Author Topic: Ouch! Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark 2.0 reviews NOT coming up roses for Spidey  (Read 80038 times)

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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 :( :( :P :P



http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/12/another_spider-man_turn_off_th.html


Another Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark  Injury
By Bryan Hood
12/21/10 at 12:30 AM




The audience at tonight's performance of Julie Taymor's Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark  was ushered out of the Foxwoods Theater after a performer was injured. Minutes before the end of the show, Spider-Man (reportedly an actor other than star Reeve Carney), Mary Jane, played by Jennifer Damiano, and some equipment, took an eight to ten foot fall into a pit. Almost immediately after, Damiano was heard screaming and an ambulance was called.

Shortly after the fall audience member Brian Lynch tweeted the following:

Spider-Man on Broadway. Stopped short near end. Someone took nasty fall. Screaming. 911 called. No idea what happened, kicked audience out

About an hour later, Lynch tweeted another update:

No joke. No explanation. MJ and Spidey took what seemed to be a planned fall into the stage pit. Then we heard MJ screaming.

Details are still sketchy as to what exactly happened, but reportedly the problem was a broken rope. This, of course, is not the first time a cast member has been injured during the production. A release from the show's press representative said the that the injured cast member seems to be okay:

"An actor sustained an injury at tonight's performance of 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.' He fell several feet from a platform approximately seven minutes before the end of the performance, and the show was stopped. All signs were good as he was taken to the hospital for observation. We will have more news shortly."

Having already had it's official opening delayed(for seemingly the umpteenth time) until February 7, one has to wonder what this latest mishap will mean for the seemingly cursed production.


COMMENT:

By msfabulous on 12/21/2010 at 1:11am

I was sitting in the front row of the balcony when I saw the actor slip off the ledge and fall thirty feet into the pit at the center of the stage.

There was a scream. A voice yelled "Someone call 911!". Then there was silence. A minute later, the stage was still dark. Then there was an announcement that the show would be delayed. A few minutes later, a second announcement that the performance would not continue. The lights came up.

The shocked audience slowly exited the theater. Everyone was concerned for the actor, many stayed to catch a glimpse of Spiderman to see if he was okay. He was carried out to the ambulance still in costume.
"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
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and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
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Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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 :( :( :( :(



http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/20/performer-is-injured-during-spider-man-performance/?hp






 
Actor Injured in Fall During
‘Spider-Man’ Performance

By DAVE ITZKOFF and HAMILTON BOARDMAN
December 20, 2010, 11:47 pm



An actor playing Spider-Man was injured during a performance of the
Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” on Monday night. Above,
an image from a video taken by a New York Times  reader.




A photograph taken by a reader showing a “Spider-Man” actor being
transported to an ambulance outside the Foxwoods Theater.



1:21 a.m. | Updated

An actor performing in the Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” was injured during a performance Monday night, according to the police and several witnesses.

Theatergoers who attended Monday’s performance of “Spider-Man,” a $65 million musical featuring complicated aerial stunts, said they saw a performer playing the title hero fall about 8 to 10 feet into a pit during the closing minutes of the show, and that some equipment fell into the audience when this occurred. A video of the performance showed a line holding the performer apparently snap.

A police spokesman confirmed that a male actor was injured at about 10:42 p.m. and taken to Bellevue Hospital Center. No other information was immediately released.

A spokesman for the musical did not immediately identify the injured actor, but said in an email that it was not Reeve Carney, the lead actor who plays Spider-Man and his alter ego, Peter Parker. Other actors play Spider-Man throughout the show during various stunts and action sequences.

Steven Tartick, an audience member, said the accident occurred during a scene when Spider-Man is rescuing his love interest, Mary Jane, as she dangles from a rope attached to a bridge.

Mr. Tartick said he saw the actor playing Spider-Man appear to trip and fall from the bridge, into an open pit at the end of the stage.

“You heard screams,” Mr. Tartick said. “You heard a woman screaming and sobbing.”

Mr. Tartick said there was a blackout, and then the house lights in the theater were restored. An announcement made in the theater first said there would be a delay in the performance. The announcement was then updated to say the show was over.

Scott Smith and Matthew Smith, brothers who attended Monday’s “Spider-Man” performance, watched the show from the balcony of the Foxwoods Theater. In an interview outside the theater, Matthew Smith said: “It looked like it was supposed to happen. But he fell at a faster pace. It didn’t look right.”

Brian Lynch, an audience member, described the scene at the Foxwoods Theater on his Twitter feed, writing: “Stopped short near end. Someone took nasty fall. Screaming. 911 called. No idea what happened, kicked audience out.” He added: “No joke. No explanation. MJ and Spidey took what seemed to be a planned fall into the stage pit. Then we heard MJ screaming.”

Christine Bord, another eyewitness, described events outside the theater in a blog post on her Web site, onlocationvacations.com.

