Stagehand falls to death inside Broadway theater: report
The fatality comes during preparations for "The Music Man" revival
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Despite New York's theaters enduring a shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, a stagehand died Thursday after a tragic accident inside one of the Great White Way's best-known venues.
The 54-year-old man, whose name has not been released, was working to remove props from the musical “Beetlejuice” inside New York City's famed Winter Garden Theatre. At around 9:40 a.m. ET, he fell from the scaffolding being used for the job according to the New York Post.
A witness working at the venue on 7th Avenue near West 50th Street told the publication the deceased was removing the older "Beetlejuice" props so that new props for “The Music Man,” starring Hugh Jackman, could be installed. The highly anticipated musical revival, costarring Sutton Foster, is not scheduled to begin previews until December 20, 2021 according to The Shubert Organization, which owns the theater.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“I was cleaning up under the stage when I heard a loud noise,” the witness relayed to The Post. “It was right above me. It sounded like a bomb. It scared me. I ran up the steps to what it was.”
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A stagehand fell to his death from the inside of the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City on Nov. 11, 2020. He was 54. (Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
“I said, ‘Oh my God!’ My heart started pounding,” the witness recalled of the tragic incident. “He was on his back. He had one shoe on. He wasn’t wearing a helmet. I don’t know if it came off when he fell. Stagehands always wear helmets.”
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The man was taken to St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Center, where he succumbed to his injuries, police told The Post.