Broadway Marquee Dims Lights for Joan Rivers

To honor the lives of those largely affiliated with Broadway, the Broadway League decides whether or not to dim Broadway's marquees in their honor. This summer, Broadway legend Elaine Stritch passed away and the Broadway League rightfully made the decision to dim marquees for one minute.

Rivers performing in Sally Marr...and her escorts in 1994

Following the death of the beloved Joan Rivers, the Broadway league decided not to dim their marquees. They justified their decision saying that, "Under our criteria people need to have been very active recently in the theater, or else be synonymous with Broadway – people who made their careers here, or kept it up." Although Joan has always been an avid supporter of Broadway, attending countless opening nights and benefits, she had not acted on Broadway in over 20 years according to Broadway League Executive Director Charlotte St. Martin.

Immediately after they released their decision, the theatre community made their voices heard through a social media campaign using the Twitter hashtag #Dim4Joan. Just one day later the Broadway League decided to reverse their decision. The Broadway marquees were dimmed September 9th for one minute at 6:45 p.m.