Lion King Curtain Will Rise Tuesday At Arsht Center After Flood
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The curtain will rise for Simba at Tuesday night's performance of The Lion King at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami, two days after a theatergoers were forced to evacuate when water flowing from the ceiling flooded the lobby.
The Arsht center issued this statement on the situation late Monday afternoon:
Cleanup efforts are progressing as planned at the Ziff Ballet Opera House following Sunday night's drain line leak. The building is safe for patrons and Tuesday evening's 8 pm performance of The Lion King will be presented as scheduled. Additional tickets for performances through June 10, including Tuesday evening's show, are now available at www.arshtcenter.org. On behalf of the Adrienne Arsht Center, I would like to thank the partners and institutions who offered assistance during the cleanup efforts today.
Patrons of the Sunday May 20 evening show are encouraged to call their original point of purchase or the Adrienne Arsht Center Box Office at (786) 468-2337 to exchange tickets for a future performance of The Lion King.
Cleanup crews used massive dehumidifiers Monday to help dry out the wetness that infiltrated the lobby, walkways, staircases and bathrooms.
The second half of Sunday night's show had just started when suddenly the house lights came on and staffers told the crowd they had to evacuate due to water coming into the building.
Staff members guided more than 2,000 people out of the building through side doors and not the main lobby where the floor was flooded.
On Monday, John Richard, president of the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, blamed a faulty pipe from the roof's drainage system, saying that night's downpour caused the rupture inside the Ziff Ballet Opera House.
Richard said the failure came from an elbow joint connecting two sections of 12-inch steel pipe above a top-level bathroom. The pipe carries rainwater from the roof drainage system to the sewer below, and Richard said it was designed to handle more water than Sunday night's downpour created. The joint itself "wasn't secured, and it came apart," he said.
The original joint has been there since the $470 million center opened in 2006, Richard said, and he could not explain why it failed Sunday night and not during earlier downpours. "It should have functioned correctly,'' he said. "It didn't."
Richard said he couldn't provide an estimate of the damage, but it was extensive enough that some elevators and bathrooms will be out of service for at least a week.
Anyone affected by the evacuation can either get a refund or replacement ticket for a future Lion King show. The musical is in town until June 10th.
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