An actor in the hit Broadway musical "The Little Mermaid" broke his wrists in a 20-foot fall on stage, a show spokesman said.

"Mermaid" spokesman Chris Boneau said 51-year-old performer Adrian Bailey had been walking on the production's boat scenery when he fell through a trap door and plummeted 20 feet to the stage below, the New York Daily News said Sunday.

One theater employee said Bailey was lucky to have survived Saturday's fall at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.

"You can fall 10 feet and die," the employee told the Daily News.

The New York Post said the accident, which Boneau blamed on "human error," occurred 20 minutes before a matinee performance. The curtain was held for for one hour, but the show did go on -- without Bailey.

Theater sources told the Daily News that no one in the audience, which was primarily children, saw the mishap. (c) UPI