It just keeps getting better…well, depending on what your definition of “better” is.
Last weekend we shared news of yet another actor getting injured on the set of the “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,” Julie Taymor’s Broadway musical about our friendly-neighborhood webslinger. The folks behind the scenes played it off as normal for big elaborate shows to have a few injuries but the New York State Department of Labor wasn’t having it. They came in to investigate the safety of the production and its big, dangerous stunts earlier this week, but they weren’t able because the production wasn’t quite ready to demonstrate everything.
So they got shut down. Well, temporarily, anyway. Instead of opening for previews on November 11th (with the official premiere slated for December 21st), the previews will start on November 28th and the show will premiere on January 11th, 2011. Again seemingly content to downplay the palpable risk involved with the show, producer Michael Cohl kinda-sorta whitewashed the whole affair, saying “Shows like ours, that embrace the challenge of opening on Broadway without an out-of-town tryout, often need to adjust their schedules along the way.”
Here’s a hint, Mr. Cohl: If your shit’s gonna kill somebody on Broadway it woulda killed ‘em anywhere else.
Luckily, the Department of Labor is hip to things like common sense and not wanting actors to die, so they set up a second inspection visit, refusing to sign off on the production until they can verify everything is up to snuff.
Source | THR