A 23-year-old actor was seriously injured on Thursday night during the performance of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.  The injury to Daniel Curry, who was described as one of the show’s nine Spider-Man dancers, is just the latest in a series of mishaps that have occurred during performances of the show, which features elaborate “flying” sequences when Spidey swings through the city in pursuit of bad guys.  Before last night’s mishap, the show’s most serious injury was that suffered by actor Christopher Tierney, who suffered multiple injuries when he fell when a safety line malfunctioned back in 2010 (see "'Spidey' Actor Back on His Feet").
 
According to the Chicago Tribune, Curry who was injured during the second act at Thursday night’s performance got his right ankle caught in a hydraulic stage lift.  No reports on the extent of his injuries is available yet, though a spokesman for the show said that the actor was in "stable condition" on Friday.  The Thursday night performance was cancelled after the accident, but the show will go on tonight since "the technical elements of the show are all in good working order."
 
The multi-million dollar Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark musical has been controversial from the start.  In addition to a series of injuries, the show was plagued by poor reviews, and was shut down for time while the book was rewritten and some of the original creators such as Julie Taymor were forced out when they didn’t want to go along with the changes.  In spite of all the bad publicity and negative reviews, the show has continued to run far longer than many so called "experts" had predicte--thugh it is debatable whether the show's longevity is due to show's staging and music (by U2's Bono and The Edge) or to the enduring popularity of the Spider-Man character.