An actor in director Julie Taymor's Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark fell tonight during a preview performance of the play at Broadway's Foxwoods Theatre. Although the play's production has yet to issue an official word, Broadway World is reporting that the fall was sustained by the actor playing Spider-Man, was "several feet" in height, and took place approximately seven minutes before the show ended. Needless to say, the performance was subsequently canceled as ambulances arrived at the scene.
Although details surrounding the severity of the injuries are unconfirmed at this point, the report claims that "all signs were good as he was taken to the hospital for observation." Of course, all of us here at Collider extend our thoughts to those involved in the accident and we will have more information on the accident as it becomes available. In the meantime, hit the jump for a few eye-witness accounts of the fall. Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is currently set to open on February 7th, 2011.
UPDATED with video after the jump
[Update: via The New York Times, further down the page we've got video of the actor falling. The actor, whose name has still not been released, reportedly fell faster than he was supposed to. Gravity could not be reached for comment.]
In discussing the accident with Broadway World, one audience member said:
The person taken away was the person playing Spider-Man at the time. He tried to get up and stagehands told him not to move. I was in the audience and I'm an NY EMT. Although I am not involved with the care of the patient they didn't use a back-board and collar so they don't suspect spinal injury. The ambulance stayed on site longer than expected leading to believe the injury isn't critical.
Another audience member recounted to BW that the fall occurred near the scene in which Mary Jane falls from a bridge and Spidey goes after her. As BW paraphrases:
Basically, she went down and he went jumping after her, and you saw the rope come done and then snap back up and then all of a sudden, the stage manager's voice came on and said that there was going to be a pause and they stayed dark for a minute or two and then they basically called the show.
As mentioned before, these are early reports from the performance and, as of now, the extent of the injuries and the overall impact the accident will have on the production are both unknown. Again, the entire Collider team offers up our thoughts to those involved as we hope for a speedy recovery.
