DIM ALL THE LIGHTS

[thatdarnzach]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 12:07pm

That’s the post. Dim all the lights and dim them separately for Gavin Creel and Ken Page.

[verywellthensigh]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 12:15pm

...cuz tonight it's all the way...

[thatdarnzach]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 12:20pm

Exactly lmao.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 12:27pm

Those who feel mad about this might be better off channeling that into activism as a way of honoring Creel –– fighting for democracy and LGBTQ+ rights –– which by all accounts Creel himself might feel is a better use of time than yelling about a lightswitch.

As with funerals, these are really things for the living to help them process and honor the deceased, and it surely won't be the onlymemorial for him. I can't get mad about a partial-dimming for ~95% of Broadway deaths, but that's just me.

Once again proposing an annual Broadway Memorial Celebration (in a Broadway house + streamed) for all those who passed within a given year, that can have speeches and performances honoring everyone from stagehands to actors to producers to authors and everyone in between, followed by a full dimming/moment of silence for all in the community. AND for the Broadway League to implement standardization guidelines for individual dimmings (and publish those rules), which would probably be based on number of weeks employed on Broadway contracts, awards, and stature within respective unions/guilds. As it stands now, individual dimmings favor those who had front-facing roles, disincentivizing those who might have spent 30 years backstage or in an office or contributed millions to fund shows.

[verywellthensigh]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 12:34pm

If they didn't dim the lights for Jan Maxwell, it seems unlikely they will for Creel and Page.

Showbiz:  A popularity contest, even in death. 

[Huss417]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 12:42pm

verywellthensigh said: "If they didn't dim the lights for Jan Maxwell, it seems unlikely they will for Creel and Page.

Showbiz: A popularity contest, even in death."
 
Select Broadway theaters will dim their lights for the late Gavin Creel at a date and time being coordinated with his family, the Broadway League said today.
 

https://deadline.com/2024/10/gavin-creel-broadway-lights-dimming-1236107552/

Updated On: 10/4/24 at 12:42 PM

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 1:17pm

How about we just stop dimming the lights, period, since it seems like every time someone passes, it becomes a contest of who can be the loudest on social media to demand something from the Broadway League? Here's the truth: When the light dimming first became a thing, someone even of Gavin Creel's stature wouldn't even be considered for a light dimming, let alone all of the other names thrown around lately.

The sad fact is, someone who has been involved in the Broadway community dies almost every single day. You cannot dim the lights for everyone and clearly there are far too many people who don't understand that. It was a practice to be reserved for only the absolute G.O.A.T.s of the Broadway community.

To be clear, I'm not even saying Gavin doesn't deserve this or that he wasn't a massive part of the community. But this whole tradition has frankly become ridiculous at this point because of all the controversy that erupts every time the League tries (or doesn't try) to do it. So how about we stop and find a fresh way to honor those we've lost?

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 1:22pm

Agreed, this board goes insane over dimming the lights and the Kennedy Center Honors. 

I see all those leech influences have already made their reaction videos. Overreactions do everybody a disservice 

Updated On: 10/4/24 at 01:22 PM

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 1:41pm

if there was an option for lights to dim at the theatres they performed, I think that could be a good compromise to literally all or nothing. Otherwise, let's all calm down, there's far more bizarre choices being made out there.

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 5:28pm

I like the idea of dimming the lights at all the theatres they performed in and saving the full dimming for the true legends - the Stephen Sondheims, Hal Princes, etc. A very rare occurrence. But I feel as though this genie will be tough to put back in the bottle with the people they have dimmed for.

[Alexander Lamar]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 8:25pm

Broadway61004 said: "

You cannot dim the lights for everyone and clearly there are far too many people who don't understand that.

Serious question - why not?

[Jarethan]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 8:53pm

Alexander Lamar said: "Broadway61004 said: "

You cannot dim the lights for everyone and clearly there are far too many people who don't understand that.

Serious question - why not?"

Because if you constantly dim they, they lose any significance.  I think Mr. wormwood has made the best suggestion yet.  

Of course, there is always going to be subjectivity…does LMM, with 2 shows, get the full magilla or just the lights out at the Rodgers (and the Booth, if you consider Free Style Supreme)?

[kdogg36]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 9:03pm

Jarethan said: "does LMM, with 2 shows, get the full magilla or just the lights out at the Rodgers (and the Booth, if you consider Free Style Supreme)?"

What, no love for Bring It On? 

[Jarethan]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 9:13pm

Have to admit that I forgot that he was even involved with that (wonder where his head is in that subject?).  So, two theatres or the magilla.  So much arbitrariness.

Maybe they should just stop the whole thing, let the obsessives move on to some other earth shattering topic to stress about, and expand the Tony remembrance section (obviously in the pre-show…unless you warrant ‘legend).’

 

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 9:15pm

Really, the mistake was made whenever this began being handed out like a participation trophy. At the start, according to the below article, it was irregular and far between: 1952 for Gertrude Lawrence, then 1960 for Oscar Hammerstein II, then Alfred Lunt in 1977. Surely important people died in the years between those occasions, but they didn’t get a dimming.

People now seem to expect it as a matter of course. I’d ask who WON’T they demand a full dimming for? Where does it begin and end? Oh, you’re saying so-and-so didn’t contribute as much as Gavin Creel or Marin Mazzie did? 
 

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/nyregion/a-brief-history-of-dimming-the-lights-on-broadway.html

[blaxx]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 10:20pm

BorisTomashevsky said: "Really, the mistake was made whenever this began being handed out like a participation trophy. At the start, according to the below article, it was irregularand far between: 1952 for Gertrude Lawrence, then 1960 for Oscar Hammerstein II, then Alfred Lunt in 1977. Surely importantpeople died in the years between those occasions, but they didn’t get a dimming.

People now seem to expect it as a matter of course. I’d ask who WON’T they demand a full dimming for? Where does it begin and end? Oh, you’re saying so-and-so didn’t contribute as much as Gavin Creel or Marin Mazzie did?


https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/nyregion/a-brief-history-of-dimming-the-lights-on-broadway.html"

What is capricious is the full vs partial approach.

Dim them all or not at all. No one is partially worth this tribute, or is he worth 50% of the lights? The partial lights is most insulting.

Updated On: 10/4/24 at 10:20 PM