When
opens
this Friday, audiences will get to experience one of those "the show must go on" moments, with one of the production's featured singers performing in a wheelchair after being injured during a rehearsal last week.
According to Julia Sheridan, the public relations manager for the company, baritone
tore a quadricep in one leg and sprained an ankle in the other during a rehearsal on Tuesday at the Portland Opera studios. Hurt was taken to the hospital for x-rays, and doctors initially considered surgery before opting to release him so that the injuries could heal on their own. Sheridan says that the possibility of surgery was brought up again a few days later, but Hurt has opted to delay any procedures until after the final performance of "Falstaff" on May 18. In the opera, Hurt portrays Ford, a jealous husband of one of the women being pursued by the title character.
During performances, Hurt will sing from a wheelchair with his legs fully extended. His cover, Andre Chiang, will push the chair onstage. To accommodate the wheelchair, director Christopher Mattaliano has restaged sequences involving Hurt, including several that initially required going up and down stairs. Several backstage accommodations have been made to get Hurt's wheelchair on stage, including dressing room changes and the construction of a ramp.
Sheridan was at the rehearsal when Hurt was injured while stepping down from a tree stump. She described the moment as horrifying.
--
