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Ouch! Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark 2.0 reviews NOT coming up roses for Spidey
Aloysius J. Gleek:
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/spider-man-actor-was-fortunate-to-survive-father-says/
'Spider-Man’ Actor Was Fortunate to Survive,
Father Says
By PATRICK HEALY
December 26, 2010, 1:50 pm
Christopher Tierney, right,
and his father, Timothy Tierney,
at the Foxwoods Theater,
before his fall.
The injuries suffered by Christopher Tierney in “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” could have been far worse if he had not tucked his body and rolled sideways midair as he fell more than 20 feet at Monday’s performance, doctors have told his family. “My understanding is that Chris is fortunate to be alive,” Mr. Tierney’s father, Timothy Tierney, said in a telephone interview on Sunday.
In the fullest accounting yet of the accident and injuries, Mr. Tierney’s father said that his son, a 31-year-old actor and veteran dancer, was falling headfirst but managed to land on his right side in the basement below the stage at the Foxwoods Theater. That is where he plummeted midperformance when a safety tether to his harness malfunctioned during an acrobatic maneuver. He sustained a hairline fracture in his skull, a broken scapula, a broken bone close to his elbow, four broken ribs, a bruised lung and three fractured vertebrae, his father said. Mr. Tierney is one of several performers who play Spider-Man during stunt sequences.
After back surgery on Wednesday, Mr. Tierney took his first steps on Friday with the aid of a brace and a walker. He remains in the intensive care unit at Bellevue Hospital Center, his father said; family members had hoped to move him back to their home in New Hampshire for rehabilitation, but he is to remain in New York City. Doctors will decide on Monday whether to begin rehab therapy this week.
Timothy Tierney said doctors were “cautiously optimistic” that his son would eventually resume his performing career. “If they’d had to fuse Chris’s vertebrae during surgery, that would have just been very awkward for dancing, because his mobility would have been restricted,” he said. “Fortunately, they did not have to fuse. The doctors have some pins in his body and rods in his body for now to hold everything together, but a great deal of this is about self-healing, and time.
“We just feel very blessed that Chris is alive and well, and thank goodness that he knew enough to roll onto his right side and land that way rather than land on his head or back,” Mr. Tierney continued. “Some people fall from a lesser height than Chris and suffer more damage, even fatal damage.”
“Spider-Man” — the most expensive (at $65 million) and the most technically complex show ever on Broadway, with 38 flying and acrobatic sequences that require safety harnesses and wires — canceled two performances on Wednesday after Mr. Tierney’s accident, the fourth injury to a “Spider-Man” actor during rehearsals or performances since September. At the direction of state and federal workplace safety inspectors, the producers put in a place a new safety plan that involves more backstage crew members rigging up the actors for stunt maneuvers. “Spider-Man” performances resumed on Thursday night.
Timothy Tierney said his son did not assign any blame for his fall and was not considering a lawsuit. “Chris told me that the word ‘accident’ was invented for a reason, and this was an accident, pure and simple,” Mr. Tierney said. “He’s just chomping at the bit to return to dancing, to go back to ‘Spider-Man.’ He loves this production so much. I haven’t had a chance to see it, but we have tickets for opening night. It looks like Chris will be in the audience with us that night, and we’ll be glad to have him there.”
serious crayons:
This is becoming like the plot of a horror movie. Black Swan, which I saw last night, is mild in comparison.
Aloysius J. Gleek:
--- Quote from: crayonlicious on December 27, 2010, 12:23:12 am ---This is becoming like the plot of a horror movie. Black Swan, which I saw last night, is mild in comparison.
--- End quote ---
You could be right, Katherine. Yikes.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/28/a-lead-actress-departs-spider-man-turn-off-the-dark/#more-154507
A Lead Actress Departs
‘Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark’
By PATRICK HEALY
December 28, 2010, 8:52 am
Natalie Mendoza with her “Spider-Man”
co-star Reeve Carney.
One of the lead actresses in Broadway’s “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,” Natalie Mendoza, who suffered a concussion during the musical’s first preview performance last month, is leaving the production, according to two people who work on the show and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Ms. Mendoza’s representatives and the producers of “Spider-Man” have been hammering out an exit agreement for days now, and an official statement is expected as early as Tuesday, the two people said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the producers have forbid public comments given that lawyers and others are still fine-tuning the language to explain Ms. Mendoza’s departure, an artistic loss and embarrassing blow to the production.
Ms. Mendoza’s spokesman, Shea Martin, on Monday declined a request to interview the actress, and also declined to comment on her departure. Ms. Mendoza did not reply to messages sent to her on Monday morning. Her last performance was on Monday, Dec. 20; the production has said that she has been on vocal rest since then, under doctors’ orders. But she was also shaken by a bad accident that occurred mid-performance on Dec. 20 involving her castmate and friend, Christopher Tierney, according to a fellow actor in the musical.
