(An artist's rendition of the incident)

(An artist's rendition of the incident)

We’ve been Peter Panning people across the theater stage for like 200 years now, haven’t we?  I’m pretty sure they had that at the play where Abe Lincoln died.  How do you spend $65 million on a play about Spider-Man and still get that part so wrong?

An actor performing an aerial stunt fell about 30 feet, fire officials said.

Firefighters were called to the Foxwoods Theatre at about 10:45 p.m. Monday after the 31-year-old actor fell near the end of the latest preview performance. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital with minor injuries, police said. Police did not release the actor’s name, but a performer in the show identified him as Christopher Tierney.  A nurse said Tierney was in stable condition, but would not provide details.

Tierney is the show’s main aerialist and performs stunts for the roles of Spider-Man, and the villains Meeks and Kraven.

The cable to Tierney’s harness snapped during a scene in which Spider-Man rescues his love interest, Mary Jane, the performer said. It was unclear if Tierney was properly harnessed when the cable snapped. The performer said the show’s actors are responsible for hooking themselves up to harnesses used for aerial stunts.

Oh sure, the actors hooking up their own harnesses, that’s a good plan.  If a teamster’s truck breaks down on a Zac Efron movie, guess who they don’t call to fix it: Zac Efron.

(there’s more, including video):

“There was a scream,” Leung wrote. “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” exited the theater slowly and many stayed to see if the actor was OK. She said he was carried out to the ambulance still in costume.

Actress Natalie Mendoza, who plays Spider-Man’s evil love interest Arachne and herself was injured during the show’s first preview last month, posted a Twitter message asking people to pray for the actor.

“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.”  [Yahoo]

I think it’s a light in your head that went dim.  He’s not dead, moron, he’s in a hospital dressed like Spider-man.  See?  This is why people hate theater kids.