Actors' Equity Tries, Fails To Halt The Spider-Man Musical

On Monday night, aerialist/actor Christopher Tierney (pictured at right) fell “approximately 30 feet” when a cable failed during a performance of Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark (remains in the hospital with broken ribs.  Actors’ Equity Association (a labor union representing theater actors and stage managers) released a statement yesterday saying they are “working with management and the Department of Labor to ensure that performances will not resume until back-up safety measures are in place.”

Sounds like they’re shutting it down, right?  And yet, despite all the setbacks,

injuries, bad reviews, more injuries, delays for script rewrites , and dropping an actor 30 feet, they plan to resume all performances as scheduled starting tonight. Seriously?  Cancelling one day’s performances and a matinee was all the time it took for OSHA, Actors’ Equity, and the New York State Department of Labor to investigate the safety protocols?  Yep.  You can injure as many actors as you want as long as they aren’t A list and you have enough money tied up in the production.  Where’s another active volcano when we need it?  (Taymor once nearly fell into an active volcano.  Obscure theater jokes that have to be explained are the coolest.)