More offstage drama for Broadway’s Spider-man
Actor hospitalized after sustaining serious leg injury
One of the actors playing the comic-book hero in the Broadway musical, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, was badly injured during a performance, a fresh reminder of the dangers facing performers in the injury-plagued show that cost $75 million and has endured plenty of offstage drama.
Daniel Curry, a graduate of the La Guardia School of Performing Arts — the so-called Fame school — and who appeared in an episode of Smash and toured with the Man In The Mirror, Michael Jackson Tribute tour, is making his Broadway debut. He is one of nine actors who play the costumed Spider-Man during each performance, leaping into the audience and swinging over the orchestra. He also understudied various other roles.
A spokesman for the musical says the actor suffered an injury during the Thursday night performance, which was immediately halted. The actor remained at Bellevue Hospital Friday with a serious leg injury.
Fire officials said they responded to the Foxwoods Theatre on West 42nd Street shortly after 9 p.m. to treat a man whose leg got caught in equipment backstage.
The show’s spokesman, Rick Miramontez, said more information will be made available Friday. A spokeswoman for the Actors’ Equity Association, a labour union that represents actors and stage managers, did not immediately comment Friday.
Curry, who is in his 20s, was raised near Minneapolis and told The StarTribune in 2011 that he thirsted for a life performing in New York. His mother soon moved the family to the borough of Queens to make his hope to attend La Guardia High School.
“I had these big dreams,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to dance, to be on Broadway, and I’m just thankful for my mom for making that happen.”
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is Broadway’s most expensive show and has become one of its biggest hits after a rocky start, with six delays in its opening night, injuries to fellow actors, a shakeup that led to the firing of Julie Taymor, the show’s original director, and critical drubbing. One actor, Christopher Tierney, suffered a fractured skull, a fractured shoulder blade, four broken ribs and three broken vertebrae during a fall. A lead actress, Natalie Mendoza, suffered a concussion during the first preview performance and left the show. A stuntman, Richard Kobak, sued the producers, saying he suffered a concussion, whiplash and two holes in his knees.
The latest accident comes between two casting calls for a new SpiderMan. Actor Reeve Carney, who has been playing the musical’s title character and his alter ego Peter Parker since the show began previews in late 2010, will leave Sept. 15.