Broadway Marquees To Dim Quarterly To Widen Scope Of Memorial Honorees; Solo Dimmings For Select Individuals Will Continue

deadline.com:

Broadway‘s tradition of dimming marquee lights for departed theater stars and leaders has often drawn criticism over what some in the theater community saw as a process that was both too secretive and too selective.

The issue reached a boiling point last fall with the in-rapid-succession deaths of actors Maggie Smith, Gavin Creel, Adrian Bailey and Ken Page.

Who merited full dimmings at all 41 Broadway theaters? Partial dimmings at select theaters? The brouhaha prompted the Broadway League to step away from its largely ceremonial role of announcing the dimmings and dates that had been determined by a committee of Broadway theater owners.

Since then, the announcements have been made by an outside publicity firm. Today, the theater owners took another step to correcting what many saw as a flawed system by creating Broadway In Memoriam, a quarterly tradition dedicated to honoring “the remarkable individuals who have left an indelible mark on Broadway.” The committee in charge of the memorials will be composed of theatre owners in consultation with industry service organizations.