In the wake of multiple controversies, the Broadway League industry group has stepped back from announcing memorial marquee light dimmings on Broadway.
In its place, an outside press spokesperson for the separate Broadway Theatre Owners Committee has begun sharing details of when the tributes will take place.
The news follows an online protest this October after the committee announced it would do a partial dimming — where some but not all Broadway theaters would dim their lights for one minute — for Gavin Creel, the Tony Award-winning performer who died of cancer at 48 in September.
Critics of the choice said it suggested Creel wasn’t as important of a star as others who have received full dimmings. Previous partial dimming plans for actors Marin Mazzie and Hinton Battle also caused ire among fans and were subsequently changed to full dimmings.
A Change.org petition calling for a full dimming for Creel garnered more than 23,000 supporters.
“We understand that full dimming is meant to be a rare thing,” an October petition started by Time Out New York theater critic Adam Feldman reads. “But special circumstances should be taken into account.”
For years, the tradition of turning off the lights on Broadway, which was established in 1950 to honor the English entertainer Gertrude Lawrence, has been a way to show respect for a great performer’s passing.
“Artists that contribute to the fabric of New York City are often overlooked in so many ways,” said Randi Berry, executive director of the independent theater-making organization IndieSpace. “One special opportunity we have in New York City … is the dimming of Broadway lights and marquees when one of us passes.”
The Broadway Theatre Owners Committee determines who will be given a dimming, though the Broadway League has traditionally announced them.
Deadline first reported that the League — a nearly century-old, 700-member consortium composed of North American Broadway industry professionals, including theater owners, operators and general managers — had ceased to be the messenger for the custom.
Without any formal passing of the torch, the committee quietly released the last two light-dimming announcements, for Maggie Smith and Creel, through the firm Polk PR.
