Gavin Creel’s Beloved Al Hirschfeld Theatre Breaks Ranks To Join Broadway Light Dimming Tribute; Actors’ Equity Takes Stance On Growing Controversy

deadline.com:

The late Gavin Creel once expressed his love for a particular Broadway venue and the cast that had joined him there. “When I die, the Heavens will open and we’ll all go to the Al Hirschfeld Theatre – all the same people – and we’ll do [Hair] again,” the actor, who played Claude in the musical, said in an interview that has been widely shared on social media these last few days.

When the Broadway League announced Friday that only select theaters would take part in the tradition light dimming ceremony – 11, representing one venue from each theater owner – the Broadway community was both heartbroken and outraged that Creel wouldn’t be getting the full tribute with all venues taking part.

The Eugene O’Neill Theatre, where Creel had starred in The Book of Mormon, later announced that it, too, would take part in the tribute (date still to be determined), and a Change.org petition started by Time Out New York theater critic Adam Feldman calling for the full, rather than partial, tribute quickly gained hundreds of signees, a tally that has grown in just a few days to more than 20,000.

Now Creel’s beloved Hirschfeld has broken ranks with the League’s official roster by adding its participation in the tribute, a move that comes after numerous social media posters and Creel fans pointed out the actor’s special fondness for the venue where director Diane Paulus staged the Hair revival in 2009 (following a very successful run in Shakespeare in the Park).