Monday night, an actor (some reports call him a stuntman) was seriously injured during the performance of Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark on Broadway. Some reports say he fell 8-10 feet. Others give other numbers and the highest I've seen is 26. Whatever it was, it was nasty. I said here that the New York State Department of Labor and Actors' Equity would now have to get involved and sure enough, Tuesday morning they both did. This website seems to have the most up-to-date info.
No performance was scheduled for Tuesday evening. The matinee today was cancelled and I gather that for a brief time this morn, there seemed to be some concern or belief around that one or both of those agencies would insist that all performances be suspended…but it's all scheduled to resume tomorrow evening.
A lot of folks have to be asking themselves the musical question, "What happens if there's another accident?" The union has to balance two conflicting interests. On the one hand, they want to make sure that their members are protected; that producers understand that they must take every safety precaution or their show could be shut down. On the other hand, if they close down the show, they put a lot of actors out of work…and unions aren't supposed to cost their members work. There are also statements all over the web regarding OSHA and the New York State Department of Labor, both of which have to be pondering and debating what they'll do if more people get hurt.
But you know who we're not hearing a word from or about? The entity which may ultimately have the final say on whether this show runs, closes, cuts back on stunts, whatever. It's the insurance company…and there may be more than one involved. A Broadway show is insured in case Acts of God or health issues impact its earning power or even force it to close, and there's also liability insurance for anyone who is injured. You may recall that a key point of the movie All That Jazz was that Roy Scheider's character, who was directing a Broadway show, had a heart attack…and the producers of his show learned that because of the insurance money, they might show a profit by closing the production.
I'm not saying the Spider-Man musical might close for that reason. Ultimately, that will come down to how much it's taking in and how much it's putting out. But factored into that math now is what insurance is costing and what the insurance firm is willing to cover. A friend of mine who was once directing a movie was told by the insurers that if he insisted on filming a certain scene they deemed dangerous, his insurance would be cancelled…so he didn't (couldn't) film the scene. The alternative was that they could bring in another firm which would charge ten times as much. Risking lives can get expensive.