The producers of the troubled “Spider-Man” Broadway musical said this afternoon that they have enacted a series of new safety measures and would resume performances on Wednesday night.
Rick Miramontez, a spokesman for the show, said producers met with federal and state labor officials and the Actors’ Equity Association earlier today to discuss extra safety measures after an actor doing an aerial stunt fell about 30 feet.
“OSHA, Actors Equity and the New York State Department of Labor have met with the ‘Spider-Man’ company today to discuss additional safety protocols,” Miramontez said. “It was agreed that these measures would be enacted immediately.”
As a result, Wednesday’s matinee was canceled. The statement did not provide details of the new measures.
However, a source who works for the $65 million production said they are skeptical that the show will actually be able to reopen by Wednesday.
The Post has learned that the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been probing the problem-plagued production since early last month because of the prior accidents, at the specific request of the state Department of Labor.
It is apparently the first time ever that the Labor Department has requested OSHA’s involvement in such a probe of a Broadway production.
“Federal OSHA has been inspecting that production since Nov. 2,” said OSHA spokesman John Chavez. “Initially, it’s my understand, the New York State Labor Department has specific responsibility insuring the safety of the production, and they had invitee federal OSHA to do a joint inspection.”
Chavez also said, “They asked us to come in because of a few things [accidents] that had happened initially, but nothing as serious as far as this [Tierney’s accident last night]. Normally, we don’t do joint inspections of Broadway productions with the state.
“Once federal OSHA opens an investigation, all we can do is confirm its existence,” Chavez said. “Certainly, the most recent accident will further motivate us to look closely at this production.”
The new safety measures come after the musical was plagued by its fourth accident in a month Monday night after the actor playing the superhero plummeted after a cable snapped.
Firefighters were called to the Foxwoods Theatre on West 42nd Street at 10:45 p.m. after Christopher Tierney, 31, fell near the end of the show, which is currently in previews, sources told The Post.
Tierney was taken out of the theater by paramedics on a stretcher while still in costume. He suffered multiple broken ribs and substantial bleeding, but avoided any catastrophic neck or spine injuries, BroadwayWorld.com reported.
He was transported to Bellevue Hospital and is listed in stable condition, sources said.
Tierney is the Broadway production’s main aerialist and performs stunts for the roles of Spider-Man, along with villains Meeks and Kraven.
Tierney fell during a scene in which Spider-Man jumps off a platform in an effort to rescue his girlfriend Mary Jane. The stuntman fell into an orchestra pit as the shocked crowd looked on.
“The cause of the accident at last night’s performance of Spiderman was, in fact, human error,” the Actors’ Equity Association said in a statement.
Scott Fisher, president of Fisher Technical Services Inc., in Las Vegas, which builds the equipment that does the aerial stunts for the show, said the rope involved in the accident was clipped to the stage at one end and clipped to the performer’s back at the other end.
He said his company was not involved in Monday’s failure, but he was able to describe how the rope works.
“The stage crew would have been responsible for making the connection for hooking him up,” Fisher said. “The actor is responsible for making the final check that he’s good to go. It’s sort of like packing your own parachute.
“The move itself is part of the staging of the show. He does a freeze-frame move at the end of the ramp to make it look like he’s going to go forward and go after the girl and the lanyard is what stops him. … So he runs and stops and freezes in a position that you wouldn’t normally be able to hold unless you had a little support from behind him. If that’s not hooked up and he leans forward, he’s going to fall forward.”
Charlie Bernard, who was in the audience, told NY1 that the cable that was supposed to be attached to the actor looked like it was either not attached properly or broken.
“You just hear a bang and then you hear the actress who plays Mary Jane, she was screaming and crying. The audience was a little disturbed and then everybody was quiet,” he said.
Mariana Leung, a blogger, wrote on the website NearSay.com that she witnessed the accident from the balcony’s front row.
“There was a scream,” wrote Leung. “A voice yelled, ‘Someone call 911!’ Then there was a silence. A minute later, the stage was still dark. Then there was an announcement that the show would be delayed. A few minutes later, a second announcement that the performance would not continue. The lights came up.”
Leung said the “shocked audience” left the theater, but that many stayed to see if the actor was OK.
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.
Actress Natalie Mendoza, who plays Spider-Man’s evil love interest Arachne, was hit in the head with a rope and suffered a concussion.
In a Twitter message posted after the accident, she wrote, “Please pray with me for my friend Chris, my superhero who quietly inspires me everyday with his spirit. A light in my heart went dim tonight.”
Actor Reeve Carney, who plays Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the show, tweeted: “Chris Tierney, you are my hero. Your fearlessness, inspiring talent, and shining spirit are lights to us all. We love you so much man.”
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.
With AP