`Spider-Man’ stunt goes awry; is show in peril?

After the actor fell, screaming could be heard coming from the pit.

“A voice yelled, `Someone call 911!’ Then there was a silence,” an audience member, fashion blogger Mariana Leung, wrote on the website NearSay.com. “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.”

Just last week, the show’s lead producer, Michael Cohl, delayed the official opening for the second time, pushing it back from Jan. 11 to Feb. 7. He cited “some unforeseeable setbacks, most notably the injury of a principal cast member.”

The first preview on Nov. 28 did not go well. The musical had to be halted five times because of technical glitches, and actress Natalie Mendoza, who plays Spider-Man’s evil love interest Arachne, was hit in the head by a rope and suffered a concussion. She was sidelined for two weeks.

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Associated Press writers John Carucci, Tom McElroy, Karen Matthews, Ula Ilnytzky and Sara Kugler Frazier, Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle, Broadcast correspondent Warren Levinson and AP news researcher Jennifer Farrar contributed to this report.

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