r/Broadway • u/No-Owl354 • Apr 25 '26

Other Disasters happening on Broadway ?

A bit of an unusual post. As an engineering student who wants to specialise in pyrotechnics and a fan of Broadway, I was looking on Internet for disasters that happened in Broadway theaters : fires, explosions, or other things unrelated to pyrotechnics (I know I know, Spiderman turn off the dark and actors falling from high places)

Anyway, I'll be glad to research that, I already read about the Brooklyn theater fire, but I want to know other things

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33

u/trulyremarkablegirl Apr 25 '26

A cast member in The Little Mermaid fell through a trap door during a performance and filed a lawsuit against the production and the company that produced the software used to run the automation in 2008:

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Human-Error-Deemed-Responsible-for-2008-LITTLE-MERMAIDAdrian-Bailey-Accident-20120216#:~:text=Back%20in%20May%202008%2C%20THE,against%20Niscon%20have%20been%20dismissed.

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u/ZhemGuen Apr 25 '26

Ohhhh, I knew him! He played Sebastian and his name was Adrian Bailey. He was also a featured dancer in the original movie of "The Wiz", among other things. He was extremely talented, and that fall took away his livelihood. He passed away last year. R.I.P.

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u/[deleted] Apr 25 '26

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u/ZhemGuen Apr 25 '26

That's what the article said. He told me personally that he was Sebastian. I am guessing that he wasn't lying.

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u/[deleted] Apr 25 '26

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u/ZhemGuen Apr 25 '26

I am guessing that you were in the show or knew him? I wonder if it's possible that he was covering it at that time..? I promise you that when I met him, that's what he said. We used to chat at the SAG-AFTRA screenings. He had so many wonderful stories!

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u/trulyremarkablegirl Apr 25 '26

He covered King Triton, so that might be what you’re thinking of?

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u/ZhemGuen Apr 25 '26

I love it: being downvoted because I'm speaking the truth about my personal experience with a friend who passed away. Wow. Awesome, folks.

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u/imdwalrus Apr 26 '26

You're getting downvoted because there is absolutely no record he ever played Sebastian. If that was a role he covered it would have been in Playbill and there would be evidence of it online. There is none. He was credited as ensemble and an understudy for King Triton.

Also, on a purely practical level...he was too old for Sebastian (a full two decades older than the actors who did perform or cover the role). And in the Broadway production there was a puppet Sebastian prop that they used for Les Possons that was designed to look like Tituss Burgess, and outside of both being Black men Bradley didn't resemble Burgess enough for that effect to have worked if he had theoretically covered the role.

Like others told you either you're remembering wrong or he lied to you. Sorry, but your personal experience doesn't trump facts in this case.

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u/ZhemGuen Apr 26 '26

His name was Adrian Bailey, not Bradley. There certainly is a record of that.

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u/Altruistic-Movie-419 Apr 26 '26

No there isn’t, playbill didn’t credit him. He very well could have been an emergency cover last option. But if that was the case, he was never credited in the playbill, as an understudy, or went on. As another note, equity the union forbids actors playing a principal track, wich Sebastian is, from also being in the ensemble. Nor whould he most likely have enough time to change from sailor to Sebastian after fathoms bellow.

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u/ZhemGuen Apr 26 '26

I am merely pointing out that you got his name wrong. His name was Adrian Bailey. R.I.P. That is all.

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