In a telephone interview, Ms. Bord said two ambulances and a fire truck were already waiting outside the theater when most audience members exited. The actor was quickly brought out on a stretcher, wrapped in protective gear and wearing a neck brace. He acknowledged the crowd which clapped for him before an ambulance took him away. Ms. Board said this transpired in no more than five or ten minutes.

The “Spider-Man” musical has faced several setbacks during its preview period, with one of its actresses suffering a concussion and two actors who were injured by a sling-shot technique meant to propel them across the stage. On Friday it was announced that “Spider-Man” was delaying its official opening by four weeks to Feb. 7 so that creative changes could be made to the show.

A press representative for “Spider-Man” said in an email message: “An actor sustained an injury at tonight’s performance of ‘Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.’ He fell several feet from a platform approximately seven minutes before the end of the performance, and the show was stopped. All signs were good as he was taken to the hospital for observation. We will have more news shortly.”
"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Interesting to note the discrepancies in reports of the distance of the fall.

It's time they hang this show up before someone is killed. Seriously.
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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Re: 'Spider-Man' Matinee Tomorrow is Cancelled
« Reply #23 on: December 21, 2010, 11:38:47 pm »


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/22/theater/22spider.html?_r=1&hp



‘Spider-Man’ Matinee
Is Canceled

By PATRICK HEALY
Published: December 21, 2010



An audience member captured an actor’s plunge Monday night.


The producers of the new Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” canceled its Wednesday matinee to add safety precautions after a lead stunt actor playing the superhero sustained serious injuries from falling more than 20 feet into a basement beneath the stage during Monday night’s show. He was the fourth performer to be hurt working on “Spider-Man” since September.

The accident prompted investigations by federal and state occupational safety inspectors, as well as by representatives from the Actors’ Equity union, who went to the Foxwoods Theater on Broadway on Tuesday, when no shows were scheduled, to examine equipment and meet with the production team.

A spokesman for the production, Rick Miramontez, said on Tuesday that the accident, which caused the performer, Christopher Tierney, to be hospitalized, was the result of human error, without offering specifics. An Actors’ Equity spokeswoman confirmed that explanation, but also said the union would “step up” monitoring of the show. A spokesman for the state safety inspectors, however, said that he had no details on Tuesday about the accident’s cause or the new safety measures, and that their investigation was not complete.

Mr. Miramontez said the show would be safe enough to perform on Wednesday night after the new measures were put in place. “The production knows exactly what happened at Monday’s performance, and it is being dealt with,” he wrote in an e-mail. “This is a maneuver that has been done hundreds, if not a thousand times, without incident, and additional redundancies are being put into place to ensure that will never happen again,” he wrote, referring to the accident.

The stunt that Mr. Tierney was performing was, in fact, one of the less ambitious technical sequences; it was not one of the two dozen flying scenes that raised concerns about safety this fall, for instance. The $65 million production, the most expensive and technically ambitious in Broadway history, has faced several setbacks over the past few months; one of its lead actresses suffered a concussion at the first preview performance on Nov. 28, and two actors playing Spider-Man were injured by a sling-shot technique meant to propel them across the stage.

The episode occurred during one of the final scenes of “Spider-Man,” when the masked superhero appears to be running toward the edge of an elevated platform above the stage as he tries to rescue the show’s heroine, Mary Jane Watson, who is tied and hanging under the platform. On Monday night, the usual stunt took place, with Mary Jane, played by Jennifer Damiano, dropping (attached by a wire) to the basement below the stage.

But a moment later Mr. Tierney lost his footing and toppled off the platform. A person involved with the production said that Mr. Tierney had been properly attached to a tether, but that the tether was not affixed correctly to the equipment that was supposed to hold him in place.

The theater immediately went dark, and some audience members reported hearing shouts for help before house lights were restored. An announcement made in the theater first said there would be a delay in the performance, then that the show was over. Mr. Tierney was quickly taken from the theater on a gurney and transported by ambulance to Bellevue Hospital Center.

An experienced dancer with two decades of credits, Mr. Tierney suffered broken ribs and internal bleeding, among other injuries, according to people involved with the production who spoke on condition of anonymity because only Mr. Miramontez and the producers and creators are supposed to speak publicly. Mr. Tierney was listed in serious condition at Bellevue on Tuesday, a hospital spokesman said; he was conscious and receiving well-wishers, including some fellow actors and Julie Taymor, the director of “Spider-Man,” who had previously worked with Mr. Tierney on her film “Across the Universe.”

In response to interview requests, Ms. Taymor released a statement through a spokesman: “An accident like this is obviously heartbreaking for our entire team and, of course, to me personally. I am so thankful that Chris is going to be all right and is in great spirits. Nothing is more important than the safety of our ‘Spider-Man’ family, and we’ll continue to do everything in our power to protect the cast and crew.”

