Nearly a dozen people were sent to the hospital Wednesday evening after an escalator at New York City’s Gershwin Theatre malfunctioned.
Eleven people were injured when the escalator jolted without warning and threw riders forward shortly after 5 p.m. Ten children and one adult were taken to nearby hospitals, the Department of Buildings confirmed to The Independent. Updates on their conditions weren’t immediately available Thursday morning.
“Inspectors were informed that patrons were exiting theater when a child’s shoelace became lodged at the bottom of escalator,” a representative for the Department of Buildings said. “An attendant engaged the emergency stop button, but inspectors were informed that the escalator sped up before stopping, causing a pile up that resulted in additional injuries. Inspections revealed that the emergency stop button had an inoperative skirt switch.”
The theatre has housed the Broadway production of Wicked for more than two decades. The 7 p.m. performance of the long-running musical went on as scheduled.
The Independent has contacted a representative for Wicked for comment.
Witnesses told CBS News that some of the victims appeared to be quite young and were ushered out on stretchers and in wheelchairs before being taken to waiting ambulances.
One witness described the aftermath to the outlet, saying, “The escalator was shut down and it was odd, people were going around it and walking up the stairs, but I didn’t think anything of it. It is really scary to hear about. I’ve always been scared of escalators and I feel bad for the people who had to miss the show because of it.”
Wicked opened October 30, 2003, at the Gershwin Theatre on Broadway where it continues to play to nearly sold-out audiences each day. Productions have since been launched in a handful of other countries and continue to run in London, Japan and Korea. A North American national tour is also ongoing.
Adapted from Gregory Maguire’s acclaimed 1995 novel, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, the musical tells the story of the friendship between Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda the Good, long before Dorothy lands in Oz. It also serves as a dark and parallel backstory to L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Featuring music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman, Wicked was recently adapted into a two-part feature film that starred Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda.
The current Broadway cast features Keri René Fuller as Elphaba and Emma Flynn as Glinda, with Carl Man as Fiyero and original Broadway company member William Youmans returning as Doctor Dillamond.
