Stagehand falls to his death at the Winter Garden Theater

A stagehand died Thursday morning after falling from a ladder onto the fly floor above the stage at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theater.

The 54-year-old fell from the narrow, elevated platform alongside the stage at around 8:45 a.m. while doing routine maintenance work, police said. Emergency medical workers found the man lying on the floor of the theater, which is between 50th and 51st Streets, and transported him to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The man was an employee of the Shubert organization, which operates the Winter Garden Theater, and was not affiliated with “Beetlejuice”, the last show to perform there. He has not been identified, pending notification from his family.

Like all Broadway theaters, the Winter Garden closed on March 12 due to the coronavirus pandemic. “Beetlejuice” was scheduled to end its airing on June 6, but announced in April that it would not be returning to the Winter Garden Theater. Broadway performances have been suspended until May 30, 2021.

Bill Evans, a spokesperson for the Shubert Organization, which is Broadway’s biggest owner, said the theater was still removing props from “Beetlejuice” and had yet to start planning for its next show. , a revival of “The Music Man” which will star Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster. The Scott Rudin-produced musical is set to begin performances in December 2021 and open in February 2022.

Mr Evans said most stagehands were not working in the organization’s other theaters during the shutdown. “We mourn the loss of our precious colleague,” he said in a statement. “Our deepest condolences go out to the family during this difficult time.”