning on The Today Show:
Click HERE to watch the video on You Tube should the above embed not work for you. It’s impossible to tell but it does look like the safety cable snapped. Altho this is the fourth injury of the show, it is absolutely the one most people are talking about … and will continue to talk about. I’m not sure if the video is going to do much to ease worries that Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is dangerous but just hearing that an actor fell 30 feet amid screams of horror can’t be good for promotion. Again, I ask, how much longer can this show continue to weather these sorts of headline mishaps? What will it take for the show to either be a stunning success (unlikely) or a horribly embarrassing flop failure?
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Poor guy, ouch! I think that people are giving the production too hard of a time. When productions take creative risks, that is a good thing. Yes, risk taking brings the possibility that you could fail spectacularly, but I think that is worth it for potential innovation. Theater needs all the help it can get to keep audiences engaged, especially younger people. The concept of this show sounds really stunning. I just hope they have enough time (and expertise) to make it safe!
yeah it looked like it snapped…but man…you would think after everything thats gone wrong with this show they would just call its quits. i mean i wouldnt wanna be the next person who is suppose to play spidey. its like the show is cursed.
This is horrifying!!!!! I wonder if so many people have been buying tickets because they want to see these accidents. It’s like a bad car crash.
This could be the theatre gods telling us to start focusing more on creative writing and original storylines, and less on spectacle and adapting movies to the stage.
That being said, I still want to go see this. Smite me if you will, oh theatre gods!
Technically, isn’t this an adaptation of a comic book and not a movie? The source material is the comic.
True, but the idea remains the same that it is a show with non-original characters and storylines. Only a handful of the 50-some shows currently running on Broadway are not based off of a book or movie or set of songs by a particular pop artist/group. It’s kind of sad. It’s like we’ve run out of creative-steam.
This play is seriously cursed!! Forget “turn off the dark”… turn the damn lights on and end this debacle play already!!!
@SuzieB — “Forget “turn off the dark”… turn the damn lights on and end this debacle play already!!!” LOL, for real!
This is very sad news and I am so glad that Chris is okay. Having said that, after seeing the show and *gasp* enjoying it, I don’t think people are going just to see if something happens. I certainly didn’t. I can say that I hope they can get this whole thing together because the show is worth seeing. It does need a ton of work (story-wise) and OBVIOUSLY severe rethinking in the safety department, but it was literally like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It will totally be worth seeing if all the issues can ever be resolved.