Metro

Tonight’s ‘Spider-Man’ show canceled in order for new safety procedures to be implemented

Producers of the troubled Broadway show “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” said that tonight’s performance has been canceled in order for them to implement new safety procedures required by the state, officials said.

The state Labor Department said it is satisfied with the adjustments made at the Foxwoods Theater on West 42nd Street, just two days after a stunt double was injured in a 30-foot fall.

The show is scheduled to reopen on Thursday night.

Today’s matinee had previously been canceled in the wake of the accident.

‘SPIDER-MAN’ ACTOR’S BROTHER FEARS CAREER MAY BE OVER AFTER FALL

“They’ve been working on this all day,” said Maureen Cox, who works as the state’s safety and health director. “We’re hopeful this is something that can be done rapidly…They’re going to do what’s necessary to ensure safety.”

Cox declined to discuss specifics about Monday’s accident, saying it was still under investigation.

“He had a harness on him and he was attached to a tether, a rope, a wire — whatever term — and we’re trying to determine how he ended up in the pit,” she said.

Assemblyman Rory Lancman (D-Queens), who chairs the workplace safety subcommittee, sent producers a stern letter today, saying he’s considering holding hearings into the problems with “Spider-Man.”

READ THE LETTER (PDF)

Among other things, he called on producers to follow state and federal safety regulations; said the cast needs to rehearse the dangerous scenes fully or remove them; and to shorten the tether used for the climax scene — the one that malfunctioned during Monday’s performance.

Among the new safety procedures being put in place are the requirement that a second stage hand check that a harness is secured and then notify the stage manager; a landing pad has to be placed on stage for actors that leap into the air; and a rule that cast members waiting to be harnessed for aerial stunts have to be kept away from moving objects that could cause injuries.

Cox said the series of accidents at “Spider-Man” was clearly “the result of safety and health system failures.”

Christopher Tierney, the show’s main aerialist, was undergoing back surgery today for injuries suffered during Monday’s fall, which occurred just before the end of the show.

Tierney, 31, was wearing a harness and a wire that should have safely lifted him into the air — but it failed to do so.

With a lot of high-tech effects and actors and actresses soaring over the audience in wire riggings, the show has been plagued with problems. Three other accidents have injured actors over the past few weeks, including one actor who broke both his wrists while practicing an aerial stunt.

The first preview performance on Nov. 28 did not go as planned and was delayed five times because of technical glitches.

Last week, the production announced it was delaying its official opening for the second time, pushing it back a month from Jan. 11 to Feb. 7.

The musical was put together by Tony Award-winning director Julie Taymor and U2 rocker Bono and The Edge, who wrote the music.