A number of Broadway theaters will dim the lights for the late Gavin Creel at a date and time to be determined in consultation with his family, the Broadway League announced today.
Theater community in uproar over dimming of Broadway lights Gavin Creel
Creel's death from a rare and aggressive form of cancer at the age of 48 on September 30 has prompted an enormous and ongoing outpouring of love and grief on social media from the Broadway community. The death of the hugely popular musical actor took many colleagues and fans by surprise and has sent the industry into disarray.
Within hours of the League’s announcement, distraught fans weighed in on social media, demanding a full, rather than partial, dimming of the lights. A Change.org petition started by Time Out New York theater critic Adam Feldman gained momentum with thousands of signatories just hours after it was posted.
Once a date is set for the dimming of the lights, one theater from each Broadway theater owner will participate in the traditional tribute, with 12 venues participating, including the Circle in the Square, Helen Hayes, Marquis, New Amsterdam, Samuel J. Friedman, Shubert, Stephen Sondheim, St. James, Studio 54, Todd Haimes, Vivian Beaumont and Eugene O'Neill theaters. (The latter venue, where Creel appeared in The Book of Mormon, was accidentally omitted from the league's original announcement; "We are devastated by the loss of Gavin . . . ", the Book of Mormon said in a statement announcing its involvement in the dimming of the tribute.)
