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New York - The fate of Broadway's most expensive accident-prone musical is in limbo as producers try to re-rig heir high-flying stunts in time to satisfy safety investigators and reopen.
Producers cancelled a Wednesday matinee performance of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark after Monday's nine metre plunge of a Spider-Man stunt double into a stage pit.
State investigators weren't sure whether the equipment, the rigging or the performer caused the fourth accident in the troubled show. Actors' Equity Association called it human error, but Leo Rosales, a spokesperson for the state Department of Labour, said the cause was under investigation.
Rosales said the show's producers would present the new safety protocols on Wednesday. If the measures are inadequate, he said, the state will not let the show perform the complicated aerial manoeuvres.
Minor injuries
"If it takes longer, it will need to take longer," he said of the show's timing. "We need to be satisfied."
The musical, which started previews a month ago without benefit of an out-of-town tryout, could be put in jeopardy if certain aerial actions aren't allowed.
Monday's performance of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, the most expensive production in Broadway history, ended just minutes before its curtain when Christopher W Tierney, a stuntman playing the superhero, fell into the stage pit. The safety tether that clips to his back failed to prevent the spill.
Tierney was wheeled out of the Foxwoods Theatre on a stretcher, still in his costume, and taken by ambulance to Bellevue Hospital with minor injuries. An uncle in Florida, Michael Tierney, said on Tuesday that he spoke with his nephew by phone.
"He sounded pretty good," Tierney said, adding that when he spoke with him Christopher Tierney was still at the hospital.
Back surgery
The injured man's brother told New Hampshire media outlets that Tierney said the accident happened when someone dropped a tether.
Patrick Tierney told the Portsmouth Herald that his brother is "really hurt" but is expected to make a full recovery. He said his brother was scheduled for back surgery on Wednesday.
Christopher Tierney, who appeared in the national tour of Moving Out and in Dirty Dancing in Toronto, is the show's main aerialist and performs stunts for the roles of Spider-Man and the villains Meeks and Kraven the Hunter. The cable to his harness apparently snapped, said a castmate who spoke on condition of anonymity because the performer was not authorised to speak publicly about the show.
Producers cancelled a Wednesday matinee performance of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark after Monday's nine metre plunge of a Spider-Man stunt double into a stage pit.
State investigators weren't sure whether the equipment, the rigging or the performer caused the fourth accident in the troubled show. Actors' Equity Association called it human error, but Leo Rosales, a spokesperson for the state Department of Labour, said the cause was under investigation.
Rosales said the show's producers would present the new safety protocols on Wednesday. If the measures are inadequate, he said, the state will not let the show perform the complicated aerial manoeuvres.
Minor injuries
"If it takes longer, it will need to take longer," he said of the show's timing. "We need to be satisfied."
The musical, which started previews a month ago without benefit of an out-of-town tryout, could be put in jeopardy if certain aerial actions aren't allowed.
Monday's performance of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, the most expensive production in Broadway history, ended just minutes before its curtain when Christopher W Tierney, a stuntman playing the superhero, fell into the stage pit. The safety tether that clips to his back failed to prevent the spill.
Tierney was wheeled out of the Foxwoods Theatre on a stretcher, still in his costume, and taken by ambulance to Bellevue Hospital with minor injuries. An uncle in Florida, Michael Tierney, said on Tuesday that he spoke with his nephew by phone.
"He sounded pretty good," Tierney said, adding that when he spoke with him Christopher Tierney was still at the hospital.
Back surgery
The injured man's brother told New Hampshire media outlets that Tierney said the accident happened when someone dropped a tether.
Patrick Tierney told the Portsmouth Herald that his brother is "really hurt" but is expected to make a full recovery. He said his brother was scheduled for back surgery on Wednesday.
Christopher Tierney, who appeared in the national tour of Moving Out and in Dirty Dancing in Toronto, is the show's main aerialist and performs stunts for the roles of Spider-Man and the villains Meeks and Kraven the Hunter. The cable to his harness apparently snapped, said a castmate who spoke on condition of anonymity because the performer was not authorised to speak publicly about the show.