Ms. Mendoza played Arachne, a spider villainess who has a major role in Peter Parker’s becoming Spider-Man and who becomes obsessed with the super-hero. Arachne is a signature creation of the show’s director, Julie Taymor, who said in an interview last month that she conceived of the character several years ago after having a dream about the transformation of a normal teen-age boy into a powerful super-human. Much of the Act II story revolves around Arachne, and Ms. Taymor had collaborated closely with Ms. Mendoza on developing a distinctive look and manner for the character. Arachne delivers the musical’s title number and sings on five other songs, including an Act I turning point, “Rise Above,” and the finale, “Love Me or Kill Me.”
The show marked the Broadway debut for Ms. Mendoza, a 30-year-old film and theater actress and musician who is perhaps known for playing the lead character Juno in the 2005 horror movie “The Descent.” Ms. Mendoza’s understudy, America Olivo, is expected to take the role of Arachne; another actress, T.V. Carpio, performed the part on Thursday night and may well become an alternate.
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.”
Last Tuesday, in the aftermath of the injuries sustained by Mr. Tierney, who fell more than 20 feet after his safety harness became untethered, Ms. Mendoza wrote on Twitter: “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.” She did not appear in the next performance after the accident, on Thursday night, nor in any of the Christmas weekend shows.
In another recent post on Twitter Ms. Mendoza wrote: “Can feel a trip to India coming on & visiting my magic little orphanage Ramana’s Garden in Rishikesh. Raising funds as we speak. Be the change.” She has not written anything about her departure from “Spider-Man.”
A spokesman for the production, Rick Miramontez, said on Monday night that he could not confirm that Ms. Mendoza was leaving. Michael Cohl, the lead producer of the show, declined an interview request on Monday.
Ms. Mendoza sustained the concussion during the show on Nov. 28 when she was struck in the head by a rope holding a piece of equipment while standing offstage. She was seen by two doctors; one of them, a specialist hired by the production, advised her to take time off to recover, the actress’s spokesman said early this month. But Ms. Mendoza insisted that she be allowed to go on at the next performance, three days later, and the producers and director, who knew about the concussion, allowed her to. Mr. Cohl spoke with the specialist before the performance, and a spokesman for the production said that the specialist said it would not be a major problem for Ms. Mendoza to perform as long as she took it easy.
The role of Arachne involves several flying sequences as well, including one in which Ms. Mendoza is spun upside-down, though they are conducted at a slower speed than those involving the character of Spider-Man himself. By the end of the performance on the night she returned, Ms. Mendoza had a headache and nausea; she then took two weeks off to recover.
Ms. Mendoza is one of four actors who have been hurt working on “Spider-Man” since September; before performances began, one dancer broke his wrists after landing incorrectly during a flying stunt, while another actor injured his feet doing the same stunt. And Mr. Tierney remains at Bellevue Hospital Center recovering from his injuries, which included a hairline fracture in his skull, a broken scapula, a broken bone close to his elbow, four broken ribs, a bruised lung and three fractured vertebrae.
“Spider-Man” recently delayed its opening night by four weeks, until Monday, Feb. 7, to provide more time for its creators — Ms. Taymor and U2’s Bono and the Edge — to make changes in the $65 million show before theater critics review it.
Mr. Cohl cited Ms. Mendoza’s two-week absence from the show, as she recovered from the concussion, as among the factors that contributed to the delay of opening night.
Aloysius J. Gleek:
“Spiderward”
by Barry Blitt
Aloysius J. Gleek:
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/13/u2-album-producer-to-work-on-spider-man-music/?ref=theater
U2 Album Producer
To Work On ‘Spider-Man’ Music
By SCOTT HELLER
January 13, 2011, 7:05 pm
Steve Lillywhite, the Grammy-winning record producer who counts U2 as among his most frequent clients, has come aboard “Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark,” the $65-million Broadway musical featuring music by Bono and the Edge, the band’s chief songwriters.
Mr. Lillywhite, who has been at the Foxwoods Theater this week working with the actors on the show’s music, will also produce the original cast album. After an unusually lengthy preview period marked by several delays, the show is due to open February 7.
A spokesman for the show confirmed Mr. Lillywhite’s work with the cast, which was first reported by Deadline.com. Among the U2 albums produced by Mr. Lillywhite are “October,” “War,” and “How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.” He also produced songs on the band’s most recent album, “No Line on the Horizon,” in 2009.
While technical staging issues have preoccupied the “Spider-Man” creative team during previews, and the show’s book has come in for criticism on blogs and in chat rooms, the musical’s score — Bono and Edge’s first venture on Broadway — has not emerged unscathed. Some patrons have remarked about a muddy sound mix as well.
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