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 that 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, e-mailing a few hours after the incident, did not identify the injured actor, but said 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.
On Tuesday morning, news media representatives for “Spider-Man” did not immediately reply to an inquiry about the identity of the actor or his status. However, the “Spider-Man” actress Natalie Mendoza, who plays the spider-goddess Arachne, wrote on her Twitter feed: “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 appeared to be referring to her fellow cast member Christopher Tierney, who is an aerialist and ensemble member in the musical. Bellevue Hospital Center confirmed that on Monday night it had received a patient by that name.
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.”
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. Bord said this transpired in no more than five or 10 minutes.
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