Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark

[JoeSM]

I would just like to say that I think this article really shows how hard stage managers work and how important they are to any production.  I don't think the average theater-goer knows.

As a college student, a lot of times when people ask me what I do and I say stage management, they have no idea what that means or what I do.  Although this is a unique case, it shows what kind of stuff we have to deal with and accomplish, and how hard it is to do.  I appreciate an article that can do that. 

[Tempest]

Purvis recalls the first time she saw the flying, and the sets and lighting: "It made me giddy like a child," she says."I don't think any (musical stage managers) do this for the money, because the hours don't get holidays or weekends or evenings off," she says. "We do it because you get cool toys. And this is the coolest toys in town."

That was my favorite bit.  While nothing like the scale of Spider Man, that's exactly how I felt when I saw the complexity of the Magic Flute production I ASMed, this spring.

[nick_tochelli]

Broadwayworld.com is reporting that one of the actors playing Spider-Man fell 20 feet when his cable snapped during a stunt. Most of the reporting is coming from first hand accounts (and primarily through Twitter) so take it for what its worth, but an actor still fell from a substantial height.

I'm entirely torn. I want Spider-Man to do well as I wish for every production, but what they are trying to do seems too dangerous to me and has since they first put the idea together to make Spider-Man a musical. You can make the production as safe as possible, but things happen. And when you're putting someone in situations where they are suspended multiple stories in the air any accident is magnified. 

http://broadwayworld.com/article/UPDATE_FirstHand_Report_on_SPIDERMAN_Injury_20101220

[avkid]

Does anybody know what company made the flying rig?

[nick_tochelli]

NY Daily News is saying it was the physical harness that broke, not the cable itself. There's also the "Spin Dispute" between the height. The company says a few feet. The audience says 20-30 feet. Then again, audiences always seem surprised when they meet actors after the show how much smaller they seem because they appear larger than they are on stage. AP picked up the story an hour ago as well.

Does anybody know what company made the flying rig?

I haven't been able to find anything on the safety systems in my brief online searches. But I didn't expect to find anything. I can't imagine the information to the rig is in the public forum when they knew they would be scrutinized for everything they do in that theater. The only info I can find regarding any part of the system is in a comments section of a blog post from the NY Times, but again, that's as reliable as getting your information regarding the accident from Twitter.

[FallenRain]

Has anyone been following the development/previewing of Spider-Man: Turn of the Dark and it's mounting obstacles/injuries?  Here's the latest:

http://gawker.com/5715530/ambulances-called-show-stopped-after-big-accident-in-spider+man-musical

Hope everyone involved is okay, and my thoughts go out to that Stage Management team, how stressful their lives must be right now!

[babens]

I think it should also be noted that according to one of the stage hands this did not happen during one of the flying sequences.  People on the message boards keep talking about snapped wires and broken harnesses.  This actor was not intended to leave the ground, which is why he was able to fall off of the platform.

[Tempest]

No kidding, about stressful lives.  What I find most peculiar, however, is that most of the attached article was culled from Twitter reports.  News reporting in the modern age is getting stranger and stranger.

[philimbesi]

I keep wondering if it's just a case now where there's too much going on in the cues to allow all of them to executed safely.  I haven't seen the show but from everything I've read with the flight, animation, and just the normal bread and butter calls, it's almost too much. 

[kiwitechgirl]

There's a video of the fall here - http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/20/performer-is-injured-during-spider-man-performance/#video - not nice to watch, be warned!

[kiwitechgirl]

I've just posted a link to a video of the fall in the Spiderman thread - by the looks of that, it was a safety wire that snapped.  He wasn't flying, but the wire was to stop him falling off the platform and it looks like it broke.

[nick_tochelli]

I keep wondering if it's just a case now where there's too much going on in the cues to allow all of them to executed safely.  I haven't seen the show but from everything I've read with the flight, animation, and just the normal bread and butter calls, it's almost too much.

Even if that's the case, this is a failure in equipment. There's not all that much you can do about random happenings like this aside from triple checking the equipment preshow. And even then, things break.

Knowing now that this isn't a flying accident, and it is just a line attached to the actor that failed (which is in theory simpler to rig) I'm more disturbed by this accident than the previous ones. I bet the producers of the show are none to pleased someone decided to illegally record that video last night...

[FallenRain]

The article that accompanied the link that kiwitechgirl posted said:  "A later statement, from Actors’ Equity, said that it had been determined that the cause of the accident was “human error.”  There was no further explanation about what error that might have been. 

It's a good reminder to us all to be diligent about safety.  I'm about to start rehearsals for a show that will have our actors in harnesses, climbing walls to platforms... gonna stay on my toes for sure!
Post Merge: Dec 21, 2010, 07:27 pmI just saw the older/longer Spiderman thread that is in this section of the forum... my apologies for not placing my original post there.  I suppose that's what happens when I try to search for a thread subject in the middle of the night

[MarcieA]

Just curious as to how the Times came to have this video - the caption states it's a reader video.

Doesn't diminish the injury at all. Or the issues. Just an observation.

[PSMKay]

OK, I know that Spidey is a big deal but we really didn't need four topics about it.  All of the posts have been merged into this big one - they're all integrated by date.