50 Years Later, 'Man on Wire' Re-Creates Famous Stunt

Fifty years after his iconic high-wire walk between the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center, Philippe Petit re-created the death-defying stunt with a performance about 7 miles north of the trade center at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, per the AP. The artist, 74, sought to celebrate the "glorious days of the twin towers" rather than focus on their end in a terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001. "I don't have to remind people of the doomed day," Petit told the AP after Wednesday's performance.

The performance, titled "Towering!!," re-created Petit's unauthorized walk between the towers on August 7, 1974, one that was chronicled in the Oscar-winning documentary Man on Wire. After ascending to his perch inside the cathedral and reflecting on the day's memories, Petit took to the wire while jazz clarinetist Anat Cohen played beneath him. As Petit continued his walk, Sting took the stage to perform "Fragile." Conceived and directed by Petit himself, the production featured a series of short scenes that brought his 1974 feat to life. At one point, Petit admitted that he handled success poorly. "I was really bad to my best friend Jean-Louis Blondeau, who has been the mastermind more than me on this adventure," he said. (More about the documentary here.)