So...is Broadway not dimming its lights for Jan Maxwell?- Page 2
So...is Broadway not dimming its lights for Jan Maxwell?
#25So...is Broadway not dimming its lights for Jan Maxwell
Posted: 2/15/18 at 10:20am
MichelleCraig said: "You'd think they'd just know it is the thing to do."
Aside from the negative supposition starting this thread, no one has said they were or were not planning to do it yet.
Miranda3
Featured Actor Joined: 8/20/11
#26So...is Broadway not dimming its lights for Jan Maxwell
Posted: 2/15/18 at 11:03am
I just phoned the 212 number for the League that Morosco provided. A very pleasant woman answered on the first ring, listened to my plea that the lights be dimmed for Jan Maxwell, went away briefly to consult someone, and said that a decision has not yet been made. She was very kind and listened to all I said and said that she would pass it on to the appropriate parties. So I think calling might help! I cited some of the arguments given above, including that the lights have been dimmed for performers who have had less to do with Broadway than did she.
AllThatJazz2
Broadway Star Joined: 6/15/17
#28So...is Broadway not dimming its lights for Jan Maxwell
Posted: 2/16/18 at 4:30pm
AllThatJazz2 said: "Broadway's Marquis Theatre Will Dim Lights in Memory of Jan Maxwell"
"A Class Act" on the part of the Nederlander's where she performed Follies ~
"Anything you do, let it it come from you--then it will be new."
Sunday in the Park with George
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#29So...is Broadway not dimming its lights for Jan Maxwell
Posted: 2/16/18 at 4:43pm
Wow....I'm quite disappointed in the Broadway League.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
#30So...is Broadway not dimming its lights for Jan Maxwell
Posted: 2/16/18 at 4:44pmF*CK them.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
#31So...is Broadway not dimming its lights for Jan Maxwell
Posted: 2/16/18 at 4:45pm
The press release sent out to theaters is a bit bizarre b/c it states "Broadway Community to Honor Stage and Screen Actor Jan Maxwell" but then immediately under it, its clear its not the entire community b/c its only the Marquis dimming the lights.
A few other theaters will be following suit however (joining in of their own volition). But for whatever reason, the League has not mandated it for everyone.
BroadwayConcierge
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/24/15
#33So...is Broadway not dimming its lights for Jan Maxwell
Posted: 2/16/18 at 4:47pm
I hope the rest of theaters follow suit.
That being said, this news made it for absolute certain I’m going into the city to see Dolly Wednesday night. What a wonderful thing to be able to see the lights dim and then see Bernadette.
Miranda3
Featured Actor Joined: 8/20/11
#34So...is Broadway not dimming its lights for Jan Maxwell
Posted: 2/16/18 at 4:47pm
Very disappointed in the League. What do they have to gain by withholding on this? I don't understand.
#35So...is Broadway not dimming its lights for Jan Maxwell
Posted: 2/16/18 at 4:54pm
MTC's Friedman Theater and The New Victory Theater have said they will join the Marquis
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#36So...is Broadway not dimming its lights for Jan Maxwell
Posted: 2/16/18 at 4:55pm
n2nbaby said: "I hope the rest of theaters follow suit.
That being said, this news made it for absolute certain I’m going into the city to see Dolly Wednesday night. What a wonderful thing to be able to see the lights dim and then see Bernadette."
Hey, me, too!
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
#37So...is Broadway not dimming its lights for Jan Maxwell
Posted: 2/16/18 at 5:22pm
It’s DISGUSTING that the entire community isn’t doing it. Shame, shame, shame on the League.
I’m happy that other theaters are following suit on their own volition.
#38So...is Broadway not dimming its lights for Jan Maxwell
Posted: 2/16/18 at 5:23pm
Protest directly to Charlotte St. Martin herself. These cold-hearted decisions are hers and hers alone.
#39So...is Broadway not dimming its lights for Jan Maxwell
Posted: 2/16/18 at 5:24pm
cstmartin@broadway.org
#40So...is Broadway not dimming its lights for Jan Maxwell
Posted: 2/16/18 at 5:27pm
She is the president of the Broadway League.
TheGingerBreadMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/7/12
#41So...is Broadway not dimming its lights for Jan Maxwell
Posted: 2/16/18 at 5:36pmIt is insulting that the league has not mandated this. Shame.
#42So...is Broadway not dimming its lights for Jan Maxwell
Posted: 2/16/18 at 5:38pm
This is so unfair to the amazingness that was Jan Maxwell.
Sondheimite
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/5/14
#43So...is Broadway not dimming its lights for Jan Maxwell
Posted: 2/16/18 at 5:39pm
PalJoey said: "cstmartin@broadway.org"
Emailed.
Broadway World's Fireman.
#44So...is Broadway not dimming its lights for Jan Maxwell
Posted: 2/16/18 at 5:44pm
Utterly wrong for her not to receive the full tribute when performers who spent far less time on the Broadway stage received it. Very disappointing.
#45So...is Broadway not dimming its lights for Jan Maxwell
Posted: 2/16/18 at 5:59pm
PalJoey said: "These cold-hearted decisions are hers and hers alone."
Ok, don't shoot me, but I'm going to offer a controversial opinion:
I know everyone here loved Jan Maxwell, and see her as completely deserving of this honor - myself included! But let's not be so hasty as to condemn the league, and call St. Martin "heartless." Many of you say that if Jan doesn't deserve it, no-one does. But that's pretty debatable. I'm sure it wouldn't be unreasonable for me to say there are many, many members of the Broadway community who are far more obvious candidates for a light-dimming than Jan Maxwell. I would argue than Jan Maxwell is right on the cusp in terms of her notoriety - a statement which I know will anger some here given the situation, but unfortunately there is no way to avoid being a bit insensitive when having these conversations.
The problem with the light-dimming, which we have faced time and time again, is how to determine who deserves it and who doesn't without coming across as disrespectful in such a delicate situation, when passions are high. Nobody wants to be the person who says "this recently-deceased person doesn't deserve this honor," but someone has to make that call if the practice is to remain a powerful gesture. Much like the standing ovation has lost all meaning through overuse, the light-dimming is at risk of going the same way.
We can cite examples of people who were honored for equal or lesser contributions to Broadway, and we can praise Jan Maxwell until the cows come home. But at the end of the day, it's all subjective, and someone has to make the final call.
I loved Jan Maxwell. I hope they dim the lights for her. And I'm glad to see some theatre doing it already. But I understand why there is hesitation on the part of the Broadway league.
#46So...is Broadway not dimming its lights for Jan Maxwell
Posted: 2/16/18 at 6:02pm
I'll say it: HEARTLESS.
The League CLEARLY finds it "bad business" to turn Broadway into a funeral home.
I say that's heartless.
#47So...is Broadway not dimming its lights for Jan Maxwell
Posted: 2/16/18 at 6:04pm
PalJoey said: "The League CLEARLY finds it "bad business" to turn Broadway into a funeral home."
Can you clarify what you mean by that?
#48So...is Broadway not dimming its lights for Jan Maxwell
Posted: 2/16/18 at 6:12pm
Sorry, but no. If we dim the lights for the likes of Carrie Fisher, Robin Williams, and Joan Rivers but not Jan Maxwell, it becomes very clear that the League’s more interested in the positive publicity a light dimming will generate than they are in honoring a performer who dedicated her life to the theater and who turned in one universally acclaimed performance after another.
I concur with Pal Joey’s assessment of Charlotte St. Martin as a cold-hearted woman.
Do we need some kind of petition for this? I find it disheartening that there were hashtags and petitions in the community for Joan Rivers, but not for Jan.
#49So...is Broadway not dimming its lights for Jan Maxwell
Posted: 2/16/18 at 6:22pm
The response I got from Charlotte....
”I truly appreciate your thoughts. Our committee continually struggles with these decisions. I must admit, I would dim for everyone but at the end of the day, a dimming a week would take away from the specialness of the dimming would be gone.
As I’ve attended many dimming.....some at one theatre and some at all theatres, I love the ones where the family and the community join at one theatre together. It’s the way we come together.
I’m sorry we disappointed you with the committee decision. KNow that we care.”
this is BS
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