There is something truly magical about experiencing live performances. Many go to great lengths and expense to watch their favourite artist perform. Given the ever increasing costs of these shows, organisers are resorting to greater lengths to provide audiences with an ethereal experience, staging more daring stunts and requiring more flexibility of the artists… in some cases literally.
However, in spite of the safety precautions, some of the carefully constructed stunts have resulted in freak accidents.
A common culprit of this is the regularly-used trapdoors that artists use to suddenly appear or disappear on stage. Whilst these facilitate dramatic entrances and sudden exits, when left open they can be lethal for the artists who unbeknowingly fall through.
Recently, Olivia Rodrigo, performing on her world tour in Australia, fell through the trapdoor.
A fan I spoke to commented that “it was quite dangerous” because Rodrigo “completely hit her face” when she fell. She appeared to be uninjured after the incident, however other celebrities have not been quite so fortunate.
In 2005, during Idina Menzel’s performance in the theatre show Wicked, (when playing Elphaba) Menzel fell through a trapdoor and fractured her rib and was unable to complete her last two performances.
