Christopher Tierney plays the lead in the Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” in New York. He was injured while on the job and intends to return to the theater, this time as a theatergoer.
Tierney was discharged from the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine on January 5, 2011 and has made plans to attend the show’s Friday performance, according to the show’s publicist Rick Miramontez. The star will return to the show a mere eighteen days after he fell from 35 feet. He was severely injured after his safety harness failed to break his fall during a preview performance on December 20, 2010.
Tierney’s injuries included a fractured skull, a fractured shoulder blade, four broken ribs and three broken vertebrae. In an interview, he stated that he hopes to return to his role as Spiderman when he is strong enough.
In an interview with the Associated Press, he said, “Each day there’s progress. I’m up and walking with very little pain.” He added, “It’s good that it happened to me. I’m kind of a horse like that as I like to get back up after being knocked down. It’s a new challenge, character building kind of thing.”
The show is scheduled to open on February 7 but it has experienced many technical glitches, a host of cancellations, financial problems and an assortment of injuries to three other actors. Last month, one of the lead actresses opted out of the show.
Tierney blames his injuries on a freak accident and does not blame the production or creative teams for negligence.
The show is directed and co-written by Julie Taymor, whose previous hit was “The Lion King”.
The show was expected to be Tierney’s Broadway debut after having worked with the Houston Ballet, Ballet New England and the Hubbard Street Dance Chicago ensemble. He has also danced in “Movin’ Out” by Twyla Tharp and appeared in Toronto for “Dirty Dancing”.
He has also previously worked with both Taymor and the show’s choreographer Daniel Ezralow in “Across the Universe”. Aside from his Spiderman role, he was also cast in a number of roles in the show, as a super villain, a dancer and a bully who torments Peter Parker.
With the fall, he needs to walk with a back brace and eight screws were implanted into his back. The accident happened seven minutes before the end of the show. At the time, Tierney was Spiderman and was jumping from a ledge as the show was ending after he had swung multiple times at 40 mph and wrestled with the Green Goblin over the audience area. That last jump proved to be costly, as he was not attached to his safety harness.
Tierney said he wanted to go back to the show and watch his friends as soon as he was released from the rehab facility. He continues to see the good despite the incident, saying “I got a lot of outpouring from loved ones, family and friends, and complete strangers alike. All of it was intensely positive and immensely beautiful. I haven’t had to fight a single negative thought because of it. It’s been great. I’ve been in a very positive, happy place.”
Should you or someone you know has been involved in a work related accident, contact the on the job injury attorneys at the Strom Law Firm, LLC. Our lawyers offer a free, no cost consultation to discuss your rights and options.
