A final thing about the Tonys and Bret Michaels
As you are all probably aware by now, Poison frontman Bret Michaels collided with a incoming flying scenic piece at the conclusion of his performance at the Tony Awards. Video shows the flying piece coming in upstage of the singer as he finishes his bow, and as he turns to walk upstage his face and the piece collide.
Tony Awards presenters told the audience that Michaels was fine, which is to be expected. The show needs to move on, and any injury was not going to be life-threatening. The problem was when Tony Awards spokespeople stated that Michaels had missed his mark, and was therefore responsible. Michaels has responded that there was no mark that he was ever aware of, and he had also not been told that anything would be flying near him at the conclusion of his performance.
Here’s the thing: mark or no mark, stage management, floor management, and the flyman are responsible for this accident. Assuming that this piece was to fly in where a performer would have been standing just seconds before, why was no-one watching to make sure the performer was clear of the unit? Why did the unit never stop? The crew (stagehands and stage managers) that are controlling the unit are always responsible for the safety of everyone near the unit. That is always the case. In a one-time performance with minimal rehearsal, any scene changes should be watched carefully for anyone out of place, or any scenery endangering anyone. Awards shows and one-time events never go exactly as planned, which is why they are always more difficult than a show done night after night. Someone should have been watching, and someone should have stopped the piece.
The video shows the flying piece quickly coming in before the song has ended. In fact, it blocks many of the lights of the final cue of the song as it comes in. This leads me to think that the piece was either called in early, or the flyman mistakenly took the final lighting cue as his/her cue to bring the piece in. That is what the video seems to show, even before it hits Michaels: a set piece moving when it shouldn’t have been.
The only people who know for sure what happened are the flyman and stage managers. But regardless of who did what when, the Tonys need to take responsibility for the accident. As production staff, we are responsible for the safety of the audience and performers around and under our gear. If we are unwilling to accept this responsibility, then we should not be doing this work.
Tony, I know you are really a woman, but it is time to man up, and apologize.
Hudson & Gaines
