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CBS/ December 21, 2010, 4:53 PM

"Spider-Man" Broadway Actor Falls 30 Feet

FILE- In this Sept. 21, 1991 file photo, aerialist Angel Wallenda walks the high-wire performs at Stone Mountain, Ga. Wallenda, who lost a leg to cancer but trained herself to walk the wire with the help of a prosthetic leg, eventually died of the disease on May 3, 1996, at age 28. On Friday, June 15, 2012, Nik Wallenda, a seventh generation ?Flying Wallenda,? will attempt a high-wire crossing of the Niagra Falls gorge between the United States and Canada. The event will be covered on live television. (AP Photo/Charles Kelly, File)

FILE- In this Sept. 21, 1991 file photo, aerialist Angel Wallenda walks the high-wire performs at Stone Mountain, Ga. Wallenda, who lost a leg to cancer but trained herself to walk the wire with the help of a prosthetic leg, eventually died of the disease on May 3, 1996, at age 28. On Friday, June 15, 2012, Nik Wallenda, a seventh generation ?Flying Wallenda,? will attempt a high-wire crossing of the Niagra Falls gorge between the United States and Canada. The event will be covered on live television. (AP Photo/Charles Kelly, File) / Charles Wallenda

"Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" is the biggest and most expensive production in Broadway history. It also appears to be one of its most cursed.

It's a show that has Broadway buzzing, but for all the wrong reasons, CBS News correspondent Elaine Quijano observed on "The Early Show."

"60 Minutes": A Peek At Spider-Man, The Musical

In the closing minutes of Monday night's performance, "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" once again shocked its audience after an actor portraying the superhero took a terrible fall.

It's believed that one of the tethers holding the stunt double broke -- and he fell more than 30 feet to the pit below.

It's just the latest in a string of accidents and injuries that have plagued the show in recent weeks.

In a little over a month, one actress suffered a concussion, while two other actors were injured during a flying sequence, one breaking his wrist.

After last night's accident, one blog was flooded by outraged fans.

"This is just getting silly. Time to shut this down," one comment said.

Another fan wrote, "This show is doomed. I think theatergoers should stay away."

The actor who fell was rushed from the theater to cheers. The show's producers say he suffered only minor injuries.

Quijano added the show's opening last week was delayed four weeks for creative changes.
Copyright 2010 CBS. All rights reserved.
8 Comments Add a Comment
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sfbanak says:
Where's OSHA???
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usabeautiful18 says:
Poor spiderman and others that were injured. My suggestions may not make a bit of difference, but here I go with my insite. The stunt people need to check their equipment before starting the stunts, they should never trust the eqipment! They need an equipment inspector!! It sounds like the equipment is plagued not the show. The show will carry on despite the accidents. Stunt people can always be replaced, which is sad, but true. I feel for the injured people, they deserve an equipment inspector. Never trust equipment!! Always inspect before stunts.
Terri
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BradNoley says:
Darn! I guess Spiderman's a fake and he really can't swing off buildings.
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pragmatist1 says:
It's premature to claim that the injuries this stunt-double sustained were minor. Falling thirty feet is hardly something minor and hopefully he'll have orthopaedic doctors monitoring his condition in the coming months. Many injuries from falls and other forms of trauma don't begin to appear until months after the initial injury, often revealing permanent injuries to the skeletal structure, which brings on premature arthritis and debilitating and chronic pain.
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tomanyt says:
The concept of this show was utterly absurd to begin with. They need to close this show and move on.
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bobnjersey says:
[To see the stunning accident, click on the video below. ]
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the accident is not shown in the video ... but thanks for the commercial for the play.
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clarkw11 says:
Hey look its Splatterman
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AnneNYC says:
I'm confused: All of these quotes taken from Julie Taymor were from an interview over a month ago. It is irresponsible reporting to insert them inside of this article, which is about an accident from last night. Any active show has injuries, regularly. Remember how there were always at least 2 people out from stage-related injuries at "Movin' Out" at a time? And even lower-impact shows like "Mama Mia" have such a raked stage that they are getting injured regularly, as well. Didn't Idina Menzel also fall into a trap door in "Wicked" and break ribs? In the last "Fiddler" production, an actress fell into a hole, broke a few bones and was laid up in the hospital for some time. I am not quite sure why the press chooses to hate this production. I assume it is because it is expensive. But I saw the show, and you can see the money spent all over the stage. Immense sets, incredible costumes and exciting flying sequences on constant rotation. And the ticket prices are the same as any other Broadway show. As far as I'm concerned, I'm getting more for my money.
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