Leo Rosales, the spokesman for the state safety inspectors, said he did not know if the tethering attached to Mr. Tierney was one of the technical elements that the inspectors reviewed and approved during several visits to the theater in November. “All I can say right now is that we’ve agreed that the producers will provide us with a write-up on the safety protocols and procedures that they are going to put in place immediately,” he said.

Asked if the state would allow performances to resume on Wednesday night if it were not able to verify and test the new safety protocols, Mr. Rosales said the state did not have the authority to shut down the show while its investigation was still under way.

The production began preview performances in late November after state inspectors announced that the show — which includes aerial sequences that are unprecedented for Broadway — was safe for public performances.

During its first three weeks of performances this month, several technical problems were smoothed out, most dealing with scene transitions and some of the flying. But some theatergoers have taken to blogs, Twitter and Facebook to criticize the quality of the script, music (which is by Bono and the Edge of U2) and acting; on Friday the producers announced that “Spider-Man” was delaying its official opening by four weeks to Feb. 7 so that creative changes could be made.

The show has been selling extremely well daily at the box office, grossing more than $1 million for its six performances last week; the next two weeks, through New Year’s Day, are among the most lucrative for big brand-name Broadway musicals like “Spider-Man,” which tend to attract tourists.

Dave Itzkoff and Hamilton Boardman contributed reporting.
"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Offline serious crayons

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Oh, gosh, it was me, Katherine, I'm to blame--I said 'Good luck' above within this very thread--sorry guys! (drops head in shame)

You know, Patrick Stewart says ( Macbeth ) rather than 'the Scottish play,' and IN the theatre too (!) but despite his name, he is a Yorkshire man, so I don't know.

Maybe actors should now call the production (at the Foxwoods Theater) the 'Arachnid play'  :o!

Yesterday's status update from a Facebook friend in New York:

Actors: please replace "Macbeth" with "Spiderman" on your list of verboten backstage words.




Offline Front-Ranger

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Sending well wishes to Christopher.  :'(
"chewing gum and duct tape"

Offline Penthesilea

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Wow, somebody must have said "good luck" instead of "break a leg" or called it "Macbeth" instead of "the Scottish play."  :laugh:

I know about not wishing any stage artist (and all the people working behind the stage either!) good luck, but what's up with Macbeth? I've never heard of that.

In Germany, arists always say "Toi, toi, toi" instead of good luck. It's symbolic for spitting over the person's shoulder three times.
Do you have this, too?

Offline Meryl

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I know about not wishing any stage artist (and all the people working behind the stage either!) good luck, but what's up with Macbeth? I've never heard of that.

In Germany, arists always say "Toi, toi, toi" instead of good luck. It's symbolic for spitting over the person's shoulder three times.
Do you have this, too?

The tradition of avoiding saying the name of that play has gone on for many years.  Here's the lowdown on it: http://www.angelfire.com/fl3/Defymcbeth/Super2.html.  I'm hoping it has no effect on you if you're doing the opera rather than the play, because I just found out I'm going back to Alaska in 2012 to direct it!  8)

We say "Toi, toi, toi" a lot in my business, along with "break a leg" and "merde."  Also popular for opera singers is "In bocca al lupo" (in the mouth of the wolf), referring to when Romulus and Remus are saved and mothered by a she-wolf (according to an online definition).  But since the proper response is "Crepi il lupo" (may the wolf die), I wonder.  Once someone told me that it made reference to the actual stage being the "mouth."  Since in our theater the top proscenium's design could be said to resemble giant teeth, this is perfect.  ;D
Ich bin ein Brokie...

Offline Penthesilea

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The tradition of avoiding saying the name of that play has gone on for many years.  Here's the lowdown on it: http://www.angelfire.com/fl3/Defymcbeth/Super2.html.  I'm hoping it has no effect on you if you're doing the opera rather than the play, because I just found out I'm going back to Alaska in 2012 to direct it!  8)

We say "Toi, toi, toi" a lot in my business, along with "break a leg" and "merde."  Also popular for opera singers is "In bocca al lupo" (in the mouth of the wolf), referring to when Romulus and Remus are saved and mothered by a she-wolf (according to an online definition).  But since the proper response is "Crepi il lupo" (may the wolf die), I wonder.  Once someone told me that it made reference to the actual stage being the "mouth."  Since in our theater the top proscenium's design could be said to resemble giant teeth, this is perfect.  ;D



Thanks Meryl!
You're going back to Alaska, directing another play! Whoo-hoo, how hot is that. 8)
Congratulations, Meryl! You're the best, I would hire you, too. :-*

Offline Sason

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You're going back to Alaska, directing another play! Whoo-hoo, how hot is that. 8)

Not hot at all. More likely very, very cold.   8)

Düva pööp is a förce of natüre