Broadway chorus: Shut down ‘Spiderman’!
Several Broadway actors are asking that the production be closed, according to the New York Post:
Broadway actors were singing the same chorus yesterday: Shut down “Spider-Man”!
Several stars took to Twitter and Facebook in disgust after stuntman Christopher Tierney, 31, plummeted 30 feet during a preview of “Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark” Monday night.
Tierney — who remained in serious condition with broken ribs at Bellevue last night — is the fourth actor to be injured in the trouble-plagued, $65 million show.
“Does someone have to die?” Tony-winning actress Alice Ripley blasted on Twitter, questioning why producers are letting the show go on. “Where is the line for the decision makers, I am curious.”
“Spider-Man should be ashamed of itself,” the “Next to Normal” star continued. “This is completely unacceptable and embarrassing to working actors everywhere.”
Veteran “Rent” leading man Adam Pascal didn’t mince words on Facebook, tearing into director Julie Taymor and U2′s Bono and The Edge, who wrote the score.
“They should put Julie Taymor in jail for assault!” he raged.
“I hope [Tierney] is ok and sues the s**t out of Julie, Bono, Edge and every other a**hole who invested in that steaming pile of actor crippling s**t!”
Marc Kudisch, of “9 to 5,” wrote on Facebook, “I wish employment for all my friends. But I wish them safety and security in their employment even more.”
Last 4 posts by Rashas W.
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“They should put Julie Taymor in jail for assault!” he raged.
“I hope [Tierney] is ok and sues the s**t out of Julie, Bono, Edge and every other a**hole who invested in that steaming pile of actor crippling s**t!”
Exagurate much?
It’s awfull what happend but these reactions…
I hope that Julie, Bono, Edge and everyone who works hard on the musical don’t take these reactions too hard.
You have to admit after all the injuries….I mean, I don’t follow broadway news at all, but it would seem like this is excessive to the extreme. I’ve been wondering the same basic question: At what point to you say, “Okay, this kind of show isn’t done for a reason. It’s not safe, and it’s not worth the risk.”
People need to think before they speak. Bono and Edge and Julie don’t want people getting hurt! And they’ll do their best to prevent this. They can handle the criticism though -they’ve probably lived with it awhile now.
I’m a die-hard U2 fan, as I’m sure we all are on this site. I’ve been a fan since I was 3 years old (I heard “Still Haven’t Found” - my song by anyone of all time - in 1989). I’ve also been a Spider-man fan since before I could read whole sentences, and except for a 8-year period, I’ve been diligently collecting Spider-man comics and giving them my hard-earned cash. I’ve been giving both parties involved in this project my hard-earned cash for at least 15 years, to think of it. So you can imagine that no one was more ecstatic to hear about this project. I was on the ceiling like a Fly on the wall, to be exact.
And most importantly, I was ready - and still am, for better or for worse - to shell out a couple hundred bucks for Turn Off The Dark.
All that said, I think it’s about time to pull the plug on this. I mean, I’m still excited to see this. The head aerialist fell 30 feckin’ feet! It’s amazing that he’s alive. And the musical seems to be getting all the wrong kinds of publicity. I’d be heartbroken, but at this point, two of my favorite things coming together in such an epic way seems too good to be true.
On the other hand, it’s absolutely unfair to hold Bono, Edge and Taymor personally accountable for the injuries. Sometimes the only way to improve safety measures is to deal with unforeseen injuries like these. And it’s naive and immature to think that these injuries were anything other than that. Extremely unfortunate, yes, but definitely unforeseen.
At the very least I hope to see a cast recording with Bono and Edge. I’d buy 10 copies of it on iTunes! Three of them would even be physical copies. I think you call them “See Dees.”
I always liked Adam Pascal, but I think I just lost a huge chunk of respect for him. How are the people that wrote the music and lyrics responsible? The directors, producers and stage hands, I can understand, but the blokes that do the music?! Come on! And how is playing the blame game going to make Christopher heal any faster? The only reason people are raging at Bono & Edge is because they’re big name celebs. If the Spider-man writers were less famous or even complete unknowns, no one would even look their way. I hope Christopher heals and recovers quickly, I hope the proper repairs and modifications are made, and I hope all this misdirected hatred and anger dies off.
I think Dax is right about people raging against the known names rather than pointing the finger at the producers. Having watched all this drama unfold from my armchair, I’d put the blame entirely at the producers feet. And if you need a high profile name, then lets single out Michael Kohl.
Somebody made the call to open the doors to the public on a show that was simply not ready for audience consumption. When the house lights went down, the acrobatics became harder and I don’t think the stage hands were ready for the pressure of live performance.
How they ended up so far behind schedule given all the time they’ve had is baffling - the lack of organization in the script seems to be a metaphor for the entire show - one would think that a production with the combined involvement of Kohl, Taymor, Bono, Edge and McGuinness would manage the clock a little better.
It’s clear that they wanted to have an audience for the holidays to get as much money as possible. They pimped the show out to every media outlet they could get their hands on prior to the start of previews and Michael Kohl has regularly taken the stage before the show starts to hype up the crowd.
His comments each night that “all aerial stunts are going ahead” (regardless of how many injuries happened in the prior week) show that he has no illusions about why people are in the theater. They may be spiderman fans, u2 fans or theater buffs but most are there because they want to see what kind of crazy effects $65m buys you.
Like a modern day P.T. Barnum, he wants you to buy into the hype and see what the circus has to offer. There’s a “turn off the dark” fan born every minute.
It’s unfortunate that cast members were injured and it certainly wasn’t Kohl’s, Taymor’s, Bono or Edge’s intent to see this happen.
But somewhere between the failed creative process (which Taymor, Bono and Edge have to take full responsibility for) and the rushed business model (which Kohl and the other senior producers espoused), they created an environment where the chance of accidents rose to an unnecessary level.
There is enough money backing this production that over time people will forget the specifics of the injuries, forget the bad reviews and go see it anyway. Eventually, they will iron out most of the kinks, the injuries will lessen and people will leave the theater feeling slightly less empty than they do currently. Spiderman fans will still buy all the “limited edition” merchandise. U2 fans will still buy the score. The producers will still get paid.
Was the money they made from early ticket sales worth the extra risk they put on the actors and worth diluting the creative careers of Bono and Edge?